Ecdaumava or Ekdaumaua (Greek: Έκδαύμαυα), also known as Egdava and Gdanmaa (Greek: Γδανμάα), was a town of ancient Lycaonia, inhabited in Roman and Byzantine times.[1] It became a bishopric; no longer the seat of a residential bishop, it remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.[2]

Its site is located near Çeşmelisebil, Sarayönü, Konya Province, Turkey,[1][3] 85 km (53 mi) north of Konya at the foot of a chain of low hills running north–south.[4] The site is specifically on a hill east of Çeşmelisebil and was once the richest find site of Christian inscriptions in Lycaonia, but today there are relatively few remains including ancient and Byzantine spolia.[4] There are also inscriptions at Kuyulusebil, 4 km (2.5 mi) north of Çeşmelisebil.[4]

According to the Tabula Peutingeriana, Gdanmaa lay on the more northerly of the ancient routes crossing through Lycaonia from northwest to southeast, between Vetisso and Pegella.[4] There may have also been a north–south route passing through the town, branching off from the main Ankyra-Ikonion road and leading to Laodicea Combusta.[4] Gdanmaa was still described as a chorion through post-Constantine times.[4] The First Council of Nicaea in 325 contains the first reference to Gdanmaa as a bishopric: its bishop (a suffragan of Ankyra) was listed among the participants.[4] At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 it was listed as a suffragan of Ikonion and was represented by the metropolitan.[4]

In later periods the bishopric is given the alternate name of Eudoxias or Eudokias, which exclusively appears in later periods.[4] The change of name indicates that the seat of the bishopric had shifted to the better-protected location of Eudokias.[4] Eudokias's location is unknown but it must be one of the fortified places of northern Lycaonia, perhaps at Karanlı Kale north of Yeniceoba.[4] Eudokias was also the seat of a bandon and topoteresia, which was transferred into the new tourma of Kommata, in the theme of Cappadocia under Leon VI.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 63, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
  2. ^ "Ecdaumava (Titular See)". Catholic Hierarchy.
  3. ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Belke, Klaus; Restle, Marcell (1984). Tabula Imperii Byzantini Bd. 4. Galatien und Lykaonien. Wien: Herbert Hunger. pp. 166, 193. ISBN 3700106343. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.

38°37′22″N 32°33′00″E / 38.62291°N 32.5500014°E / 38.62291; 32.5500014

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