Known as Nicaea since ancient times, İznik is located on eastern shore of Lake İznik (Askania Limne) surrounded by ranges of hills within the Bithynia (Marmara) region of Anatolia. There has been human settlement on İznik since prehistory, as witnessed by discoveries of several mounds and tumuli around. According to geographer Strabo, the ancient town was founded in 316 BC by Antigonos, the commanders of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C). It is also reported that Lysimachos, another general of Alexander, took the city and renamed it after his wife Nicaea. It was during this Hellenistic period that the settlement was planned as a rectangular city with its four gates and two major roads intersecting at the centre.
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