Ibora was a city in the late

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

Helenopontus Pontus or Pontos (; el, Πόντος, translit=Póntos, "Sea") is a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in the modern-day eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region and its mountainous hin ...

, which became a Christian bishopric. It is now called İverönü, ErbaaHarvey D. Egan, ''An Anthology of Mysticism''
(Liturgical Press 1991 ), p. 43 in present-day Tokat Province,

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 ...

. This is stated also by the ''

Annuario Pontificio The ''Annuario Pontificio'' (Italian for ''Pontifical Yearbook'') is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It lists the popes in chronological order and all officials of the Holy See's departments. It also provides names ...

'', which lists the bishopric as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 907 The article by Siméon Vailhé in the 1910

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

placed its site at modern

Turhal Turhal is a town and a district of Tokat Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is 48 km in the west of Tokat Province. Turhal is situated on a fertile plain fragmented by the Yeşil Irmak river. It has an elevation of approximately 5 ...

in the same modern province.Siméon Vailhé, "Ibora" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1910)
/ref>

History

Vailhé says that, according to some sources, the primitive name of the city was

Gaziura Gaziura (Greek: ), was a town in Pontus, on the river Iris, near the point where its course turns northwards. Some scholars equate Gaziura with Talaura, others with Ibora, and others with modern Turhal. E.g., It was the ancient residence of t ...

, formerly a royal city, mentioned by

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 ...

as deserted (XII, xv:

Dio Cassius Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

, xxxv, 12). In fact a Greek inscription, which dates from the time of

Mithridates VI of Pontus Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator ( grc-gre, Μιθραδάτης; 135–63 BC) was ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an e ...

, has been discovered on the rock of the fortress; a subterranean gallery, hewn from the rock, descends to the interior of the mountain and served perhaps as a secret depository for the royal treasures. Ibora was the home town of Evagrius Ponticus, the famous

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...

ist ascetic of the 4th century, and was situated not far from Arnesi, the property of Saint Basil, who led a religious life on the bank of the river Iris with his friend

Saint Gregory Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...

and his sister Macrina. The correspondence of these two saints frequently mentions Ibora, which, according to Procopius (''Historia Arcana'', xviii), was destroyed by an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

in the 6th century.

Bishops

Le Quien (''Oriens Christ.'', I, 533) mentions seven bishops of Ibora, from the 4th to the 9th century. The bishopric was still active about the year 1170 under

Manuel Comnenus Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; "born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor ...

( Hierocles; Parthey, "Hieroclis Synecdemus," 108).

References

Roman towns and cities in Turkey Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Populated places in ancient Pontus Catholic titular sees in Asia Former populated places in Turkey History of Tokat Province Populated places of the Byzantine Empire {{Tokat-geo-stub

History

Bishops

See also

References