Choma () was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

fortress in central

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, which played an important role in the fight against the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

in the late 11th and 12th centuries. It was located at the ruins now called Akkale, on the rocky summit of Akdağ 4 km north of Homa (now called Gümüşsu). It should not be confused with the Choma in

Lycia Lycia (; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...

. Choma was located in the upper valley of the Maeander River in

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

. After the

Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, Iberia (theme), Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army ...

, it became an isolated Byzantine outpost surrounded by Turkish-controlled territory. Its troops, the so-called ''Chomatenoi'' (Χωματηνοί), figure frequently in the campaigns of

Nikephoros III Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates (; 1002–1081), Romanization of Greek, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Empire, Byzantine List of Byzantine Emperors, Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general du ...

() and

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...

(). Due to its strategic location on one of the roads leading to the interior of Anatolia, it became a major base of operations for the Komnenian emperors' campaigns to push back the Turks. In the 12th century, it formed its own district, that of "Choma and

Cappadocia Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...

", under a ''

toparches ''Toparchēs'' (, "place-ruler"), anglicized as toparch, is a Greek term for a governor or ruler of a district and was later applied to the territory where the toparch exercised his authority. In Byzantine times, the term came to be applied to inde ...

''. This district appears to have been mostly coextensive with the '' bandon'' of Lampe. Choma remained under constant Turkish threat throughout the 12th century. Emperor

Isaac II Angelos Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (; September 1156 – 28 January 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and co-Emperor with his son Alexios IV Angelos from 1203 to 1204. In a 1185 revolt against the Emperor Andronikos Komnenos, Isaac ...

() refortified it in 1193, and renamed it Angelokastron () after his dynasty. Choma finally fell to the Turks a short time after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

in 1204. The nearby fortress of Soublaion, which was rebuilt by Emperor

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history o ...

() in 1175 but abandoned after the

Battle of Myriokephalon The Battle of Myriokephalon (also known as the Battle of Myriocephalum, , or ''Düzbel Muharebesi'') was a battle between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks in the mountains west of Iconium (Konya) in southwestern Turkey on 17 September ...

the next year, was formerly identified by

William Mitchell Ramsay Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (15 March 185120 April 1939) was a British archaeologist and New Testament scholar. He was the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor, and a leading scholar in the study of the New Testament. R ...

with Choma. Today only small traces of the fortifications remain. There are also two red-plastered

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s. On the eastern slope, the fortress walls have collapsed except for parts of a rectangular building that may have been a tower. Bricks are embedded in the two-shell masonry with mortar, and miscellaneous bricks and ceramics were found on top of the burial ground. W.J. Hamilton found broken columns of unknown provenance at the burial site below Homa. 4 km west there is a small hill called Pınarhüyüğü where some ceramics and rough stones were found.

References

Sources

* * {{Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, {{harvid, ODB Byzantine forts Byzantine Anatolia