Iznik

(2002 est. pop. 21,000). Iznik, a town in northwestern Turkey on the eastern shore of Iznik Lake, is surrounded by walls with four gates. Within the town are many historic baths, mausoleums, madrasahs or Muslim religious schools, mosques, minarets, and imarets or inns. Notable buildings include the fourteenth-century Green Mosque and the fourth-century Saint Sophia Cathedral.

The Macedonian Greek ruler Antigonus I (382–301 BCE), once a general of Alexander of Macedon (356–323 BCE), founded the town, which he named Antigoneia, in 316 BCE. Later renamed Nicaea, the town rose to prominence during the Byzantine empire, when influential Christian ecumenical councils met there. The First Nicene Council, held in 325, put forth the Nicene Creed as the description of the persons of the Trinity and condemned Arianism, a Christian heresy that disavowed Jesus' divinity. The Second Nicene Council, in 787, rescinded the ban on the veneration of images, which had been introduced during the iconoclastic controversies of 726 and 730.

In 1078 the Seljuk Turks conquered Nicaea. The Ottoman Turks captured the town in 1331 and gave it its present name of Iznik. From the late fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, Iznik was a famous production center for quartz-based tiles and clay pottery. The colorful, abstract decoration of Iznik ware was painted in blue, turquoise and purple, and red, against a white ground. Iznik's ceramics industry was revived beginning in 1985. Some residents of Iznik grow olives, grapes, tomatoes, and peaches on nearby farmland, and fishers catch crayfish from Iznik Lake. The town has many hotels, restaurants, and cafes.

Atasoy, Nurhan, and Julian Raby. (1989) Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. London: Alexandria Press.

Carswell, John. (1998) Iznik Pottery. London: British Museum Press.

Eyice, Semavi. (1988) Iznik: Tarihcesi ve Eski Eserleri (Nicaea: The History and the Monuments). Istanbul, Turkey: Sanat Tarihi Arastirmalari Dergisi Yayini.