Yoros

Yoros Fortress is located on a high hill. To the north is the small fishing village of Anadolu Kawagi, to the south is Yushi Hill (the whole area is called Anadolu Kawagi. On the opposite bank of the Bosphorus is the Rumeli Kavagy area.

In the New Chronology of Fomenko and Nosovsky, Yoros is called Eros and is considered the location of biblical Jerusalem, and Yushi is written as Jesus.

Antiquity

The fortress was used by the Greeks and Phoenicians before the Byzantine period for trade and military purposes. The Greeks called this area Ιερός (i.e. a sacred place). Temples dedicated to the ancient gods (including Apollo), the altar of the Twelve Gods, and "tailwinds" existed in the area, dating back to BC. e.

Byzantine period

Asnu Bilban Yalcin, a professor at the Department of Byzantine History at Istanbul University , suggests that Yoros was built by order of Emperor Manuel Komnin . The emperor was forced to take this step in order to protect Constantinople from the raids of the Vikings . Presumably, on the opposite side of the Bosphorus there was also a fortress, to which a chain was stretched to protect the strait from the attack of warships.

The Byzantines, Genoese and Ottomans fought for this strategic point for many years. It was conquered by the Ottoman forces (together with the Schiele fortress) in 1305 , but could not be held for a long time. In 1348, the Genoese , having taken the fortress, restore dominance over the trade routes of the Black Sea. However, at the end of the 14th century, the Ottomans re-captured the fortress and established full control over the Anatolian coast of the Bosphorus. According to the historian Ashykpashazade, Lightning Bayazid took the fortress in 1391 , coming up with great military forces from Kocaeli. In the vicinity of the fortress there were bloody battles - on the ground east of Yoros, they even built the Shekhitlik cemetery. After that, having sent the troops of Yahshi Bey, Bayazid captures the Schiele fortress.

Using Yoros as a military base, Bayazid begins preparations for the siege of Constantinople. In 1395, the Anadoluhisar fortress was built. The Byzantines tried to stop the advance of the Ottoman Turks with the help of the French king Charles VI . In 1399, French and Spanish troops led by Marshal Boucicaut attempted to capture Yoros. The attempt to storm the fortress ended in failure, so Busiko, having destroyed the village at the foot of the fortress, retreated.

Rui González de Clavijo , the ambassador of Spain to Tamerlane , considered the fortress "the key that opens the way to the Black Sea." He noted the reliability of the fortifications of Yoros and the presence of the Turkish garrison in it. At the same time, Clavijo did not find the chain that blocked the entrance to the strait, but found the fortress on the opposite, European shore of the Bosphorus in a destroyed and abandoned state.

Ottoman period

After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the fortress continues to develop. Bayazid II (1481-1512) restored Yoros and built a mesjit (a small mosque). Later, the commandant of the fortress Mehmed Agha built a bathhouse here.

The walls and towers of the fortress were badly damaged by the earthquake of 1509 , and were subsequently restored. In the document of the Ottoman Archive, dated 1576, there is a record that a mosque, a source of water and a bathhouse were renovated along with the fortress.

In the 1580s, the German traveler Mikhail Geberer , traveling to Istanbul, found the fortress in good condition and left an engraving in its travel notes that was quite consistent with the original. The Armenian historian Ghukas Inchichyan reports that there was a Turkish quarter consisting of 25 houses inside the fortress, and in addition, there was a detachment of twenty guards led by the commandant of the fortress.

In the nineteenth century, Yoros lost its military strategic importance and fell into decay.

In the past

The length of the fortress (parallel to the Black Sea coast) was 500 meters, and the width ranged from 60 to 130 meters. The most fortified part of the fortress is facing the east, that is, Anatolia. This proves that in addition to control over the entrance to the strait, the fortress was designed to repel an attack from land. It is believed that the walls of the fortress descended to the strait and there was a berth for receiving ships and a lighthouse. It can be seen in engraving by the English artist Thomas Allom in a book by Robert Walsh.

In this

The ruins of the citadel and some walls still exist, although the mosque, most of the towers and other structures are destroyed. Only the eastern side has survived: two towers 20 meters high and a gate. This entrance was laid with brickwork both outside and inside in order to prevent the collapse of the arch.

The surrounding area is a popular place for walking. The walls of the fortress to this day have preserved inscriptions in the ancient Greek language, as well as symbols of the family of Paleologists, who ruled Byzantium until its fall. Most of the surrounding area of ​​Yoros today is in the hands of the Turkish military, and these areas are closed to visitors.

In the dark, no fire was lit in the fortress so that enemy ships ran aground. Other sources ^{[ what? ]} claim that the fortress was also used as a refuge for merchant ships from storms and pirates.

• Anadolukavağı
• Yoros kalesi
• The Byzantine castle 'Hieron Oros' remains vulnerable