Nicaea

Nicaea (nīsē'u) [key], city of Bithnyia, N Asia Minor, built in the 4th cent. B.C. by Antigonus I as Antigonia and renamed Nicaea by Lysimachus for his wife. It flourished under the Romans and was the scene of the ecumenical council called in A.D. 325 by Constantine I. Another council held in 787 sanctioned the devotional use of images. The city, captured by the Turks in 1078 and by the Crusaders in 1097, passed finally to the Turks in 1330. It is sometimes called Nice. The modern Iznik, Turkey, is on the site.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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