Apamea Myrlea

Apamea Myrlea
Apamea Myrlea
Coordinates: TR 40°22′35″N 28°53′00″E / 40.37639°N 28.88333°E / 40.37639; 28.88333Coordinates: TR 40°22′35″N 28°53′00″E / 40.37639°N 28.88333°E / 40.37639; 28.88333
Country Turkey
Province Bursa

Apamea Myrlea (/ˌæpəˈmiːə mərˈliːə/; Ancient Greek: Απάμεια Μύρλεια) was an ancient city on the Sea of Marmara, in Bithynia, Anatolia; its ruins are a few kilometers south of Mudanya, Bursa Province in the Marmara Region of Turkey.

Name

To distinguish this city from the many others called Apamea,[1][2][3] the name Apamea Myrlea used here adds to the name (Apamea) it was given when rebuilt as an important city the name (Myrlea) it previously bore as a smaller town.[4] It was also referred to as Apamea Myrlēon (Apamea of Myrlea).[5]

History

The town was founded as a colony of the Colophonians and was called Μύρλεια (Myrleia or Myrlea). Philip V of Macedon took the town, as it appears, during his war against the king of Pergamon, and gave it to his ally, King Prusias I of Bithynia, who fortified and enlarged it – indeed almost rebuilt it[6] – around 202 BC, renaming it Ἀπάμεια (transcribed as Apameia, Apamea, or Apamia), after his wife, Apama III.[2]

Erdek Gulf today

The place was on the south coast of the Gulf of Erdek, and northwest of Bursa, then called Prusa, for which it served as a port.[1]

The Romans made Apamea a colonia, apparently in the time of Augustus, or perhaps Julius Caesar, in view of the adjective "Iulia" that appear on its coins under Roman rule.[2] Its earlier coins were stamped Ἀπαμέων Μυρλεάνων, but in Roman times they bore the label C.I.C.A. (= Colonia Iulia Concordia Apamea).[7]

When Pliny the Younger was governor of Bithynia, he consulted Trajan about a claim by the colonia not to have its accounts of receipts and expenditures examined by the Roman governor.[2]

A passage of Ulpian shows use of the adjectival form of the name was Apamenus: "Apamena: est in Bithynia colonia Apamena.[2]

Bishopric

This Apamea in the Roman province of Bithynia became the seat of a Christian bishop in the 4th century and was at first a suffragan of Nicaea, but became an autocephalous archdiocese some time before the Fourth Council of Constantinople (Roman Catholic) in 869, at which its archbishop Paulus took part.[8][9]

No longer a residential bishopric, Apamea in Bithynia is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Apameia" in William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854)
  3. ↑ See also the disambiguation page Apamea
  4. ↑ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, entry "Ăpămēa"
  5. ↑ William Smith, A Classical Dictionary, p. 83
  6. ↑ William Smith, A Classical Dictionary, p. 581
  7. ↑ Asia Minor Coins - ancient coins of Apamea
  8. ↑ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 655-658
  9. ↑ Gaetano Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, Vol. 2, p. 235
  10. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 834

Further reading

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