City
Nicopoli
Yeşilyayla
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Nicopolis, the city of victory, was founded by Pompey in 66 BC to mark his decisive win over King Mithradates, and the late Roman historian Orosius says he settled it with old men, the sick and camp followers. It lay on a hill in the fertile upper Lycus valley, beside the Turkish village of Yeşilyayla, where inscriptions confirm the site. As a road junction it linked central Anatolia with the Euphrates frontier, and an empty stop after it on the map suggests that one or two stations were lost. After an earthquake in 499, Justinian gave it new walls.