IZMID, or IZNIKIMID, a seaport town of Asia Minor, at the head of the Gulf of Ismid (an inlet of the sea of Marmora), and 50 miles E.S.E. from Constantinople. It stands on the slope of a hill rising from the bay, and contains about 900 houses. Its trade is said to be considerable. Ismid occupies the site of the ancient Nicomedia, a celebrated city of Bithynia, built in n.c. 264, by Nicomedes I., who made it his capital. It soon became one of the most splendid cities in the kingdom; and under the Romans was a favourite residence of several of the later emperors, among others of Diocletian and Constantine the Great. It is memorable in history as the scene of Hannibal's death, and as the birthplace of Arrian, the historian of Alexander the Great.