Gelibolu, also known as Gallipoli (from el, Καλλίπολις, ''Kallipolis'', "Beautiful City"), is the name of a town and a district in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara Region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on the southern shore of the peninsula named after it on the Dardanelles strait, away from Lapseki on the other shore.

History

The

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

n city of Callipolis was founded in the 5th century B.C. It has a rich history as a naval base for various rulers. The emperor Justinian I fortified Gallipoli and established important military warehouses for corn and wine there, of which some Byzantine ruins can still be seen.Callipolis
in the New Advent Encyclopedia After the

capture of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...

by the

Latins The Latins were originally an Italic tribe in ancient central Italy from Latium. As Roman power and colonization spread Latin culture during the Roman Republic. Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy, and the word Latin ...

in 1204, Gallipoli passed into the power of the Republic of Venice. In 1294 the

Genoese Genoese may refer to: * a person from Genoa * Genoese dialect, a dialect of the Ligurian language * Republic of Genoa (–1805), a former state in Liguria See also * Genovese, a surname * Genovesi, a surname * * * * * Genova (disambiguati ...

defeated a Venetian force in the neighbourhood. The Catalan Company, a body of Almogavars, under Roger de Flor, established themselves here in 1306, and after the death of their leader massacred almost all the citizens; they were vainly besieged by the allied troops of Venice and the Byzantine Empire, and withdrew in 1307, after dismantling the fortifications. After the city's defenses were damaged in an earthquake, it was conquered by Turks in 1354 and became the first stronghold of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. Sultan Bayezid I (1389–1403) built a castle and tower there which can still be seen. In 1416 the Venetians under Pietro Loredan defeated the Turks here. Gallipoli is the site of "tombs of the Thracian kings", which refers to the graves of the Islamic writers

Ahmed Bican Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

(died 1466) and his brother Mehmed Bican (died 1451). Gelibolu ÇANAKKALE - panoramio (1)

Throughout the Ottoman period, the town was the capital of the Sanjak of Gelibolu, and the original center of the

Eyalet Eyalets ( Ottoman Turkish: ایالت, , English: State), also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were a primary administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government ...

of the Kapudan Pasha; between 1864 and 1920 the town belonged to the Edirne Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. In 1904 the Greek bishopric of Kallipolis was promoted to a metropolis and is listed under the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

. From the early 17th century until the early 20th century, a relatively large number of Sephardic Jews lived in Gallipoli, descendants of those fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. In 1854 the town was occupied by the allied French and British armies during the Crimean War who strengthened the defensive constructions from 1357. Many soldiers died there of cholera and are buried in a local cemetery. The guns of Gallipoli guarded the sea of Marmara until 1878 when more fortifications were built when the Russians threatened to take possession of Constantinople. The Bulgarian Army threatened Gelibolu during the First Balkan War and advanced to Bolayır in 1912. During the First World War the peninsula and the town were witness to a series of memorable battles (see Gallipoli Campaign). The town was occupied by the Greek army in 1920–1922, and finally returned to Turkey in 1923 under the

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the conflic ...

. Like the island Imbros off the western shore of the peninsula, Gallipoli had had a majority of Greek inhabitants from ancient times until World War I. It was exempted in article 2 from the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations (1923), however, the Greek inhabitants were expelled or killed during the Turkish War of Independence. Between 1922 and 1926 the town was a provincial center and the districts of Gelibolu,

Eceabat Eceabat, formerly Maydos (Madytos, el, Μάδυτος), is a small town and district of Çanakkale province in the Marmara region of Turkey, located on the eastern shore of the Gelibolu Peninsula, on the Dardanelles Strait. According to the 2010 ...

, Keşan (

Enez Enez is a town and a district of Edirne Province, in Thrace, Turkey. The ancient name of the town was Ainos ( el, Αίνος), Latinised as Aenus. The mayor is Özkan Günenç ( CHP). The population is 10,886 as of 2018. Enez consists of an old t ...

became part of Keşan before 1953) and

Şarköy Şarköy, previously known by its Greek name Περίσταση (Peristasi), is a seaside town and district of Tekirdağ Province situated on the north coast of the Marmara Sea in Thrace in Turkey. Şarköy is 86 km west of the town of Tek ...

Bishopric

A Christian bishopric, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

of Heraclea, the capital and metropolitan see of the Roman province of

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

. Extant documents give the names of three of its bishops of the period before the

East–West Schism The East–West Schism (also known as the Great Schism or Schism of 1054) is the ongoing break of communion between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches since 1054. It is estimated that, immediately after the schism occurred, a ...

: Cyrillus, who was at the

Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...

in 431; Harmonius, who took part in a synod that Patriarch Menas of Constantinople held in 536 to condemn the

Miaphysite Miaphysitism is the Christology, Christological doctrine that holds Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, the "Incarnation (Christianity), Incarnate Logos (Christianity), Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature' (''physis'')." It is a posi ...

Patriarch Anthimus I of Constantinople; Melchisedec, who participated in the Second Council of Nicaea (787). The bishopric continued to be a see of the Greek Orthodox Church until after the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Le Quien mentions three of those bishops who lived in the 14th and 15th centuries. Beginning in the early 13th century, there were also Latin Church bishops of Callipolis. No longer a residential bishopric, Callipolis is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.

Known bishops

*Cyrillus fl. 431 *Harmonius fl. 538 *Melchisedec fl. 787 *Joseph *Paulus *Alexius

Titular Catholic bishops

*Heinrich Kratz, O.Hosp.S.J.H., appointed 28 Jan 1484 *Edward, appointed 1494 *Diego, appointed 21 Aug 1507; died 1509 *John Young, ordained bishop 3 Jul 1513; died 28 Mar 1526 *Petrus Deodato, O.F.M., appointed 13 Feb 1638; succeeded as Bishop of Sardica (Sredek, Sofia), 15 Jun 1641 *James Smith, appointed 28 Jan 1688; died 13 May 1711 *Hyacinthus Archiopoli, appointed 1757; died 7 Apr 1789 *Giuseppe Menditto, appointed 23 Jun 1828 *John Bernard Fitzpatrick, appointed 21 Nov 1843; succeeded as Bishop of Boston, Massachusetts, 11 Aug 1846 *Jean-Benoît Truffet, C.S.Sp., appointed 11 Dec 1846; died 23 Nov 1847 *Jean-René Bessieux, C.S.Sp., appointed 20 Jun 1848; died 30 Apr 1876 *Rosario Maria Frungillo, appointed 31 Dec 1877; died 5 Feb 1886 *Vincenzo Molo, appointed 20 Sep 1887; died 15 Mar 1904 *Karel Wisnar, appointed 14 Nov 1904; died 18 Apr 1926 *José María Betanzos y Hormaechevarría, O.F.M., appointed 17 Jul 1926; died 27 Dec 1948 *Joseph-Pierre-Albert Wittebols, S.C.I., appointed 10 Mar 1949; appointed Bishop of Wamba 10 Nov 1959 *Bernard Schilling, S.V.D., appointed 19 Dec 1959; died 16 Jun 1992

Gelibolu today

Gelibolu is now an administrative center in the province of Çanakkale. The population of the district is 44,697 where 28,326 live in the center of the district (as of 2010) Statistical Institute
/ref> The mayor is Münir Mustafa Özacar ( CHP). Gelibolu is well known for sardine canning.

Notable people

* Piri Reis (), Turkish cartographer and geographer * Ahmed Bican Yazıcıoğlu (d. ), Bayramiye dervish and writer * Mustafa Âlî (1541–1600), Turkish historian *

Sofia Vembo Sofia Vembo ( el, Σοφία Βέμπο; 10 February 1910, in Gallipoli, East Thrace, Turkey – 10 March 1978, in Athens, Greece) was a leading Greek singer and actress active from the interwar period to the early postwar years and the 1950s ...

(1910–1978), Greek singer