Alabanda ( grc, Ἀλάβανδα) or Antiochia of the Chrysaorians was a city of ancient Caria, Anatolia, the site of which is near

Doğanyurt, Çine Doğanyurt is a village in the Çine district of Aydın province, Turkey, formerly called Araphisar. Doğanyurt is 9 km from the district seat, Çine, and 47 km from the province seat, Aydin. The ruins of ancient Alabanda Alabanda ( ...

Aydın Province Aydın Province ( tr, ) is a province of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. The provincial capital is the city of Aydın which has a population of almost 200,000 (2012). Other towns in the province include the summer seaside re ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The city is located in the saddle between two heights. The area is noted for its dark marble and for gemstones that resembled garnets.

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...

claims that there were two cities named Alabanda (Alabandeus) in Caria, but no other ancient source corroborates this.

History

According to legend, the city was founded by a Carian hero Alabandus. In the

Carian language The Carian language is an extinct language of the Luwic subgroup of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The Carian language was spoken in Caria, a region of western Anatolia between the ancient regions of Lycia and Lydia, b ...

, the name is a combination of the words for horse ''ala'' and victory ''banda''. On one occasion, Herodotus mentions Alabanda being located in

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

, instead of in Caria, but in fact the same city were meant. Amyntas II, son of the Achaemenid Persian official

Bubares Bubares ( el, Βουβάρης, died after 480 BC) was a Persian nobleman and engineer in the service of the Achaemenid Empire of the 5th century BC. He was one of the sons of Megabazus, and a second-degree cousin of Xerxes I. Marriage to the s ...

, is known to have been given the rule over the city by king Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BC). In the early Seleucid period, the city was part of the

Chrysaorian League The Chrysaorian League ( grc, σύστημα Χρυσαορικόν, ''systema Chrysaorikon'') was an informal loose federation of several cities in ancient region of Caria, Anatolia that was apparently formed in the early Seleucid period and las ...

, a loose federation of nearby cities linked by economic and defensive ties and, perhaps, by ethnic ties. The city was renamed Antiochia of the Chrysaorians in honor of Seleucid king Antiochus III who preserved the city's peace. It was captured by Philip V of Macedon in 201 BC. The name reverted to Alabanda after the Seleucid defeat at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC. The Romans occupied the city shortly thereafter. According to Cicero in Greece they worshiped a number of deified human beings, at Alabanda there was Alabandus. In 40 BC, the rebel Quintus Labienus at the head of a Parthian army took the city. After Labienus's garrison was slaughtered by the city's inhabitants, the Parthian army stripped the city of its treasures. Under the Roman Empire, the city became a conventus ( Pliny, V, xxix, 105) and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

reports on its reputation for high-living and decadence. The city minted its own coins down to the mid-third century. During the Byzantine Empire, the city was a created a bishopric. The ruins of Alabanda are 8 km west of Çine and consist of the remains of a theatre and a number of other buildings, but excavations have yielded very few inscriptions.

Ecclesiastical history

The names of some bishops of Alabanda are known because of their participation in church councils. Thus Theodoret was at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Constantine at the Trullan Council in 692, another Constantine at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, and John at the Photian Council of Constantinople (879). The names of two non-orthodox bishops of the see are also known: Zeuxis, who was deposed for Monophysitism in 518, and Julian, who was bishop from around 558 to around 568 and was a

Jacobite Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...

. No longer a residential diocese, Alabanda is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.

Notable people

Aridolis Aridolis ( grc, Ἀρίδωλις) was a tyrant of Alabanda in Caria, who accompanied the Achaemenid king Xerxes I in his expedition against Greece, and was taken by the Greeks off Artemisium in 480 BCE, and sent to the isthmus of Corinth C ...

, tyrant of Alabanda during the

Second Persian invasion of Greece The second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion ...

*Leon of Alabanda (Λέων), a Greek rhetorician and writer * Apollonius the Effeminate, a Greek rhetorician *Menecles of Alabanda (Μενεκλῆς), a Greek rhetorician, brother of HieroclesCICERO, DE ORATORE, 26
/ref> *Hierocles of Alabanda (Ἱεροκλῆς), a Greek rhetorician, brother of Menecles *

Apollonius Molon Apollonius Molon or Molo of Rhodes (or simply Molon; grc, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Μόλων), was a Greek rhetorician. He was a native of Alabanda, a pupil of Menecles, and settled at Rhodes, where he opened a school of rhetoric. Prior to that, ...

, a Greek rhetorician * Apaturius, a Greek scene-painter *Menedemus of Alabanda (Μενέδημος), a Greek general who participated at the Battle of Raphia

Bishops

*Theodoret (mentioned in 451) * Zeuxis (? – 518 deposed) (Monophysite) * Julian (about 558 – about 568) (Jacobite) *Constantine (mentioned in 692) *Constantine II (mentioned in 787) *John (mentioned in 879) *Saba (9th–10th century) *Nicephorus (11th century) *Anonymous (mentioned 11th century) *William O'Carroll, (February 3, 1874 – October 13, 1880)Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series Episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 447. *Rocco Leonasi (March 30, 1882 – March 14, 1883) *Giuseppe Francica-Nava de Bontifè (August 9, 1883 – May 24) *Nicola Lorusso (June 23, 1890 – June 8, 1891) *John Brady (June 19, 1891 – January 6, 1910) *Joseph Lang (February 26, 1915 – 1 November 1924) *François Chaize,(May 12, 1925 – February 23, 1949) *José María García Grain,(March 10, 1949 – May 27, 1959) *Michel Ntuyahaga (June 11, 1959 – November 10, 1959 * James William Malone (January 2, 1960 – May 2, 1968)

Bibliography

*''Turkey: The Aegean and Mediterranean Coasts'', Blue Guides , pp. 349–50. *J. Ma, ''Antiochos III and the Cities of Western Asia Minor'', , p. 175

External links

Hazlitt's Classical GazetteerDictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) at Perseus Project

References

Sources

* * {{Authority control Populated places in ancient Caria Archaeological sites in the Aegean Region Seleucid colonies in Anatolia Ruins in Turkey Catholic titular sees in Asia Former populated places in Turkey Buildings and structures in Aydın Province Tourist attractions in Aydın Province Çine District