Parthicopolis ( grc, Παρθικόπολις) was an ancient city in

Sintice Sintice or Sintike ( Greek: Σιντική) was an ancient region and later district of the kingdom of Macedon. It was located north of Bisaltia and Odomantike up to Messapio mount and west of Crestonia and South Paeonia to Strymon river and ...

region in ancient

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

and later

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...

. During Byzantine times it was a bishopric seat. Its site is located near modern

Sandanski Sandanski ( bg, Сандански ; el, Σαντάνσκι, formerly known as Sveti Vrach, bg, Свети Врач, until 1947) is a town and a recreation centre in south-western Bulgaria, part of Blagoevgrad Province. Named after the Bulga ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

History

The city was probably founded during the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

and named to commemorate a victory over the

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...

, most likely the Parthian campaign of Emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

in AD 113. It may have been intended as a replacement for Alexandropolis Maedica, which had ceased to exist by the Roman Imperial period. A letter written to the city by Emperor

Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius ( Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatori ...

in AD 158, which was inscribed on stone, survives. It deals with issues that had arisen in the process of establishing the new city, namely the jurisdiction of the town's courts over people who were not citizens of the community, the right of the town to charge a poll tax in addition to the provincial tax, the number of members on the town council, and the amount that council members had to pay on appointment (a summa honoraria). The document is important for understanding the relationship between Roman citizenship and local citizenships under the Roman empire. It suggests a movement towards giving jurisdiction to the town where the dispute arose, rather than requiring disputes to be remitted to the defendent's town of origin (the older practice). The town is mentioned by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

as being in Sintice, a part of Macedonia, as well as by Phlegon of Tralles, Hierocles, and

Constantine Porphyrogenitus Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Ka ...

. The latter locates it in

. Ptolemy's text refers to the town as "Paroecopolis" ( grc, Παροικόπολις), but this is a copyist's error. A town named Pathenopolis, mentioned by Stephanus Byzantius,

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

, and Eutropius has been identified with Parthicopolis, but this appears to be incorrect, since that city was located on the shore of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

between

Callatis Mangalia (, tr, Mankalya), ancient Callatis ( el, Κάλλατις/Καλλατίς; other historical names: Pangalia, Panglicara, Tomisovara), is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanța County, Northern ...

and Tomis.

Ecclesiastical history

Its bishop, Jonas or John, assisted at the

Council of Sardica The Council of Serdica, or Synod of Serdica (also Sardica located in modern day Sofia, Bulgaria), was a synod convened in 343 at Serdica in the civil diocese of Dacia, by Emperors Constans I, augustus in the West, and Constantius II, augustus in the ...

(342 or 343); at the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bi ...

(451) there was present John "Parthicopolis primæ Macedoniae".

Le Quien Michel Le Quien (8 October 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – 12 March 1733, Paris) was a French historian and theologian. He studied at Plessis College, Paris, and at twenty entered the Dominican convent in Faubourg Saint-Germain, where he made his p ...

, ''Oriens christianus'', II, 75. That suggests it was in Macedonia Prima and hence a suffragan of its capital

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

's Metropolitan Archbishopric. This see is not mentioned in any of the Greek ''

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 Lat ...

'', so it probably was not an important city.

Notes

{{coord, 41.565131, N, 23.279729, E, display=title, format=dms, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/22700 Populated places in ancient Macedonia Populated places in ancient Thrace Former populated places in the Balkans Catholic titular sees in Europe Macedonia (Roman province) Roman Thrace History of Blagoevgrad Province Sandanski