Lentiana
Tophisar
Lentiana, a fortified site mentioned in Byzantine sources, is likely the castle ruins near Tophisar in Bursa Province. The hill of the castle, which is the only prominent feature of the landscape of the area, probably protected a nearby river crossing.
Lentiana (Λεντίανα) was a castle, village, and possibly a region in Mysia/Hellespont. Lentiana is probably the village Tophisar between Manyas Lake (Kuş Gölü) and Apollonias Lake (Uluabat Gölü) in Bursa Province. The castle is around 500 m east of the village Tophisar and next to a tributary of the Odryses River (modern Kara Stream).
Lentiana first appears in Byzantine sources among the regions affected by Turkish plundering raids around 1113. It is described as being located between Kyzikos and Poimanenon during these raids, and between Lopadion and Poimanenon during a military operation carried out by Alexios I. In 1204, the Latins conquered large parts of northwestern Asia Minor, including Poimanenon, Lentiana, and Lopadion, though they lost them the following year. In his campaign in western Asia Minor in 1212, the Latin emperor Henry recaptured Poimanenon and Lentiana, though Lentiana was only taken after a lengthy siege. John III Vatatzes retook Lentiana in 1224 after he defeated a coalition of the Latins and the brothers of the deceased Emperor Theodore I Laskaris at Poimanenon. After capturing Thessaloniki in 1246, John III deposed the city's leader, Demetrios Doukas, and interned him in the castle of Lentiana.
Its following history is uncertain, as it disappears from the sources. The Karasi, a Turkish principality (beylik), probably captured Lentiana sometime in the 1320s. The Karasi Principality was likely formed in the aftermath of the early 14th-century campaigns of the Catalan Grand Company. These Catalan mercenaries were hired by Andronikos II after Turkish raids reached the southern Marmara coast by 1300. The Catalans were in the general region of Lentiana, first spending the winter of 1303-1304 near Kyzikos. While nothing is mentioned in the sources, Lentiana could have been affected by the Turkish raids and/or the subsequent Catalan raids. The Karesi Principality, said to be founded by Kalem Bey and his son Karasi Bey, was centered on the Troas in the early 14th century. The Karasi captured Balıkesir in the 1320s and possibly Lentiana soon after. The region fell to the Ottomans by the 1330s.
Castle
The castle, measuring around 180 by 50 m, is located on a low pear-shaped hill overlooking a broad plain. It is just west of a tributary of the Odryses River (modern Kara Stream), where the remains of a Byzantine or early Ottoman bridge were observed at the beginning of the 20th century. While much of the structure has largely been lost, traces of its curtain wall and some towers survive on its southern side. Only fragmentary remains of the wall in front of the towers have survived, while three partially surviving round towers on the western side have rubble cores. One of these towers is faced with coursed mortared rubble mixed with brick. There are traces of additional towers at the eastern end of a rocky ridge. The best preserved tower is around 10 m in height, and its masonry consists of alternating bands of brick and stone. Its use of decorative brickwork (herringbone and zigzag patterns between parallel brick courses) shares features with Laskarid architecture, suggesting a13th-century date. There is a rectangular cistern (5 by 3.5 meters) in the middle of the castle on the top of the hill. Green and brownish-yellow glazed ceramics can also be seen around the castle hill. Fatma Tutu Hatun Mosque, which has been dated to the late 14th or early 15th century, is located to the west at the bottom of the castle hill.
Rectangular cistern (5 by 3.5 meters) in the castle
The late 14th or early 15th-century Fatma Tutu Hatun Mosque near the castle is reportedly the mosque of Fatma Tutu, wife of Hacı Ali Bey (possibly the brother of Eyne Bey).
View from Google Earth
Reference
Belke, K. Bithynien und Hellespont (Tabula Imperii Byzantini 13)
Foss, C. and Winfield, D. Byzantine Fortifications: An Introduction
Ötüken, Y. Forschungen im nordwestlichen Kleinasien: Antike und byzantinische Denkmäler in der Provinz Bursa
Langdon, J. John III Ducas Vatatzes’ Byzantine Imperium in Anatolian Exile, 1222-54 (Unpublished PhD thesis)
Ağan, A. Balıkesir ve çevresindeki (Mysia) bizans dönemi savunma yapılarının korunmaları bağlamında yapım tekniği ve malzeme özelliklerinin belirlenmesi (Unpublished PhD thesis)
Hasluck, F. Cyzicus
Ötüken, Y. “Karacabey İlcesindeki Tophisar Köyünün Ortaçağdaki Önemi ve Tarihi Eserleri” (Sanat Tarihi Dergisi 4.4)
Zachariadou, E. “The Emirate of Karasi and that of the Ottomans: two rival states” (Studies in Pre-Ottoman Turkey)
Primary Sources
Sewter, R. (trans.) Anna Komnene. The Alexiad
Macrides, R. (trans.) George Akropolites. The History
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