Balikesir City Guide
Balıkesir province, which is one of our provinces in the west of Turkey, is located in the Marmara Region of our country. Balıkesir has lands in both the Marmara Region and the Aegean Region. In addition, it is one of the 6 cities that have coasts to both the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea. Bursa, Kütahya, Manisa, İzmir and Çanakkale and the Greek island of Lesbos are also neighbors of Balıkesir. It is the 12th largest city of our country in terms of surface area.
Balikesir History
In the researches carried out in many mounds, caves and flat settlements throughout the province of Balikesir, these lands were found in the BC. It has been revealed that it was settled between 8000-3000 BC. 8 km from Havran. Remains from Paleolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods were found in İnboğazı caves at a distance. Remains and settlements belonging to the Copper Age were found in Babaköy (Başpınar) excavations, in the Yortan cemetery, and on Kaymak Tepe on the Ayvalık Dikili road. The city mentioned for the first time in this region is Agiros (Achiraus). After the collapse of the Anatolian Seljuk State, the Karesi Principality was established in the region, and then the region passed into the hands of the Ottoman State.
Balikesir tourism
Balikesir in Ancient Times
The name of the region where Balıkesir province is located was Misya in ancient times. The meaning of this word in Lydian is Beech Tree. The borders of the region have undergone various changes over time, and it is surrounded by the Sea of Marmara in the north, the Dardanelles and the Aegean Sea in the west, the Atranos Stream in the east and Lydia in the south. The part from Keşiş Mountain to the Dardanelles Strait, following the Marmara Sea coast, was called Little Misya, and the rest was called Great Misya.
Balıkesir Antandros Ancient City Museum
Great Misya; It consists of the cities of Pergam (Bergama), Adramityum (Edremit), Arjiza (Balya-Pazarköy), Assos (Behramkale), Teruvad (Truvada), Gargar, Antandos (Avcılar vicinity), Belodos (Dursunbey) and Adriyanatere (Balıkesir). Little Misya is Sizik (Belkız), Lâmpesak (Lapseki), Perkot (Bergoz), Abidus, Milotopolis (Mihaliç), Apoloni, Periyapos (Kara Biga), Pemaninos (Old Manyas), Artemea (Gönen), Zeleya (Sarıköy), Artas (Erdek) and Panormos (Bandırma) cities.
Alexander the Great and Balikesir
Alexander the Great BC In 334, he won the Battle of Granikos with the Achaemenid Empire around the Biga Stream and captured Misya. After this date, the people of Misya became famous as mercenaries. Even in the Egyptian army at that time, there was a Mysia cavalry unit. After Alexander's death, his commanders fought each other. At the end of the war, Lisimakus captured Misya. He was also killed by Seleukos I Nikator in the Battle of Corupedion.
Balikesir in Roman and Byzantine Periods
After Misya came under Roman rule, BC. In 133, the Asian Province of Rome was established by the consul Manius Aquillius and a part of Misia was connected to this province. The Romans exploited and oppressed Mysia for a long time with taxes and slavery. Against them, the Pontus king VI. Although the movement started by Mithridates was successful, it did not last long and BC. In 85, the region came under Roman rule again. Due to the influence of the Migration of Tribes, M.S. In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into east and west, and Misya came under the rule of the newly established Eastern Roman Empire, namely Byzantium.
Balikesir Lightning Mosque
Balikesir in the Seljuk Period
Since 1015, the Seljuk Turks began to appear in Anatolia under the rule of the Byzantine Empire. With the Battle of Pasinler in 1048, the Turks' incursions into Anatolia accelerated. After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Turks began to settle in Anatolia. Kutalmışoğlu Süleyman Shah founded the Anatolian Seljuk State in Iznik in 1075, four years after the Battle of Manzikert, in the vicinity of Izmit and on the shores of Marmara. In 1076, he annexed Sizik and Edincik, two of the cities of Misya, to his country. In 1081, the Turks destroyed a Byzantine unit that came to Apollonia (Gölyazı) via the river. However, another Byzantine unit took Sizik and Poimanenon (Manyas) back from the Turks. In 1085, while Suleiman Shah was in the east, Ilhan Bey, one of his emirs, took back Sizik, Apollonia, Poimanenon and Edincik, which had been lost a short time ago.
Balıkesir Square Tomb
In 1206, the Turkmens began to flock to the cities of Misya, and the Byzantine people left the region and the Turkmen settled in the region. In 1237, II. Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev inspected the marshals in Misya. In the 1280s, Karesi Bey, who would later establish the Karesi Principality and descended from Danishmend Gazi, his father Kalemşah and a large Turkmen group came to Misya. Germiyanoğlu Yakup Bey is also in the publication of these.