Krithia

Krithia (Greek: Κριθία; Turkish: Alçıtepe) is a small village in the Eceabat District of Çanakkale Province, Turkey, about 4 miles from the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

The village derived its Greek name, Krithia, from the nearby cape Akbaş Burnu, which was called Krithea (Κριθέα) in Byzantine times.[1] In the Book of Navigation of the Ottoman admiral Piri Reis (1521), it is recorded as Kirte.[1]

At the turn of the 20th century, about 450 Greek families lived in the village.[1] During the Gallipoli campaign, the village was an objective of the first day of the landing, 25 April 1915. It was never reached. Over the following months, Turkish defenders successfully repulsed several assaults by the invading British and French troops. More famously, the village was the site of the Battle of Krithia during the same campaign.

As a result, the settlement suffered extensive damage due to shelling: the two Greek churches were destroyed, and few traces of its medieval and ancient past remain, such as a column in the village square or architectural elements reused as spolia.[1] Following the departure of the Greek population in the Greco-Turkish population exchange, the village was resettled with Turks from Romania in 1938.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Külzer, Andreas (2008). Tabula Imperii Byzantini: Band 12, Ostthrakien (Eurōpē) (in German). Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 475–476. ISBN 978-3-7001-3945-4.

Sources

Coordinates: 40°06′N 26°13′E / 40.100°N 26.217°E / 40.100; 26.217


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