Malagina (), in later times Melangeia (Μελάγγεια), 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 ...

district in the valley of the Sangarius river in northern

Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...

, at least overlapping the modern territory of Pamukova.

History

Malagina served as a major encampment and fortified staging area ('' aplekton'') for the

Byzantine army The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct continuation of the East Roman army, Eastern Roman army, shaping and developing itself on the legac ...

. It was the ''aplekton'' closest to the imperial capital of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, and, as such, of major importance during imperial expeditions to the East: it was here that the armies of the powerful themes of ''

Anatolikon The Anatolic Theme (, ''Anatolikon hema'), more properly known as the Theme of the Anatolics (Greek: , ''thema Anatolikōn''), was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) in central Asia Minor (modern Turkey). From its establishment, i ...

'', ''

Opsikion The Opsician Theme (, ''thema Opsikiou'') or simply Opsikion (Greek: , from ) was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) located in northwestern Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Created from the imperial retinue army, the ''Opsikion'' was th ...

'' and ''

Thrakesion The Thracesian Theme (, ''Thrakēsion thema''), more properly known as the Theme of the Thracesians (, ''thema Thrakēsiōn'', often simply , ''Thrakēsioi''), was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) in western Asia Minor (modern Tur ...

'' joined the emperor.Kazhdan (1991), p. 1274 The region was also the site of the major imperial horse ranches ('' metata'') in

Asia Minor 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 ...

. It is first mentioned in historical sources in 798, when Empress

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United States ...

assembled an army there. Other sources state that the first mention of Malagina is in a text attributed to St. Methodius, dating from the late seventh century. The site was attacked by the Arabs in 798, 860 and in ca. 875. In 1145, 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 ...

restored the fortifications of the district's main fortress at Metabole after a Turkish raid, and used it as a base for his campaigns against the

Seljuk Seljuk (, ''Selcuk'') or Saljuq (, ''Saljūq'') may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * S ...

Sultanate of Iconium The Sultanate of Rum was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples (Rum (endonym), Rum) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their Turkic migration, entry into Anatolia after t ...

Spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin for 'spoils'; : ''spolium'') are stones taken from an old structure and repurposed for new construction or decorative purposes. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice (spoliation) whereby stone that has been quar ...

from nearby

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

walls served to build the facade of this castle that could oversee the whole valley. Under the Angeloi, it became a separate province, headed by a governor titled ''

dux ''Dux'' (, : ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux'' coul ...

'' and ''

stratopedarches ''Stratopedarchēs'' (), sometimes Anglicized as Stratopedarch, was a Greek term used with regard to high-ranking military commanders from the 1st century BC on, becoming a proper office in the 10th-century Byzantine Empire. It continued to be e ...

''. At the same time, it is attested as being an

archbishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

, before being raised to a

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

under the Laskarids. The city is last mentioned as Byzantine in 1206, when it was contested between the

Nicaea Nicaea (also spelled Nicæa or Nicea, ; ), also known as Nikaia (, Attic: , Koine: ), was an ancient Greek city in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. It was the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...

and Trebizond. The city, however, is not mentioned again in Byzantine sources, and presumably fell during the obscure wars of 1225-1231 between Nicaea and the Jandarid

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

s of

Kastamonu Kastamonu, formerly Kastamone/Castamone () and Kastamon/Castamon (), is a city in northern Turkey. It is the seat of Kastamonu Province and Kastamonu District.

Location

Although there were difficulties in precising the location of Malagina, it was facilitated by the discovery of the ruins of Metabole in 1982, by the British archeologist Clive Foss. They stood on a high and steep hill, at an elevation of 754m, just north of the village of , in the district of Pamukova.Foss (1990), p. 170 The place has been also identified with the town of Mela by W.M. Ramsay.William Mitchell Ramsay, ''The Historical Geography of Asia Minor''
1890 (reproduction published by Cambridge University Press in 2010, ), p.205

References

Sources

* * * {{Coord, 40.5253, 30.1014, display=title Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Archaeological sites in the Marmara region Byzantine sites in Anatolia