City
Calcedonia
Kadıköy
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Calcedonia lies today in Kadıköy, on the Asian shore of Istanbul, and the map sets it opposite Constantinople even though it squeezes the Bosporus very short. Settlers from Megara founded it around 685 BC, seventeen years before Byzantium, and the Roman writer Pliny records its mocking nickname, the town of the blind, for founders who overlooked the far better site across the water. Its pair of towers is small and has no gates, perhaps a careless draughtsman, perhaps a hint of its lesser rank. The town was the starting point of the great road into Asia Minor, and in 451 it hosted a famous church council.