Diocletian made it the chief city of the East. Owing to its position at the convergence of the Asiatic roads to the new capital, Nicomedia retained its importance even after the foundation of Constantinople and its own capture by the Turks (1338).
See C. Texier, Asie mineure (Paris, 1839); V. Cuenet, Turquie d’Asie (Paris, 1894).
NICOPOLIS, or Actia Nicopolis, an ancient city of Epirus, founded 31 B.C. by Octavian (Augustus) in memory of his victory over Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. The colony, composed of settlers from a great many of the towns of the neighbouring countries (Ambracia, Anactorium, Calydon, Argos Amphilochicum, Leucas, &c.), proved highly successful, and the city was considered the capital of southern Epirus and Acarnania, and obtained the right of sending five representatives to the Amphictyonic council. On the spot where Octavian’s own tent had been pitched he erected a sanctuary to Neptune adorned with the beaks of the captured galleys; and in further celebration of his victory he instituted the so-called Actian games in honour of Apollo Actius. The city was restored by the emperor Julian, and again after the Gothic invasion by Justinian; but in the course of the middle ages it was supplanted by the town of Prevesa. The ruins of Nicopolis, now known as Palaeoprevesa (Old Prevesa), lie about 3 m. north of that city, on a small bay of the Gulf of Arta (Sinus Ambracius) at the narrowest part of the isthmus of the peninsula which separates the gulf from the Ionian Sea. Besides the acropolis, the most conspicuous objects are two theatres (the larger with twenty-seven rows of seats) and an aqueduct which brought water to the town from a distance of 27 m.
Nicopolis was also the name of (1) a city in Cappadocia in the valley of the Lycus, founded by Pompey on the spot where he defeated Mithradates; (2) a city in Egypt, founded by Octavian 24 B.C. to commemorate his final victory over Antony; and (3) a city in Thrace (Nikup) at the junction of the Iatrus with the Danube, founded by Trajan in memory of his victory over the Dacians.
NICOSIA, the capital of Cyprus, situated in the north central part of the island. Pop. (1901) 14,752 (Moslem, 6013; Christian, 8739). Its earliest name was Ledra, but Leucos, son of Ptolemy Soter (280 B.C.), is said to have restored it and changed its name to Leuteon, Leucotheon or Levcosia. A mile S.W. of the town lies the very large Bronze Age necropolis known as Hagia Paraskevi, which has been repeatedly explored with valuable results. The circuit of the city was reduced in 1567, under the direction of the Venetian engineer G. Savorgnano, from 9 m. to 3 m.; eighty churches and a number of fine houses were sacrificed. The new walls were given a circular shape, with eleven bastions and three gates. Water is supplied by two aqueducts. Government House, the residence of the high commissioner, the government offices, hospital, central prison and the new English church are without the walls. The fosse has been planted, and part of it used as an experimental garden. Carriage roads have been completed to Kyrenia, Kythraia, Famagusta, Larnaca, Limasol and Morphou. The principal monuments of the Lusignan period are the fine cathedral church of St Sophia, an edifice of French Gothic, at once solid and elegant (the towers were never completed); the church of St Catherine, an excellent example of the last years of the 14th century (both these are now mosques); and the church of St Nicolas of the English (now a grain store), built for the order of the Knights of St Thomas of Acre. A gateway of no great importance is nearly all that remains of the palace last used by the Venetian provveditori. It dates from the end of the 15th century. There is a museum, with a valuable catalogue. The chief industries are tanning and hand weaving, both silk and cotton.
NICOSIA, a city and episcopal see (since 1816) of Sicily, in the province of Catania, 21 m. by road N. of the railway station of Leonforte (which is 49 m. W. of Catania) and 42 m. W.N.W. of Catania direct, 2840 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 16,004. The town retains a thoroughly medieval appearance, with a fine Norman cathedral and some other interesting churches, among them S. Maria Maggiore, with a reredos by Antonio Gagini. A Lombard dialect is still spoken here, and the town is less modernized in every respect than any other in Sicily. The Sicel town of Herbita is usually placed here, but without sufficient reason, and the origin of Nicosia is unknown. It was destroyed by the Saracens and repopulated by the Normans.
NICOTERA, GIOVANNI (1828–1894), Italian patriot and politician, was born at San Biagio on the 9th of September 1828. Joining the party of young Italy he was among the combatants at Naples in May 1848, and was at San Pancrazio with Garibaldi during the defence of Rome. After the fall of Rome he fled to Piedmont, where he organized the expedition to Sapri in 1857, but shortly after his arrival there he was defeated and severely wounded by the Bourbon troops. Condemned to death, but reprieved through the intervention of the British minister, he remained a prisoner at Naples and at Favignana until 1860, when he joined Garibaldi at Palermo. Sent by Garibaldi to Tuscany, he attempted to invade the Papal States with a volunteer brigade, but his followers were disarmed and disbanded by Ricasoli and Cavour. In 1862 he was with Garibaldi at Aspromonte; in 1866 he commanded a volunteer brigade against Austria; in 1867 he invaded the Papal States from the south, but the defeat of Garibaldi at Mentana put an end to his enterprise. His parliamentary career dates from 1860. During the first ten years he engaged in violent opposition, but from 1870 onwards he joined in supporting the military reforms of Ricotti. Upon the advent of the Left in 1876, Nicotera became minister of the interior, and governed with remarkable firmness. He was obliged to resign in December 1877, when he joined Crispi, Cairoli, Zanardelli and Baccarini in forming the “pentarchy” in opposition to Depretis, but he only returned to power thirteen years later as minister of the interior in the Rudini cabinet of 1891. On this occasion he restored the system of uninominal constituencies, resisted the socialist agitation, and pressed, though in vain, for the adoption of drastic measures against the false bank-notes put in circulation by the Roman bank. He fell with the Rudini cabinet in May 1892, and died at Vico Equense, near Naples, on the 13th of June 1894.
See V. Giordano, La Vita ed i discorsi di Giovanni Nicotera (Salermo, 1878); Mauro, Biografia di Giovanni Nicotera (Rome, 1886; German trans., Leipzig, 1886); and Mario, In memoria di Giovanni Nicotera (Florence, 1894).
NICOTINE, C10H14N2, an alkaloid, found with small quantities of nicotimine, C19H14N2, nicoteine, C10H12N2, and nicotelline, C10H8N2, in tobacco. The name is taken from Nicotiana, the tobacco plant, so called after Jean Nicot (1530–1600), French ambassador at Lisbon, who introduced tobacco into France in 1560. These four alkaloids exist in combination in tobacco chiefly as malates and citrates. The alkaloid is obtained from an aqueous extract of tobacco by distillation with slaked lime, the distillate being acidified with oxalic acid, concentrated to a syrup and decomposed by potash. The free base is extracted by ether and fractionated in a current of hydrogen. It is a colourless oil, which boils at 247° C. (745 mm.), and when pure is almost odourless. It has a sharp burning taste, and is very poisonous. It is very hygroscopic, dissolves readily in water, and rapidly undergoes oxidation on exposure to air. The free alkaloid is strongly laevo-rotatory. F. Ratz (Monats., 1905, 26, p. 1241) obtained the value [a]D＝−169·54° at 20°; its salts are dextro-rotatory. It behaves as a di-acid as well as a di-tertiary base.
On oxidation with chromic or nitric acids, or potassium permanganate, it yields nicotinic acid or β-pyridine carboxylic acid, C5H4N·CO2H; alkaline potassium ferricyanide gives nicotyrine, C10H10N2, and hydrogen peroxide oxynicotine, C10H14N2O. Oxidation of its isomethylhydroxide with potassium permanganate yields trigonelline, C7H7NO2 (A. Pictet and P. Genequand, Ber., 1897, 30, p. 2117). It gives rise to various decomposition products such as pyridine, picoline, &c., when its vapour is passed through a red-hot tube. The hydrochloride on heating with hydrochloric acid gives methyl chloride (B. Blau, Ber., 1893, 26, p. 631). Hydriodic acid and phosphorus at high temperature give a dihydro-compound, whilst sodium and alcohol give hexa- and octo-hydro derivatives. Nicotine may be recognized by the addition of a drop of 30% formaldehyde, the mixture being allowed to stand for one hour and the solid residue then moistened by a drop of concentrated
