Olbia or Theodorias ( grc-gre, Ὀλβία, Θεοδωριάς) was a

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 lette ...

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 ...

town between Marj and Bayda in the

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

region of modern

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. Olbia is now mostly the archaeological site. The location's modern name is Qasr Libya, after the Islamic period castle (Qasr) on the site and

or Lebia as a corruption of the ancient name

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age ...

History

The ancient city of Olbia, after destruction by the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

and incursions by Laguatan (Lwatae) nomads, was refounded in 539 CE as ''polis nea'' ("new city") Theodorias by the Byzantine empress

Theodora Theodora is a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift". Theodora may also refer to: Historical figures known as Theodora Byzantine empresses * Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church * Theodora o ...

All that remains of the town are two Byzantine churches. One is integrated into the Qasr, which now houses the Qasr Libya Museum. The other church was excavated by Richard Goodchild in the mid 1950s.Pliez, Olivier (ed.) (2009) "Qasr Libya (Olbia-Theodoria)" ''Le Petit Futé Libye'' Petit Futé, Paris
p. 241
; in French. Only the floor plan remains, but fifty beautiful

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

panels depicting the known world and the refoundation and adornment of the city by Theodora are on display in the museum. In one of these, two mosaics reveal the names of Makarios and Theodoros, the bishops, the latter being qualified as a "new bishop," presumably Makarios's successor.

Bishopric

There are five known ancient

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

s of this

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

diocese 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 associa ...

. The first two are mentioned in the letter written by Synesius of Cyrene to Theophilus of Alexandria in 412, in which the author communicates to the Archbishop of Alexandria that after a long ministry and a long life died "the very best Father Athamas"; that the faithful of Olbia unanimously chose as his successor Antonios, an honest and just man.Roques, Synésios de Cyrène et la Cyrénaïque du Bas-Empire, pp. 106, 335, 340, 359, 362. Bishop Publius took part in the Council of Ephesus 431. Since 1933 Olbia has been included among the bishopric holders of the Catholic Church; the title is no longer assigned from May 26, 1978.
at Catholic-Hierarchy.org.

Known bishops

Late antiquity

* Athamas ( fl. 412) * Antonios (fl. after 412 ) * Poplios (Publius) (fl. 431) * Makarios (fl. 539/540) * Theodoros (fl. 539/540)

Modern times (Catholic Church)

* Tihamér Tóth (1938–1939) * James Colbert (1939–1955) * Elie Vandewalle (1958–1960) * Arcângelo Cerqua (1961–1978)

Notes

References

* Goodchild, Richard. The Great, newly discovered mosaic floor of Qasr el-Lebia. ''London Illustrated Evening News '', Dec. 14th 1957 * Williams, Gwyn. ''Green Mountain - an informal guide to Cyrenaica and its Jebel Akhdar''. Faber and Faber 1963

External links

Theodorias (Qasr Libya)
{{coord, 32, 38, N, 21, 24, E, display=title Archaeological sites in Libya Roman sites in Libya Former populated places in Libya Ancient Cyrenaica Populated places of the Byzantine Empire