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Çankırı, historically known as Gangra (Greek language: Γάγγρα), is a city in Turkey, about northeast of Ankara. It is situated about 800 m (2500 ft) above sea level. It is the seat of Çankırı Province and of Çankırı District. İl Belediyesi , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023. Its population is 90,564 (2021).
According to 1st-century BC writer Alexander the PolyhistorSmith, W., Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 3, s.v. "Stephanus" of Byzantium. the town was built by a goatherd who had found one of his goats straying there; but this origin is probably a mere philological speculation as gangra signifies "a goat" in the Paphlagonian language. Gangra was absorbed into the Roman province of Galatia upon the death of Deiotarus in 6/5 BC. The earlier town was built on the hill behind the modern city, on which are the ruins of a late fortress, while the Roman city occupied the site of the modern city. In the writings of the 2nd-century AD Greco-Roman writer Ptolemy, the city is referred to as Germanicopolis (Greek: Γερμανικόπολις).Ptol., Geo. v. 4. § 5, but also "Gangra (Byzantium)"Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor, Gangra It was named Germanicopolis, after Germanicus or possibly the emperor Claudius, until the time of Caracalla. In Christian times, Gangra was the metropolitan see of Paphlagonia. Hypatios, bishop of Gangra, is considered a saint in the Orthodox Christian tradition. He was killed by Arians on his return from the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), in which he took part.
In the 4th century, the town was the scene of an important ecclesiastical synod, the Synod of Gangra. There is disagreement about the date of the synod, with dates varying from AD 341 to 376. The synodal letter states that twenty-one bishops assembled to take action concerning Eustathius of Sebaste and his followers. The synod issued twenty canons known as the Canons of Gangra; these were declared ecumenical by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Under these canons, the sect disowned marriage, disparaged the offices of the church, held conventicles of their own, wore a peculiar dress, denounced riches, and affected special sanctity. The synod condemned the Eustathian practices, declaring however that it was not virginity that was condemned, but the dishonouring of marriage; not poverty, but the disparagement of honest and benevolent wealth; not asceticism, but spiritual pride; not individual piety, but dishonouring the house of God.
Over the centuries the settlement witnessed the hegemony of many cultures and races, such as Hittites, Persian people, Greeks, Parthian Empire, Pontic Greeks, , Ancient Rome, Byzantine Empire, up to the Seljuks and finally the Ottoman Turks. Traces from its long past are still visible throughout the city. The continuity of the city's name from ancient times across languages is of note: Hangara for the Arabs, Gagra for the Jews and Tzungra or Kângıri or Çankıri for the Turks.
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