Kefken Island ( tr, Kefken Adası), lies off the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

coast of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, a short boat ride from the mainland village of Cebeci in the

Kandıra Kandıra is a town and district of Kocaeli Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. Its neighbours are Kaynarca to the east, Adapazarı to the southeast, İzmit to the south and Şile to the west. Geography Kandıra has an area of 933 km2 (36 ...

district of

Kocaeli Province Kocaeli Province ( tr, Kocaeli ili, ) is a province of Turkey and one of only three not to have the same official name as its capital, İzmit, which is thus also sometimes called Kocaeli. The province is the successor of the Ottoman-era Sanjak ...

. It has an area of 21 hectares, and is about four times as long as it is broad.

History

During the Greek, Roman and Byzantine (pre-Turkish) era, the island was called Daphnusia (Δαφνουσία), Apollonia (Ἀπολλωνία), Thynias (Θυνιάς), Thyni (Θυνή), Thynis (Θυνίς) and Thyniis (Θυνηίς).Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, Th320.1
/ref> The last of these names is derived from ancient Greek Thynos (Θύνος)=Tuna fish, and perhaps from the Thynii, a tribe of Thracian origin that lived in coastal

Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') 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 southwe ...

.Siméon Vailhé, "Thynias"
in ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' (New York 1915) It is mentioned by the geographer

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(5.14.1) and

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

(5.32), and by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

, and also in the ''

Periplus of the Euxine Sea The ''Periplus of the Euxine Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τοῦ Εὐξείνου Πόντου, ', modern Greek transliteration ', la, Periplus Ponti Euxini) is a periplus or guidebook detailing the destinations visitors encounter when tr ...

''. The names Thynias and Daphnusia are both given by Ptolemy, Thynias by Pliny, Strabo and

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethn ...

. Stephanus of Byzantium writes that it is also called Thyni, Thynis and Thyniis. The island is also mentioned at the Greek

epic poems An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

Argonautica The ''Argonautica'' ( el, Ἀργοναυτικά , translit=Argonautika) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the ''Argonautica'' tells the myth of the voyage of Jas ...

and

Argonautica Orphica The ''Orphic Argonautica'' or ''Argonautica Orphica'' ( grc-gre, Ὀρφέως Ἀργοναυτικά) is a Greek epic poem dating from the 5th–6th centuries CE. It is narrated in the first person in the name of Orpheus and tells the story o ...

. Both poems are about the

Argonauts The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo ...

. Although the settlement on the island never attained the rank of "city", it became, at a relatively late stage, a

bishopric 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 associate ...

. This was at a relatively late stage, for there is no mention of it in the ''

Synecdemus The ''Synecdemus'' or ''Synekdemos'' ( el, Συνέκδημος) is a geographic text, attributed to Hierocles, which contains a table of administrative divisions of the Byzantine Empire and lists of their cities. The work is dated to the reign o ...

''. The first of the ''

Notitiae Episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the -mostly Lat ...

'' in which it appears, always under the name "Daphnusia", is the early 10th-century one attributed to

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

Leo VI the Wise Leo VI, called the Wise ( gr, Λέων ὁ Σοφός, Léōn ho Sophós, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well ...

. The

Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

venerates as a martyr bishop of Daphnusia a certain Sabas, of whom nothing else is known, while extant documents show that Leo took part in the

Council of Constantinople (869) The Fourth Council of Constantinople was the eighth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church held in Constantinople from October 5, 869, to February 28, 870. It was poorly attended, the first session by only 12 bishops and the number of bisho ...

, where he expressed repentance for having deserted

Ignatius of Constantinople St. Ignatius or Ignatios ( el, Ιγνάτιος), (c. 798 – 23 October 877) was a Patriarch of Constantinople from July 4, 847, to October 23, 858, and from November 23, 867, to his death on October 23, 877. In the Catholic Church and Eas ...

in favour of

Photius Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...

, and that his successor Antonius was at the

Council of Constantinople (879) The Fourth Council of Constantinople was held in 879–880. It confirmed the reinstatement of Photius I as patriarch of Constantinople. The result of this council is accepted by some Eastern Orthodox as having the authority of an ecumenical co ...

, which reinstated Photius.Michel Lequien
''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus''
Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 629-630 No longer a residential bishopric, Daphnusia is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

. In 1261 the Latin fleet was engaged in the siege of the island when the Greek

Emperor of Nicaea This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Michael VIII Palaeologus Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...

, captured Constantinople and thus put an end to the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byza ...

. In 1915, there was a

naval battle Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large la ...

nearby between the Russians and Ottomans which ended in a Russian victory.

Present features

Long breakwaters extend out from the island, forming a safe harbour for ships. A lighthouse dating from 1 January 1879 has a range of 14 nautical miles, and there is a smaller lighthouse on each of the two breakwaters. Walls of a fortress of the Hellenistic and Genoese periods can be seen and some wells and rain-water cisterns.

References

External links

English Information on Kerpe
{{Islands of Turkey Islands of Turkey

Daphnusia Kefken Island ( tr, Kefken Adası), lies off the Black Sea coast of Turkey, a short boat ride from the mainland village of Cebeci in the Kandıra district of Kocaeli Province. It has an area of 21 hectares, and is about four times as long as i ...

Islands of Kocaeli Province Islands of the Black Sea