Pazaryeri, (formerly Ermenı Derbent; , also Ermenı Pazarcık; and simply as Pazarcık) is a town in Bilecik Province in the Marmara region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. It is the seat of Pazaryeri District.İlçe Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023. Its population is 6,243 (2021). The district has several small lakes, as well as a number of buildings in traditional Ottoman style. The mayor is Zekiye Tekin. Pazaryeri is one of the most important hop producers in

. The town has famous local dishes like helva and

boza Boza, also bosa, is a fermented beverage originating from the Middle East and made in parts of Southeast Europe, Central and Western Asia, Caucasus and North Africa. It is a malt drink made by fermenting various grains: wheat or millet in Alban ...

History

Several

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

votives and inscriptions dedicated to Zeus Bronton and Apollon Phoibos have been found near the town, where he was heavily worshipped and a cult of them was present. A common cult of two gods was rare in the ancient world. There were several

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

dedicated to them.

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

was also worshipped there. Names of the priests in the temples include: ''Trophimas'', '' Aleksandros'', ''Asklepiodotos'', ''Askles'', ''Marcus'', ''Sextus'' and ''Sosigenos''. The cult and the temples remained active until, at least, the 2nd century AD. A Greek metrical epitaph and a bust of a deceased 12-year-old boy called ''Roufeinos'' was also discovered in the city. An inscription dedicated to Demeter, one of only two surviving in the administrative district of Iznik (ancient

Nicaea Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and s ...

), was also found near the city. In

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

times, the city was located in the border of the

Kingdom of Bithynia Bithynia ( grc-gre, Βιθυνία) was a Hellenistic kingdom centred in the historical region of Bithynia, which seems to have been established in the fourth century BC. In the midst of the Wars of the Diadochi, Zipoites assumed the title of king ...

, separating it from Phrygia. In

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

times, the city was known as Armenokastron (; ). Although the name implies it, there is no record of Armenians living in the city. Armenokastron was one of the most important cities of the Bithynia ''

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

''. In the first half of the 12th century, it was captured by the

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

, but it was recaptured by the Byzantines during the Second Crusade, subsequently marking the limit of Byzantine hegemony in the East. p. 138, 183-184, 237 The modern town was built on this Byzantine settlement, or somewhere near. In Ottoman times, a military road between the city of Iznik and Pazaryeri was built, probably in the beginning of the 16th century. This road probably ran via Köprühisar and Yarhisar towards Pazaryeri. During the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

Pazaryeri was completely destroyed by burning by the

Greek Army The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...

during its advance inland in July 1921. However it suffered atrocities months before its complete destruction. A report of the Western Front Command of the Turkish Army dating 16 February 1921 stated that 24 people were murdered inside the town centre while 16 sheep and 10 goats were also among the casualties. On the 15th of April the 1st Infantry Division Command of the Turkish Army reported that 102 inhabitants were taken prisoners while 4 killed, 6 wounded and a woman raped by the Greek Army. During the burning, Turkish elderly inhabitants who could not flee the town were killed. Second-Lieutenant Pantelis Priniotakis describes the events on his diary dating to 13th of July 1921 with the following words: The official result was that 644 buildings, the entire town was destroyed by the Greek Army.

References

Populated places in Bilecik Province Pazaryeri District Towns in Turkey {{Bilecik-geo-stub