41°12′58″N30°15′40″E / 41.21611°N 30.26111°E /41.21611; 30.26111
Kefken Island (Turkish:Kefken Adası), lies off theBlack Sea coast ofTurkey, a short boat ride from the mainland village of Cebeci in theKandıra district ofKocaeli Province.
It has an area of 21 hectares, and is about four times as long as it is broad.
During the Greek, Roman and Byzantine (pre-Turkish) era, the island was calledDaphnusia (Δαφνουσία),Apollonia (Ἀπολλωνία),Thynias (Θυνιάς),Thyni (Θυνή),Thynis (Θυνίς) andThyniis (Θυνηίς).[1] The last of these names is derived from ancient Greek Thynos (Θύνος)=Tuna fish, and perhaps from the Thynii, a tribe of Thracian origin that lived in coastalBithynia.[2] It is mentioned by the geographerPtolemy (5.14.1) andPliny the Elder (5.32),[3] and byStrabo,[4] and also in thePeriplus of the Euxine Sea.[5] The names Thynias and Daphnusia are both given by Ptolemy, Thynias by Pliny, Strabo[4] andStephanus of Byzantium. Stephanus of Byzantium writes that it is also called Thyni, Thynis and Thyniis.[1]
The island is also mentioned at the Greekepic poemsArgonautica andArgonautica Orphica. Both poems are about theArgonauts.[6][7]
Although the settlement on the island never attained the rank of "city", it became, at a relatively late stage, abishopric. This was at a relatively late stage, for there is no mention of it in theSynecdemus.[4] The first of theNotitiae Episcopatuum in which it appears, always under the name "Daphnusia", is the early 10th-century one attributed toByzantine EmperorLeo VI the Wise.[2] TheGreek Orthodox Church venerates as a martyr bishop of Daphnusia a certain Sabas, of whom nothing else is known, while extant documents show that Leo took part in theCouncil of Constantinople (869), where he expressed repentance for having desertedIgnatius of Constantinople in favour ofPhotius, and that his successor Antonius was at theCouncil of Constantinople (879), which reinstated Photius.[4][8] No longer a residential bishopric, Daphnusia is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[9]
In 1261 the Latin fleet was engaged in the siege of the island when the GreekEmperor of Nicaea,Michael VIII Palaeologus,captured Constantinople and thus put an end to theLatin Empire.[2]
In 1915, there was anaval battle nearby between the Russians and Ottomans which ended in a Russian victory.
Long breakwaters extend out from the island, forming a safe harbour for ships.
A lighthouse dating from 1 January 1879 has a range of 14 nautical miles, and there is a smaller lighthouse on each of the two breakwaters.[10][11]
Walls of a fortress of the Hellenistic and Genoese periods can be seen and some wells and rain-water cisterns.[12][13]
