Bathonea. A site that never existed
 

The excavations conducted on the shores of Lake Küçükçekmece aroused a significant degree of interest both in academic circles and among the public. It was strongly emphasized that the excavated ruins were part of a lost city known as Bathonea and that the unearthing of this city was a momentous discovery for the world of archaeology. Quite unfortunately, this intense campaigning encouraged a number of scholars and academics to believe in the existence of a city called Bathonea. However, this brief article will seek to demonstrate that the ruins excavated on the shores of Lake Küçükçekmece are not associated with a city or settlement named Bathonea and will further pose that a city named Bathonea never existed in history. Therefore, the name Bathonea is the name of an hekatostys affiliated with Byzantion, and therefore directly points to a community within the demographic structure of Byzantion.