Apamea Myrlea
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]
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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Apameia" in William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854)
- ↑ See also the disambiguation page Apamea
- ↑ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, entry "Ăpămēa"
- ↑ William Smith, A Classical Dictionary, p. 83
- ↑ William Smith, A Classical Dictionary, p. 581
- ↑ Asia Minor Coins - ancient coins of Apamea
- ↑ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 655-658
- ↑ Gaetano Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, Vol. 2, p. 235
- ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 834
Further reading
- Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (ISBN 0-691-03169-X), p. 52.
- Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Apameia
Coordinates: 40°22′31″N 28°52′56″E / 40.37528°N 28.88222°E