Amyzon (Ancient Greek: Ἀμυζών) in Caria (now Mazin, Aydın Province between the villages of Akmescit and Gaffarlar, in Aegean Turkey) was an ancient city 30 km south of modern Koçarlı.[1][2][3]

History

The city was in the Athenian alliance in 405 BC.[4]

Under the Seleucids, Amyzon was one of the cities in the Chrysaorian League of Carian cities that lasted at least until 203 BC, when Antiochus III confirmed the privileges of Amyzon.[5] The League had a form of reciprocal citizenship whereby a citizen of a member city was entitled to certain rights and privileges in any other member city.[6][7]

The city was dismissed by Strabo[8] as a mere peripolion ('suburb' or 'township') of Alabanda; Amyzon was mentioned by Pliny, Ptolemy and Hierocles. In the wars among the successors of Alexander, in the 3rd century BC, the city allied with the less immediately threatening power, first with the Ptolemies, then with the Seleucids. In the second city it concluded an alliance with Heracleia under Latmos. On one occasion it sent a delegation to the oracle of Apollo at Clarus. The few coins identified as from the mint at Amyzon are Hellenistic and Imperial Roman.

Remains

A stretch of the city wall stands 6 m high (in fact, the terrace wall of the shrine); inside it are a few ruined and unidentifiable buildings, as well as a row of a dozen large vaulted underground chambers, apparently storerooms.[9] There are also Byzantine structures. Outside the city a series of ruined terraces mark the site of the Doric temple of Artemis,[10] which dates from the time of the Hecatomnids: an architrave block has been found bearing a dedication by Idrieus. Numerous other inscriptions abound.

Amyzon was excavated by Louis Robert.[11] Amyzon was mentioned in the Byzantine lists of bishops. No longer a residential diocese, it is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[12]

Bishopric

Amyzon is a titular see In the province of Caria; a suffragan to Stauropolis. It was a neighbour to the bishopric of Alinda.[13] [14][15][16][17][18]

Ancient bishops

Bishop Borgna

Titular Roman Bishops

Notes

  1. ^ George Ewart Bean: Amyzon (Mazın Kalesi) Turkey. In: Richard Stillwell u. a. (Hrsg.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3.
  2. ^ Gernot Lang: Klassische antike Stätten Anatoliens. BoD, 2003, ISBN 3833000686, p 88–89.
  3. ^ Louis und Jeanne Robert: Fouilles d'Amyzon en Carie. Tome 1. Exploration, histoire, monnaies et inscriptions. de Boccard, Paris 1983.
  4. ^ Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen, Caria, in An inventory of archaic and classical poleis, New York, (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 1111–1112, ISBN 0-19-814099-1.
  5. ^ J. Ma, Antiochos III and the Cities of Western Asia Minor, :175.
  6. ^ "Hazlitt, The Classical Gazetteer, s.v. "Chrysaorium"". p. 109. Archived from the original on 2007-03-05. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  7. ^ María Marta González González, Cartas de la cancillería helenística (II) en la revista Memorias de historia antigua, ISSN 0210-2943, Nº 11-12, 1990–1991, págs. 127-146 (p.129)
  8. ^ Strabo, 658.
  9. ^ The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites: s.v. "Amyzon".
  10. ^ See the Bagadates who was a neokoros, at the article Bagadates I.
  11. ^ Louis Robert, with Jeanne Robert, Fouilles d'Amyzon en Carie I, (Paris: De Boccard) 1983.
  12. ^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 831
  13. ^ Rosemary Morris, Monks and Laymen in Byzantium, 843-1118(Cambridge University Press, 2002)
  14. ^ Henry Mourice, A Defence of Diocesan Episcopacy, in answer to a book of Mr D. Clarkson ... entituled"Primitive Episcopacy.".(1691)
  15. ^ David Clarkson, Primitive Episcopacy, evincing from Scripture and ancient records, that a bishop in the Apostles times, and for the space of the first three centuries of the Gospel-Church, was no more than a pastor to one single church or congregation, etc. [With a prefatory epistle by Isaac Chauncy].(Nath. Ponder, 1688)
  16. ^ Bingham, J.; Bingham, R. (1834). Origines ecclesiasticæ; or, The antiquities of the Christian church, and other works. To which are now added, several sermons. p. 334. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  17. ^ Joseph Bingham, Origines ecclesiasticæ; or, The antiquities of the Christian church, and other works. To which are now added, several sermons (Joseph Bingham, 1834) p 334
  18. ^ Robert Knaplock, The Works, Volume 1 (Robert Knaplock, 1726)p834
  19. ^ Authoritative Christianity. The third world council ... which was held A.D. 431.
  20. ^ Amyzona at catholic-hierarchy.org.
  21. ^ Amyzon at GCatholc.org.
  22. ^ Le Petit Episcopologe, Issue 188, Number 15,318

37°36′31″N 27°42′40″E / 37.6087°N 27.711°E / 37.6087; 27.711

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