Bithynia

An ancient division of Asia Minor, separated from Europe by the Propontus (Sea of Marmora) and the Thracian Bosphorus (Strait of Constantinople). It contained the famous Greek cities or colonies of Chalcedon, Heraclea, etc., and at later periods, Nicomedia, Nicæa, and Prusa. The inhabitants were supposed to be of Thracian origin. The country is said to have been subdued by Crœsus of Lydia (560 B.C. ), and five years later fell under the Persian dominion. About 440 or 430 B.C. it became an independent kingdom, under a dynasty of native princes, who made Nicomedia their capital. It afterwards fell into the hands of the Romans, and was governed as a province. In 1298, Osman the Turk broke into the country, and in 1328 Prusa, or Brusa, then its chief town, became the capital of the kingdom of the Osmanli.