Dorylaeum 2.13

Dorylaeum or Dorylaion was an ancient city in Anatolia. It is now in ruins near the city of Eskişehir, Turkey.Its original location was about 10 km southwest of Eskişehir, at a place now known as Karaca Hisar; about the end of the fourth century B.C. it was moved to a location north of modern Eskişehir.HistoryThe city existed under the Phrygians but may have been much older. It was a Roman trading post. It also was probably a key city of the route the Apostle Paul took on his Second Missionary Voyage in 50 AD. It became a bishopric when part of the Late Roman province of Phrygia Salutaris.In the third century AD, it was threatened by Gothic raids. The roman army that was based in Asia minor was spread thin, and the navy had moved west from the Northern city of Sinope, therefore the provincials were left exposed. These Goths came from the trans-danubian region on the black sea. When the cit was under threat, the people used dedicatory statues to build their wall quicker, indicating their rush to protect themselves against the invaders. (see Mitchell - crisis and continuity (1993) page 236)After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 it was taken by the Seljuk Turks.Dorylaeum was the site of two battles during the crusades. In 1097, during the First Crusade, the crusaders defeated the Seljuks there, in their first major victory. During the Second Crusade it was the site of a major defeat, which effectively ended the German contribution to the crusade.