Dardanus

A titular see in the province of Hellespont, suffragan of Cyzicus. Four or five bishops are known, from 431 or 451 to 879 (Lequien, Or. Christ., I, 775). Dardanus figures in “Notititiæ episcopatuum” as late as the twelfth or thirteenth century. The town seems to have been situated some seven miles south-west of the Dardanelles, near Kefez Bournou. However, the town called Dardanelles (Gr. Dardanellia; Turk. Kaleh-i-Sultanieh, “imperial fortress”; and commonly Tchanak Kaleh, “the fortress of pottery”) is the modern representative of the ancient Dardanus. It is an important port on the straits which unite the Marmora with the Mediterranean (Straits of Dardanelles, the ancient Hellespont). The population is about 8000 (Turks, Greeks, Jews, a few Armenians, and Europeans). The little Catholic parish is conducted by a secular priest and the school is under Georgian Sisters, Servants of Mary. There is also an American Protestant mission. Dardanelles is the chief town of a sanjak, which depends directly on the Sublime Porte, and is strongly fortified. Every ship entering or quitting the straits must stop at Dardanelles and show the imperial firman, or permit, to enter or leave. Trade is rather active. Industry is represented by curious earthenware. Not far from the town is the hill of Hissaalik, the scene of some of Schliemann’s important excavations. The entire region is covered with interesting ruins.