Stomach

The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the digestive system which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in many animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects (mid-gut), and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication (chewing).

In most vertebrates, the stomach is located between the esophagus and the small intestine. It secretes protein-digesting enzymes called proteases and gastric acid to aid in food digestion, through smooth muscular contractions before sending partially digested food (chyme) to the small intestines.

Structure

The stomach lies between the esophagus and the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). It is in the left upper part of the abdominal cavity. The top of the stomach lies against the diaphragm. Lying behind the stomach is the pancreas. A large double fold of visceral peritoneum called the greater omentum hangs down from the greater curvature of the stomach.

Two sphincters keep the contents of the stomach contained; the lower esophageal sphincter (found in the cardiac region), at the junction of the oesophagus and stomach, and the pyloric sphincter at the junction of the stomach with the duodenum.

Cardia (Thrace)

Cardia (in Greek Kαρδία), anciently the chief town of the Thracian Chersonese (today Gallipoli peninsula), was situated at the head of the Gulf of Melas (today the Gulf of Saros). It was originally a colony of the Milesians and Clazomenians; but subsequently, in the time of Miltiades (late 6th century BC), the place also received Athenian colonists, as proved by Miltiades tyranny (515–493 BC). But this didn't make Cardia necessarily always pro-Athenian: when in 357 BC Athens took control of the Chersonese, the latter, under the rule of a Thracian prince, was the only city to remain neutral; but the decisive year was 352 BC when the city concluded a treaty of amity with king Philip II of Macedonia. A great crisis exploded when Diopeithes, an Athenian mercenary captain, had in 343 BC brought Attic settlers to the town; and since Cardia was unwilling to receive them, Philip immediately sent help to the town. The king proposed to settle the dispute between the two cities by arbitration, but Athens refused. The town was destroyed by Lysimachus about 309 BC, and although it was afterwards rebuilt, it never again rose to any degree of prosperity, as Lysimachia, which was built in its vicinity and peopled with the inhabitants of Cardia, became the chief town in that neighbourhood. Cardia was the birthplace of Alexander's secretary Eumenes and of the historian Hieronymus.