Sozopolis in Pisidia ( grc, Σωζόπολη της Πισιδίας), which had been called Apollonia (Ἀπολλωνία) and Apollonias (Ἀπολλωνίας) during

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

times, was a town in the former

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 ...

Pisidia Pisidia (; grc-gre, Πισιδία, ; tr, Pisidya) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of Ant ...

, and is not to be confused with the Thracian

Sozopolis in Haemimonto Sozopol ( bg, Созопол , el, Σωζόπολη, translit=Sozopoli) is an ancient seaside town located 35 km south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Today it is one of the major seaside resorts in the country, known for the ...

in present-day

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 ...

Location

Sozopolis in Pisidia must have been situated in the border region of that province, since some ancient accounts place it in Phrygia. Its site may correspond to present-day

Uluborlu Uluborlu is a town and district of Isparta Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. The population was 6,385 in 2010. History Throughout history, Uluborlu has been on the military and commercial crossroads of Asia minor which has shaped it ...

Isparta Province Isparta Province ( tr, ) is a province in southwestern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Afyon to the northwest, Burdur to the southwest, Antalya to the south, and Konya to the east. It has an area of 8,993 km2 and a population of 448,298 ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. Older sources put it "Souzon, south of Aglasoun". Modern scholars locate its site near

History

Stephanus of Byzantium says that Apollonia in Pisidia (Sozopolis) was originally called Mordiaeon or Mordiaïon (Μορδιάιον), and was celebrated for its quinces. The coins of Apollonia record

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

as the founder, and also the name of a stream that flowed; by it, the Hippopharas. Two Greek inscriptions of the Roman period copied by Francis Arundell give the full title of the town in that age, "the Boule and Demus of the Apolloniatae Lycii Thraces Coloni," by which he concluded that the city was founded by a Thracian colony established in

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 ...

, but that conclusion is not universally accepted. Sozopolis in Pisidia was the birthplace of Severus of Antioch (born around 456). The

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

of the Theotokos of Pisidian Sozopolis, celebrated by

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

Christians on 3 September, originated in this city. Fragments of the

Res Gestae Divi Augusti ''Res Gestae Divi Augusti'' (Eng. ''The Deeds of the Divine Augustus'') is a monumental inscription composed by the first Roman emperor, Augustus, giving a first-person record of his life and accomplishments. The ''Res Gestae'' is especially sig ...

in Greek have been found in the area.

Bishopric

Sozopolis sent its

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 ...

and possibly two other representatives to the Council of Constantinople in 381, and its bishop attended the Council of Ephesus in 431. The see is included in 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 ...

's list of

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 ...

s.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ), p. 975

References

Sources

{{coord, 38.072539, N, 30.470512, E, display=title, format=dms, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/21535 Seleucid colonies in Anatolia Former populated places in Turkey Populated places in Pisidia Roman sites in Turkey Titular sees in Asia