Location of Isauria-Asia Minor Map, Classical Atlas, 1886, Keith Johnston

Isaura Nea ( grc, Ἴσαυρα Νέα), in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Isaura Nova, both meaning 'New Isaura', was a town of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

and

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 ...

era, so called in juxtaposition with the settlement of

Isaura Palaea Isaura Palaea ( grc, Ἴσαυρα Παλαιά, Isaura Palaia), in Latin Isaura Vetus, both meaning 'Old Isaura', and perhaps identical to Isauropolis, was a Roman and Byzantine era town in southern Turkey. The city has been identified with mode ...

. It also bore the name Leontopolis, and in later days was included in the province of

Lycaonia Lycaonia (; el, Λυκαονία, ''Lykaonia''; tr, Likaonya) was a large region in the interior of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), north of the Taurus Mountains. It was bounded on the east by Cappadocia, on the north by Galatia, on the west by ...

. Along with Isaura Palaea, the city was one of the two major settlements of the region of

Isauria Isauria ( or ; grc, Ἰσαυρία), in ancient geography, is a rugged, isolated, district in the interior of Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering what is now the district of Bozkır and its surrou ...

(Ἰσαυρία), now southern

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 ...

, and is identified with Aydoğmuş, formerly Dorla.

History

Isaura Nea was the successor settlement to

('Old Isaura'), which had been destroyed by the Roman Servilius Isauricus (), and ceded by Rome to

Amyntas of Galatia Amyntas ( grc, Ἀμύντας), Tetrarch of the Trocmi was a King of Galatia and of several adjacent countries between 36 and 25 BC, mentioned by StraboStrabo, ''Geographia'', xii as contemporary with himself. He was the son of Brogitarus, kin ...

, who built out of the ruins of Isaura Palaea a new city in the neighbourhood, which he surrounded with a wall; but he did not live to complete the work. In the 3rd century, Isaura Nea was the residence of the rival emperor

Trebellianus Trebellianus (d. 260–268) was a Roman usurper listed among the thirty tyrants in the '' Historia Augusta''. Modern historians consider this figure a character invented by the author of ''Historia'', whose traditional name was Trebellius Pollio. ...

; but in the time of

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally Anglicisation, anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Ancient history, antiquity (preceding Procopius). His w ...

nearly all traces of its former magnificence had vanished.

Bishopric of Leontopolis

The city was the seat of an ancient

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

and is mentioned in all the ''

Notitiae Episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the -mostly Lati ...

'' of the

era. In the mid Byzantine period the city bishopric was merged with the older neighbouring

Isauropolis Isauropolis ( grc, Ἰσαυρόπολις) was a Roman and Byzantine-era town in southern Turkey. Possibly also known as Isaura Vetus, the city was in the Anatolian countryside of what was Lycaonia in today's southern Turkey and may have been t ...

. The Isaurian church was originally under the authority of the

Patriarch of Antioch Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the bishop of Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey). As the traditional "overseer" (ἐπίσκοπος, ''episkopos'', from which the word ''bishop'' is derived) of the first gentile Christian c ...

, but was attached to the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...

in the late 7th or early 8th century. Epitaphs have been found of three bishops, Theophilus, Sisamoas, and Mamas, who lived between the years 250 and 400. Three other bishops are also known, Hilarius, 381; Callistratus, somewhat later; Aetius, 451. The last named bishop also bears the title of

, the name of a city which also figures in the Hierocles's ''

Synecdemus The ''Synecdemus'' or ''Synekdemos'' ( el, Συνέκδημος) is a geographic text, attributed to Hierocles, which contains a table of administrative divisions of the Byzantine Empire and lists of their cities. The work is dated to the reign o ...

''. As no ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' make mention of Isauropolis, Ramsay supposes that the Diocese of Isauropolis was early joined with that of Isaura Palaea which is mentioned in all the ''Notitiae''. The bishopric remains 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 ...

of the

Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 ...

2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013).

References

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