{{Short description|Byzantine army assembly place and fortress}} '''Malagina''' ({{langx|el|Μαλάγινα}}), in later times '''Melangeia''' (Μελάγγεια), was a Byzantine district in the valley of the Sangarius river in northern Bithynia, at least overlapping the modern territory of Pamukova.<ref name="Kontogiannis">{{cite book |last1=Kontogiannis |first1=Nikos D. |title=Byzantine Fortifications Protecting the Roman Empire in the East |date=June 2022 |publisher=Pen & Sword Books |isbn=9781526710277 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHxYEAAAQBAJ |access-date=26 September 2023}}</ref>
==History== Malagina served as a major encampment and fortified staging area (''aplekton'') for the Byzantine army.<ref>Haldon (1999), pp. 56–59</ref> It was the ''aplekton'' closest to the imperial capital of Constantinople, and, as such, of major importance during imperial expeditions to the East: it was here that the armies of the powerful themes of ''Anatolikon'', ''Opsikion'' and ''Thrakesion'' joined the emperor.<ref>Haldon (1999), pp. 141–142, 150–151</ref><ref name="ODB">Kazhdan (1991), p. 1274</ref> The region was also the site of the major imperial horse ranches (''metata'') in Asia Minor. It is first mentioned in historical sources in 798, when Empress Irene assembled an army there.<ref>{{Cite book|title=From Constantinople to the Frontier: The City and the Cities|last1=Matheou|first1=Nicholas|last2=Kampianaki|first2=Theofili|last3=Bondioli|first3=Lorenzo|publisher=Brill|year=2016|location=Leiden|pages=260–277}}</ref> Other sources state that the first mention of Malagina is in a text attributed to St. Methodius, dating from the late seventh century.<ref name="Foss">{{Cite journal|last=Foss|first=Clive|date=December 1990|title=Byzantine Malagina and the Lower Sangarius|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/anatolian-studies/article/byzantine-malagina-and-the-lower-sangarius/C764A7C79EB54493BA6061F3402DEF3C|journal=Anatolian Studies|language=en|volume=40|pages=161–183|doi=10.2307/3642800|jstor=3642800 |s2cid=191380626 |issn=2048-0849|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The site was attacked by the Arabs in 798, 860 and in ca. 875.<ref name="ODB"/> The city was sacked by the Turks in the early 12th century.<ref>Vryonis, Speros (1971). The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamisation from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century. Berkeley: California University Press. p. 153</ref>
In 1145, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos rebuilt the city, restored the fortifications of the district's main fortress at Metabole after a Turkish raid, and used it as a base for his campaigns against the Seljuk Sultanate of Iconium.<ref name="Kontogiannis" /> Spolia from nearby Hellenistic walls served to build the facade of this castle that could oversee the whole valley.<ref name="Kontogiannis" /> Under the Angeloi, it became a separate province, headed by a governor titled ''dux'' and ''stratopedarches''. At the same time, it is attested as being an archbishopric, before being raised to a metropolis under the Laskarids.<ref name="ODB"/>
The last reference of Malagina as a Byzantine dominion dates to 1302, when emir Ali asked for permission to set his soldiers at Mesonesos.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zachariadou |first1=Elizabeth A.|date=1977 |title=Pachymeres on the ‘Amourioi’ of Kastamonu|journal=Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies |volume=3|publisher=Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham|pages=57-70 |doi=10.1179/030701377806931807}}</ref> The castle of Malagina had fallen into disuse, since the Ottomans, who had settled in the mountains east of Malagina, advanced gradually towards the south to the Byzantine territory along the Sangarius.<ref name="Foss"></ref> Malagina was conquered by the Ottomans in 1306.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pachymeres |first=Georges |last2=Failler |first2=Albert |last3=Laurent |first3=Vitalien |date=1984 |title=Relations historiques|location=Paris |publisher=Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 24/4 |page=455}}</ref>
==Location== Although there were difficulties in precising the location of Malagina, it was facilitated by the discovery of the ruins of Metabole in 1982, by the British archeologist Clive Foss. They stood on a high and steep hill, at an elevation of 754{{nbsp}}m, just north of the village of {{ill|Paşalar, Pamukova|lt=Paşalar|tr|}}, in the district of Pamukova.<ref>Foss (1990), p. 170</ref>
The place has been also identified with the town of Mela by W.M. Ramsay.<ref name=Ramsay>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iWxqOM9vMWEC&pg=PA205 William Mitchell Ramsay, ''The Historical Geography of Asia Minor''] 1890 (reproduction published by Cambridge University Press in 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-10801453-3}}), p.205</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Sources== * {{citation |last=Foss |first=Clive |journal=Anatolian Studies |volume=40 |year=1990 |pages=161–183 |publisher=British Institute at Ankara |title =Byzantine Malagina and the Lower Sangarius|doi=10.2307/3642800 |jstor=3642800 |s2cid=191380626 }} * {{Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204}} * {{Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium}}
{{Coord|40.5253|30.1014|display=title}}
Category:Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Category:Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Category:Archaeological sites in the Marmara region Category:Byzantine sites in Anatolia