🏛️ Nicaea-Juliopolis
Roman and Byzantine city ruins near İznik, northwestern Turkey
📌 Fast Facts
- Located in Bursa Province, 240 km southeast of Istanbul
- Founded as Nicaea by Antigonus I Monophthalmus (301 BCE); renamed Juliopolis under Roman rule
- Site of the First Ecumenical Council (325 CE), a foundational Christian synod
- Partially preserved within the medieval walled city of İznik
Nicaea-Juliopolis was a significant Hellenistic and Roman settlement on the eastern shore of Lake Iznik (Ascania). The city served as a regional administrative and cultural center throughout antiquity and the Byzantine period. Much of the ancient site lies beneath or adjacent to the modern town of İznik, though substantial portions of Byzantine and Ottoman-era fortifications remain visible ...