Let us now proceed to the southern coast of the Propontis. I will only state in general, that the whole of the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, as far as the entrance into the Propontis was completely covered with Greek towns, nearly all of which, like Lampsacus and Dardanus, were Aeolian; a few only were Ionian. But CYZICUS, on the south coast of the Propontis, was a town which enjoyed great celebrity both in the earlier and the somewhat later periods of antiquity. It is a disputed point whether originally it was situated on a peninsula connected with the mainland by a narrow neck, or whether it was in reality an island which was artificially connected with the opposite coast by means of a causeway. It was a Milesian colony, protected against the barbarians by its isolated position, and it acquired importance at first by agriculture, and afterwards by navigation and commerce. It is mentioned by Thucydides and Xenophon, but its real greatness belongs to the Macedonian period, when, to judge from its ruins and the vast number of coins found there, it must have been a very large and wealthy city. It is historically important on account of the siege during which its inhabitants defended themselves bravely, resolutely, and heroically, against Mithridates; the Romans rewarded them for it with distinctions and favours of every kind; and Cyzicus, under the Romans, continued to be a considerable city. It seems to have been destroyed during the Gothic invasion in the third century; under the Byzantine emperors it was only a small provincial town. There were several other little Greek colonies on the same coast, such as _Cios_, _Astacos_, and others, which were subsequently conquered by the Bithynian kings, in consequence of which their names were changed. I shall say more of them when I come to speak of Bithynia. CHALCEDON, opposite to Byzantium, was according to tradition older than it; it may have existed before, but certainly not as a Greek town. It is likewise said to have been a Megarian colony; but it never was of any historical importance. On coins it is called Καλχεδών, but in many MSS. we find Καλχηδών, whence it is often confounded with Καρχηδών. The Greek towns on the Thracian coast from the Bosporus onwards are in themselves of no historical importance. MESEMBRIA was built by the Byzantians at the time when, during the Ionian war, their own city had been taken by the Persians. Nearly all settlements in those parts were Ionian colonies sent out by Miletus, with the exception of CALATIS which was a Dorian colony of Heraclea; but APOLLONIA and all places further on as far as the Borysthenes are Milesian. All these towns as far as Olbia, as I said before, are of no importance in history, if we except Tomi, which derives its interest from the fact that Ovid lived there in exile.