III. The Beginnings of Transformation

BEGINNINGS OF TRANSFORMATION
fate as Apollonias, having fallen to Elchanes and its environs having been
4 3
wasted in 1113. The environs ofAbydus were devastated by Tzachas
4 4
and by the Turkish invasion of 1113, but there is no indication that the
tovm itself fell. The natuxe of tne destruction the emir Tzachas wrought
is most clearly depicted in the case of Adramyttium.
It was formerly a most populous city. At that time when Tzachas was plundering
the regions of Smyrna, destroying, he also obliterated it [Adramyttium]. The sight
of the obliteration of such a city [was such] that it seemed that man never dwelled
4 5
in it.
Shortly afterward in 1113 the Turks raided in the vicinity of Adramyttium.
Indeed Adramyttium and its nearby villages suffered severely throughout
the twelfth century from Turkish raids until Manuel walled the city and
built fortresses in the depopulated countryside to protect the peasants. 46
Odo of Deuil remarks that the Crusaders immediately upon proceeding
south of Adramyttium encountered ruined towns. 47
Chliara and Perga-
mum probably experienced much the same fate as Adramyttium, these
regions having been devastated by at least three Turkish raids in the reign
ofAlexius I, 48
and they continued to be subject to pillaging in the reigns
of John II and Manuel I. Before the latter fortified the cities and the
countryside, the rural area had been abandoned by the inhabitants. 49
Calamus, one of the villages of the theme of Neocastron (Adramyttium,
Pergamum, Chliara), was no longer inhabited by the time of the third
Crusade, 60
and Meleum (located between Calamus and Philadelpheia)
was in a destroyed state by the latter part ofthe twelfth century. 51
Tzachas
took Smyrna, Clazomenae, Phocaea, and reached the Propontid regions
wasting their environs, 52
and somewhat later Hasan raided Nymphaeum
and the district ofSmyrna. 53
Ephesus had fallen to the emir Tangripermes
but was reconquered in the reign ofAlexius I. Located on the convenient
river route of the Cayster, it was no doubt accessible to raiding parties
4 3
4 4
Anna Comnena, II, 80-81 ; III, 165.
Ibid,., II, 165; III, 166.
"Nicetas Choniates, 194-195. Theodore Scutariotes-Sathas, 268.
47
Odo ofDeuil, p. 107. He adds that the Greeks inhabited only the fortified towns, no
doubt a reference to the towns that Manuel and his predecessors had fortified.
4 8
Anna Comnena, III, 144-145, 155, 166. The expeditions ofHasan, 1109-11, Malik
Shah, 1111, the Turks from Persia, 1113.
4 8
NicetasChoniates, 194-195. Theodore Scutariotes, 268,
50
W. Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor (London, 1890), p. 130.
sl
Historia Peregrinorum, ed. A. Chroust, M.G.H., S.R.G., nova series V (Berlin, 1928),
p.154-
5 2
Anna Comnena, II, 110; III, 25. Tzachas surrendered it peacefully, but when a
Syrian killed the Byzantine admiral, the sailors are reported to have slain 10,000
inhabitants.
53
Ibid., III, 145. Sardes, which had previously been in Turkish hands, would likewise
have been exposed. Ibid., 27.
150