City
Perintus
Ereğli
Listen to the story
Perinthus was founded by colonists from the island of Samos in 602 BC, on a small peninsula in the Sea of Marmara. Its later name Heraclea, after its mythical founder Heracles, lives on in the modern town of Ereğli in Turkey. The Greek historian Diodorus pictured its houses climbing the hill in tiers like a theatre, and Philip the Second of Macedon besieged the city in vain. The map marks it with a pair of towers, but repeated copying has pushed the harbour city inland, away from its coast. Its role as a crossroads, where the Via Egnatia met the coastal road, still shows clearly.