Olbia or Theodorias () 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

town between

Marj Marj (, , "The Meadows"), El Merj in Benghazi and Egyptian Arabic, is a city in northeastern Libya and the administrative seat of the Marj District. It lies in an upland valley separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a range of hills, part of th ...

and Bayda in the

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

region of modern

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. Olbia is now mostly an archaeological site. The location's modern name is

Qasr Libya Qasr Libya or Qasr Lebia (, lit. 'Lebia Castle', Lebia/Libya being a corruption of the ancient name Olbia) is a small town in northern Libya about northwest of Bayda. In ancient times, it was a Roman / Byzantine town called Olbia and Theodorias ...

, after the Islamic period castle ('' qasr'') on the site and Libya or Lebia as a corruption of the ancient name Olbia.

History

The ancient city of Olbia, after destruction by the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

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

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

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 (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

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 member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s of this

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

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

. 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 The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...

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

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

Modern times (Catholic Church)

Tihamér Tóth Tihamér is a masculine given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the ot ...

(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 Populated places in ancient Cyrenaica Populated places of the Byzantine Empire