The advance of conquest still went on upon a large scale. Soon Nicomedia, the ancient capital of Diocletian, surrendered to the Turks. In a battle at Maldepe the Greek Emperor Andronicus III suffered a defeat that led to the loss of all the Asiatic possessions of the Greeks. Nicæa, the second city of the empire, was obliged to yield to the conqueror, who gave the inhabitants the same terms as those accorded to the people of Broussa. The moral effect of this blow was immense, because Nicæa had been the starting point for the revival of Greek civilization and political rule after the taking of Constantinople by the Latins. It was also sacred as the seat of two great ecumenical councils. Now, the church where the Nicene Creed was proclaimed, became a mosque, and the city, with its name transformed into the Turkish disguise of Isnik, lost its historical identity. (1330.) After the seizure of some small seaports on the Black Sea and the Propontis, the whole of Bithynia fell into Turkish hands. There were only the narrow straits between the Osmanlis and Europe; on the Asiatic side the only places which still belonged to the Greek Empire were Scutari and Philadelphia. As Ourkhan’s dominions expanded, he followed his father’s precedent in dividing the land into sandjaks (banners). Nicæa was intrusted, on account of its importance, to the eldest son, Souliman, who then, on his own account, resolved to attempt the passage into Europe. In his adventure he was accompanied only by a handful of companions; two rafts were constructed of the trunks of trees joined by thongs of leather, and with these a landing was made at Tzympe, which was seized without trouble, as the fortifications of the place had fallen into ruins (1356). Not long after this event an earthquake shook the walls of Gallipoli and other neighboring towns, a misfortune which made them all an easy prey for Souliman’s officers. When the Greek Emperor protested, Ourkhan answered that his latest conquests were due, not to his arms, but to the will of God that had been revealed in the earthquake. Gallipoli was the key to Europe, and it was not given up. Using it as a base, the Osmanlis commenced to make marauding expeditions into the adjacent country. II MURAD I