DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0102
74
HISTORY OF BRUSA.
[Chap. v.
says that it was founded by Hannibal,* he probably only
meant to imply that it was contemporaneous with the resi-
dence of that chief at the court of Prusias, King of Bitlvynia:
but though it continued to nourish under the Roman Em-
perors,! it seems never to have been looked upon as the
capital of that country. The greater facility of communi-
cating by sea with Constantinople gave this precedence at
one time to Nicomedia, and at another to Nicaca; and from
the slight mention which is made of Brusa during the best
periods of the Byzantine empire, it would appear to have
soon yielded to the rapidly increasing greatness of the
mistress of the East.
The importance of Brusa as the capital and residence
of the Turkish rulers of Asia Minor, commences soon after
the destruction of the kingdom of Iconium and the retreat
of the Moguls under the descendants of Zengis Khan in the
thirteenth century.
On the death of Gelaleddin, the Sultan of Carisme, in
1240, his army was dissolved. Some of his followers entered
the service of Aladdin, the Sultan of Iconium, amongst
whom were the fathers of the Ottoman line. Orthogrul, the
son of Soliman Shah, became a soldier and subject of Alad-
din, and established his camp of 400 families or tents at
Surghut, on the banks of the Sangarius, J in the same year.
His son Thaman, or Athman, subsequently called Othman,
trusting in the valour of his followers, and released from all
dependence on the now extinct line of Seljulcian sultans,
carried on a religious war against the Christians, and in
1299, having forced the ill-guarded passes of Olympus,
descended into the plains of Bithynia. But Othman was
old before he received the intelligence that Brusa had
* N. H., lib. v. c. 32.
f Plin. Epist. x. 85. Cramer, Asia Minor, i. 177. Browne's Travels in Walpolc's
Turkey, ii. 108.
X It may be remarked that the extensive plains on the banks of the Sangarius
are still a favourite resort of great numbers of Turkman tribes.
HISTORY OF BRUSA.
[Chap. v.
says that it was founded by Hannibal,* he probably only
meant to imply that it was contemporaneous with the resi-
dence of that chief at the court of Prusias, King of Bitlvynia:
but though it continued to nourish under the Roman Em-
perors,! it seems never to have been looked upon as the
capital of that country. The greater facility of communi-
cating by sea with Constantinople gave this precedence at
one time to Nicomedia, and at another to Nicaca; and from
the slight mention which is made of Brusa during the best
periods of the Byzantine empire, it would appear to have
soon yielded to the rapidly increasing greatness of the
mistress of the East.
The importance of Brusa as the capital and residence
of the Turkish rulers of Asia Minor, commences soon after
the destruction of the kingdom of Iconium and the retreat
of the Moguls under the descendants of Zengis Khan in the
thirteenth century.
On the death of Gelaleddin, the Sultan of Carisme, in
1240, his army was dissolved. Some of his followers entered
the service of Aladdin, the Sultan of Iconium, amongst
whom were the fathers of the Ottoman line. Orthogrul, the
son of Soliman Shah, became a soldier and subject of Alad-
din, and established his camp of 400 families or tents at
Surghut, on the banks of the Sangarius, J in the same year.
His son Thaman, or Athman, subsequently called Othman,
trusting in the valour of his followers, and released from all
dependence on the now extinct line of Seljulcian sultans,
carried on a religious war against the Christians, and in
1299, having forced the ill-guarded passes of Olympus,
descended into the plains of Bithynia. But Othman was
old before he received the intelligence that Brusa had
* N. H., lib. v. c. 32.
f Plin. Epist. x. 85. Cramer, Asia Minor, i. 177. Browne's Travels in Walpolc's
Turkey, ii. 108.
X It may be remarked that the extensive plains on the banks of the Sangarius
are still a favourite resort of great numbers of Turkman tribes.