27. araştırma sonuçları toplantısı 3. cilt - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

at Murit Tepe, and four höyüks at Kızılca (Emirbağ), Elvançelebi, Bekişler,
and Aşağı Körücek. 1 Murit Tepe and the four höyüks were not occupied in
the historic era, but there were later Roman and/or Byzantine phases at both
Kabak Tepesi and Hisarkavak, as well as a late Roman/Byzantine settlement
near Murit Tepe, suggesting significant changes between the EBA and the
Late Roman Empire.
The earliest mention of Euchaita is during the Roman period, when it was
a village in the territory of Amasya in first the Roman province of Pontus
(198/230 – Diocletian), then in the province of Helenopontus which was
created out of Pontus in the early fourth century. From the fourth century it
began to gain a reputation as the centre of the cult of St Theodore Tiro (‘the
Recruit’) martyred under the emperor Maximinus (308-313), but its remoteness
is suggested by its use as a place of exile for the bishops Peter Mongus (482),
Euphemius (496), and Macedonius (511). The emperor Anastasius I (491-518)
made Euchaita a city and gave it a wall and a bishop, though the first securely
attested bishop was Epiphanius who attended the sixth Ecumenical Council in
Constantinople in 680. 2 Euchaita has been identified with the modern village
of Beyözü, previously known as Avkat, five kilometres north of Mecitözü, as
well as at Elvançelebi, Çorum, and Mecitözü.
From the seventh century, Euchaita became a military base behind the
frontier. It remained a provincial centre, although of significance mostly for
the cult of St. Theodore whose collection of Miracles from the later seventh or
eighth centuries A.D. offers important information about local conditions; the
letters of John Mauropous, who held the see in the mid-eleventh century, also
describe many aspects of life in the town.
1 Sipahi, T. and Yıldırım, Y., ‘2001 Yılı Çorum ve Çankırı Bölgeleri Yüzey Araştırması’, 20
Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı (Ankara, 2003), Vol. 2. 275-284; Sipahi, T. and Yıldırım, Y., ‘2002
Yılı Çorum ve Çankırı İlleri Yüzey Araştırması’, 21 Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı (Ankara,
2004), Vol. 2. 305-314; Sipahi, T. and Yıldırım, Y., ‘2003 Yılı Çorum ve Çankırı İlleri Yüzey
Araştırmaları’, 22 Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı (Ankara, 2005), Vol. 2. 353-364.
2 Mango, C., and Ševčenko, I., ‘Three Inscriptions of the Reign of Anastasius I and Constantine
V’, BZ 65 (1972), 379–393
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