Basilica of Saint Neophytos is the name of a defunct, underwater

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

in Lake Iznik, modern-day

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

. Coordinates: 40.4258225,29.7095841 visible just off shore

History

In 2014 the underwater

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Basilica of Saint Neophytos, dedicated to

Saint Neophytos Neophytos of Cyprus, Saint Neophytos, Neophytos the Recluse (Greek: Άγιος Νεόφυτος ο Έγκλειστος; 1134–1214) was a Cypriot Orthodox monk, priest, and sometime hermit, whose writings preserved a history of the early cru ...

, was discovered in Lake Iznik, modern-day

. The basilica had been built in the place where he was killed on the shore of the lake and subsequently became submerged after an earthquake AD740.https://www.dailysabah.com/life/history/underwater-st-neophytos-basilica-resurfaces-with-retreat-of-lake-iznik Underwater St. Neophytos basilica resurfaces with retreat of Lake Iznik It is possible, according to researchers, that the basilica was built as a result of the

First Council of Nicaea The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. This ecumenical council was the first effort ...

, convened by Emperor

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

in the year 325. Its discovery was included in the list of top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2014 released by Archaeological Institute of America.

References

{{coord missing, Turkey Byzantine church buildings in Turkey History of Bursa Province Lakes of Turkey Underwater ruins Byzantine Bithynia External Links —————————————————————————————————————————————————————�

PBS video "Secrets of the Dead: The Sunken Basilica"

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