Zaliche ( el, Ζαλίχη) or Zaliches () was an ancient town 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 ...

Name

"Zaliche" is the form given in the indices of the editions, produced by Peter Wesseling, and by B.G. Niebuhr It is the form given also in Anthon's ''Classical Dictionary'' On the other hand, the contributor (Leonhard Schmitz) of the entry on the town in William Smith's ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' gives it the name "Zaliches". The ''Annuaire historique'' of the Société de l'histoire de France treats "Zaliches" instead as the genitive case of "Zaliche'. It appears that the city was at some time also called Leontopolis.

History

The manuscripts of the ''

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 ...

'' list among the seven cities of Helenopontus one called , which Peter Wesseling believes should be corrected to and suggests it indicates that the city was surrounded by forests ( la, saltus), making the name equivalent to "Forest of Zaliche". At the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, the Anglican Communion, and ...

in 787, a priest named Andronicus represented the Bishop John "Ζαλίχων", i.e., of Zaliche (Ζαλίχη, neuter plural). The priest is also called a priest Λεοντοπόλεως ἤτοι Ζαλίχου, an expression that treats "Leontopolis" as another name for the same town. Both Wesseling and the contributor to Smith's ''Geography'' also believe that this is the Leontopolis spoken of in ''Novella'' 28 as one of the cities of Helenopontus.

Bishopric

The town 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 remains today a vacant

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 ...

. Leontopolis is first mentioned as a suffragan bishopric of Amaseia in the 6th century and, although declining, survived until the thirteenth. It is mentioned in the Notitia III and sent delegates to

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

Third Council of Constantinople The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as well by certain other Western Churches, met in 680–681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical a ...

.W. M. Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor(Cambridge University Press, 24 Jun. 2010) p 362 At times this city was merged with the bishopric centered on

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 ...

. but known bishops include: *Metrodonus

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, Bith ...

* John fl 787AD * John II (879) * Christopher (10th-11th century) * Stephen of Leontopolis 10th century *Leo of Leotopolis 11th century *Elias Daniel von Sommerfeld † (13 Jun 1714 Appointed – 26 Jul 1742 Died) *Joaquim de Nossa Senhora de Nazareth Oliveira e Abreu, O.F.M. † (4 Sep 1815 Appointed – 23 Aug 1819 Confirmed, Bishop of São Luís do Maranhão) *Alexander Dobrzański † (17 Dec 1819 Appointed – 1831 Died) *Ludwig Forweck † (11 Jul 1854 Appointed – 8 Jan 1875 Died) *Jean-Pierre-François Laforce-Langevin † (13 Feb 1891 Appointed – 26 Jan 1892 Died) *Dominique-Clément-Marie Soulé † (21 Mar 1893 Appointed – 21 Apr 1919 Died) *Franz Xaver Eberle † (2 Jun 1934 Appointed - 19 Nov 1951 Died) *Gustavo Posada Peláez, M.X.Y. † (24 Mar 1953 Appointed - 30 Apr 1990 Appointed, Bishop of Istmina-Tadó Colombia) The seat has been vacant since April 30, 1990.

Site

Modern scholars place the town at

Alaçam Alaçam is a central town of Alaçam district of Samsun Province of Turkey. Scholars believe that Alaçam is the site of the ancient city of Zaliche or Zaliches. History Alaçam County has a long history. It has been held by Phrygian, Cimmeria ...

Samsun Province Samsun Province ( tr, Samsun ili) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast with a population of 1,252,693 (2010). Its adjacent provinces are Sinop Province, Sinop on the northwest, Çorum Province, Çorum on the west, A ...

, Turkey.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in ancient Paphlagonia Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Roman towns and cities in Turkey Former populated places in Turkey History of Samsun Province Catholic titular sees in Asia Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Byzantine Pontus Populated places of the Byzantine Empire