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Chalcedon (; ; sometimes transliteration as Khalqedon) was an ancient maritime history town of Bithynia, in Anatolia, Turkey. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy. The name Chalcedon is a variant of Calchedon, found on all the coins of the town as well as in manuscripts of Herodotus's Histories, Xenophon's Hellenica, Arrian's Anabasis, and other works. Except for the Maiden's Tower, almost no above-ground vestiges of the ancient city survive in Kadıköy today; artifacts uncovered at Altıyol and other excavation sites are on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
The site of Chalcedon is located on a small peninsula on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, near the mouth of the Bosphorus. A stream, called the Chalcis or Chalcedon in antiquityWilliam Smith, LLD, ed. (1854). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. "Chalcedon". and now known as the Kurbağalıdere (Turkish: stream with frogs), flows into Fenerbahçe Bay. There, Greek colonists from Megara in Attica founded the settlement of Chalcedon in 685 BC, some seventeen years before Byzantium.
The Greek name of the ancient town is from its Phoenician name qart-ħadaʃt, meaning "New Town", whence Karkhēd(ōn), as similarly is the name of Carthage. The mineral chalcedony is named after the city.Erika Zwierlein-Diehl: Antike Gemmen und ihr Nachleben. Berlin (Verlag Walter de Gruyter) 2007, S. 307 ( online)
Pliny states that Chalcedon was first named Procerastis, a name which may be derived from a point of land near it: then it was named Colpusa, from the harbour probably; and finally Caecorum Oppidum, or the town of the blind.Pliny. Nat. 5.43
Nevertheless, trade thrived in Chalcedon; the town flourished and built many temples, including one to Apollo, which had an oracle. Chalcedonia, the territory dependent upon Chalcedon,Herodotus. Histories. 4.85.) stretched up the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus at least as far as the temple of Zeus, now the site of Yoros Castle, and may have included the north shore of the Bay of Astacus which extends towards Nicomedia. Important villages in Chalcedonia included ChrysopolisXenophon, Xen. Anab. 6.6, 38-Z1. (the modern Üsküdar) and Panteicheion (Pendik). Strabo notes that "a little above the sea" in Chalcedonia lies "the fountain Azaritia, which contains small crocodiles".Strabo 1.597.
In its early history Chalcedon shared the fortunes of Byzantium. Later, the 6th-century BC Persian satrap Otanes captured it. The city vacillated for a long while between the Sparta and the Athens interests. Darius the Great's bridge of boats, built in 512 BC for his campaign, extended from Chalcedonia to Thrace. Chalcedon formed a part of the kingdom of Bithynia, whose king Nicomedes willed Bithynia to the Romans upon his death in 74 BC.
During the Empire, Chalcedon recovered, and was given the status of a free city. It fell under the repeated attacks of the barbarian hordes who crossed over after having ravaged Byzantium, including some referred to as Scythians who attacked during the reign of Valerian and Gallienus in the mid 3rd century.Zosimus 1.34.
In 361 AD it was the location of the Chalcedon tribunal, where Julian the Apostate brought his enemies to trial.
In 451 AD an ecumenical council of Christian leaders convened here. See below for this Council of Chalcedon.
The general Belisarius probably spent his years of retirement on his estate of Rufinianae in Chalcedonia.
Beginning in 616 and for at least a decade thereafter, Chalcedon furnished an encampment to the Sasanian Empire under Chosroes IIGibbon. Decline, &c. 100.46. (cf. Siege of Constantinople (626)). It later fell for a time to the Arabs under Yazid I (cf. Siege of Constantinople (674)).
Chalcedon was badly damaged during the Fourth Crusade (1204). It came definitively under Ottoman Empire rule under Orhan I a century before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople.
It was the site of various ecclesiastical councils. The Fourth Ecumenical Council, known as 'the' Council of Chalcedon, was convened in 451 and defined the human and divine natures of Jesus, which provoked the schism with the churches composing Oriental Orthodoxy.
After the council, Chalcedon became a metropolitan see, but without . There is a list of its bishops in Le Quien,Michel Le Quien, Oriens christianus, I, 599. completed by Anthimus Alexoudes,In Anatolikos Aster XXX, 108. revised for the early period by Jules Pargoire.In Échos d'Orient III, 85, 204; IV, 21, 104. Among others are: Sophrone Pétridès, "Chalcedon" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1908)
After the Great Schism, the Latin Church retained Chalcedon as a titular see with archiepiscopal rank, Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ), p. 855 with known incumbents since 1356. Among the named to this see were William Bishop (1623–1624) and Richard Smith (1624–1632), who were appointed vicar apostolic for the pastoral care of Catholics in England at a time when that country had no Catholic diocesan bishops. Such appointments ceased after the Second Vatican Council and the titular see has not been assigned since 1967. Chalcedon (Titular See)
Chalcedon has also been a titular archbishopric for two Eastern Catholic church dioceses:
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