Nicomedia (redirected from Nikomedeia)

Nicomedia (nĭkōmē`dēə), ancient city, NW Asia Minor, near the Bosphorus, in present-day Turkey. Refounded (264 B.C.) by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to replace Astacus as his capital, it flourished for centuries. The Goths sacked the city in A.D. 258. Diocletian chose it for the eastern imperial capital, but it was soon superseded by Byzantium (Constantinople). The modern city on its site is Izmit.

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Nicomedia 

(now Izmit, Turkey), ancient city in Bithynia, founded in 264 B.C. by Nicomedes I as the capital of Bithynia. From 74 B.C., when Bithynia became a Roman province, Nicomedia was the province’s capital. In the fourth century A.D. it was the residence of the Roman emperors Diocletian and Constantine the Great, during which time it acquired great cultural significance and was called the Athens of Bithynia. Situated on the route from Asia Minor to the Balkans, Nicomedia was a major trade and artisan center in the classical and Byzantine periods. In 1337 it was captured by the Turks and subsequently renamed Izmit.