Podalia ( grc, Ποδαλία), also spelled Podalaea or Podalaia (Ποδαλαία), Podallia (Ποδαλλία), and Podaleia (Ποδάλεια), was a town of

ancient Lycia Lycia ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is ...

, mentioned by several ancient authors.

Name

Although this town in Lycia appeared in Smith's ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' (1854) under the name Podalaea, the more recent ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'' (1976) calls it Podalia.G.E. Bean, "Podalia" in Richard Stillwell et alii (editors), ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'' (Princeton University Press, 1976)
/ref> The form "Podalia" is also what appears in the 1902 edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', and is used by David Cunliffe Pointer. The city is called Podalia in

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

's Natural History, in Hierocles's Synecdemus, and in 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 Lat ...

''.

Site

Smith reported the theory of

Charles Fellows Sir Charles Fellows (31 August 1799 – 8 November 1860) was a British archaeologist and explorer, known for his numerous expeditions in what is present-day Turkey. Biography Charles Fellows was born at High Pavement, Nottingham on 31 August ...

that the site of Podalia was at Eskihisar ( Turkish for "old town"), near Almalec, where there are remains of ancient

Cyclopean Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typic ...

town walls and rock tombs; but the Princeton Encyclopedia dismisses that theory, and another that would place Podalia at Armutlu, as lacking evidence. A better theory, it holds, is that the town was situated at a place still called Podalia or Podamia on a hill at the northwest corner of the Avlan Gölü lake, 16 km south of Elmali. It sees as even more likely, and indeed almost certain, a site at Söğle, where there are remains of a large town for which no other identification is possible, since the only other candidate would be Choma, now positively identified with Hacimusalar, southwest of Elmali.

History

Inscriptions show that, in the 2nd century AD, Podalia received benefits from Opramoas of Rhodiapolis and that it honoured Jason of Kyaneai. The very few coins of Podalia that have been found of the time of Gordian III (238–244).

Bishopric

Podalia became a Christian

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 ...

, a suffragan of the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a ...

Mira Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–400 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...

, the capital of 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 Lycia. Its bishop Callinicus took part in the

First Council of Constantinople The First Council of Constantinople ( la, Concilium Constantinopolitanum; grc-gre, Σύνοδος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως) was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in AD 381 b ...

(381). Aquilinus was one of the signatories of the letter that in 458 the bishops of Lycia sent to

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...

Leo I the Thracian Leo I (; 401 – 18 January 474), also known as "the Thracian" ( la, Thrax; grc-gre, ο Θραξ),; grc-gre, Μακέλλης), referencing the murder of Aspar and his son. was Eastern Roman emperor from 457 to 474. He was a native of Dacia ...

concerning the murder of

Proterius of Alexandria Hieromartyr Proterius of Alexandria (died 457) was Patriarch of Alexandria from 451 to 457. He had been appointed by the Council of Chalcedon to replace the deposed Dioscorus. History Proterius was elected by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 t ...

. A bishop named Ioannes was at a synod called by Menas of Constantinople in 536. Another Ioannes was at the Photian

Council of Constantinople (879) The Fourth Council of Constantinople was held in 879–880. It confirmed the reinstatement of Photius I as patriarch of Constantinople. The result of this council is accepted by some Eastern Orthodox as having the authority of an ecumenical co ...

. No longer a residential bishopric, Podalia is today listed by the

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 ...

as 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 archbis ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 954

References

{{coord, 36.6741, N, 30.0364, E, source:wikidata, display=title Populated places in ancient Lycia Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Catholic titular sees in Asia Elmalı District