Birgi is a small town located in the
Ödemiş district of
İzmir province in
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 ...
. Its current name is a distortion of its medieval Greek name, Pyrgion (Greek: Πυργίον, meaning "Little Tower").
History
In
antiquity
Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to:
Historical objects or periods Artifacts
*Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures
Eras
Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...
, the town was known as
Dios Hieron ( gr, Διός Ἱερόν, 'Sanctuary of
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...
'),
one of two cities thus named. The city became part of the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
and the
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 ...
of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
with the annexation of the
Kingdom of Pergamon.
It was renamed to ''Christoupolis'' ( gr, Χριστούπολις) in the 7th century and was known as ''Pyrgion'' ( gr, Πυργίον) from the 12th century on.
Pyrgion fell to the Turks in 1307, and became the capital of the
beylik of
Aydin.
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berber Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, largely in the Muslim ...
visited the city and attended a lecture by the eminent professor Muhyi al-Din.
It was subsequently incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
in 1390. Birgi is well known for its classic
Seljuk and
Ottoman architecture
Ottoman architecture is the architectural style that developed under the Ottoman Empire. It first emerged in northwestern Anatolia in the late 13th century and developed from earlier Seljuk Turkish architecture, with influences from Byzantine ...
and has been listed as a World Cultural Heritage by
__city_had_an_ancient_Christianity.html" ;"title="Roman_Empire.html" "title="ÇEKÜL
(Protection and Promotion of the Environment and Cultural Heritage)since 1994.
In 2021, archaeologists unearthed a Byzantine fort.
Bishopric
The Roman Empire">Roman Era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
city had an ancient Christianity">Christian Bishopric attested as an episcopal see from at least 451, It was a suffragan of See of Ephesus, Ephesus, which it remained under until the late 12th century when it became a separate metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolis.
from antiquity.
*Stephen took part in the
(451) and his metropolitan, Stephen of Ephesus, signed on his behalf
*Zoetus was among the fathers of the
of 692
*Stephen of Pyrgion participated at the two Councils of Constantinople in
, so far the see has never been assigned.