The story of Prusias ad Hypium

Locals call it the "Ephesus of the Western Black Sea", yet this city began life under another name: Kieros. The local historian Memnon of Heraclea recorded that in 279 BC it was a colony belonging to Heraclea. In the 3rd century BC King Prusias I of Bithynia captured it and gave it his own name, adding "ad Hypium", on the Hypios, so it would not be confused with his other namesake cities.

The Hypios is today's Melen Stream. Bequeathed to Rome in 74 BC, the city grew rich on one of the main roads running east, and enjoyed its golden age in the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, when emperors such as Hadrian, Caracalla and Elagabalus visited. Take a seat in the well-preserved Roman theatre, which held about 10,000 people, on a hill overlooking the Düzce Plain, then look for the aqueducts, the walls, a Roman bridge and the agora.

Excavations have continued since 2013.