Apamea (Phrygia): Difference between revisions

The site is now partly occupied by the city of ''[[Dinar (District), Afyonkarahisar|Dinar]]'' (sometimes locally known also as ''Geyikler'', "the gazelles," perhaps from a tradition of the Persian hunting-park, seen by [[Xenophon]] at Celaenae), which by 1911 was connected with [[İzmir]] by railway; there are considerable remains, including a theater and a great number of important [[Graeco-Roman]] inscriptions.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Apamea|display=Apamea s.v. 2|volume=2|page=159|first=David George|last=Hogarth|author-link=David George Hogarth}}</ref>

The original inhabitants were residents of Celaenae who were compelled by Antiochus I Soter to move farther down the river, where they founded the city of Apamea (Strabo, xii. 577). [[Antiochus the Great]] transplanted many [[Jewish people|Jews]] there. (Josephus, ''Ant.'' xii. 3, § 4). It became a seat of [[Seleucid]] power, and a center of Graeco-Roman and [[Graeco-Hebrew]] civilization and commerce. There [[Antiochus the Great]] collected the army with which he met the [[Roman Republic|Romans]] at [[Battle of Magnesia|Magnesia]], and two years later the [[Treaty of Apamea]] between Rome and the Seleucid realm was signed there. After Antiochus' departure for the East, Apamea lapsed to the [[Pergamon|Pergamene]] kingdom and thence to [[Rome]] in 133 BCE, but it was resold to [[Mithridates V of Pontus]], who held it till 120 BCE. After the [[Mithridatic Wars]] it became and remained a great center for trade, largely carried on by resident [[Italian people|Italians]] and by Jews.<ref name="EB1911"/> By order of Flaccus, a large amount of Jewish money &ndash; nearly 45 [[kilograms]] of gold &ndash; intended for the Temple in Jerusalem was confiscated in Apamea in the year 62 BCE (.<ref>[[Cicero]], ''Pro Flacco'', ch. xxviii.).</ref> In 84 BCE [[Sulla]] made it the seat of a ''[[conventus]]'', and it long claimed primacy among Phrygian cities.<ref name="EB1911"/> When Strabo wrote, Apamea was a place of great trade in the Roman [[Asia (Roman province)|province of Asia]], next in importance to [[Ephesus]]. Its commerce was owing to its position on the great road to [[Cappadocia]], and it was also the center of other roads. When Cicero was [[proconsul]] of [[Cilicia]], 51 BCE, Apamea was within his jurisdiction (''ad Fam.'' xiii. 67), but the dioecesis, or conventus, of Apamea was afterwards attached to Asia. [[Pliny the Elder]] enumerates six towns which belonged to the conventus of Apamea, and he observes that there were nine others of little note.

Apamea is mentioned in the [[Talmud]]. The passages relating to witchcraft in Apamea (Ber. 62a) and to a dream in Apamea (Niddah, 30b) probably refer to the Apamea in Phrygia which was looked upon as a fabulously distant habitation. Similarly the much-discussed passage, Yeb. 115b, which treats of the journey of the exilarch Isaac, should also be interpreted to mean a journey from [[Corduene]] to Apamea in Phrygia; for if [[Apamea (Babylonia)|Apamea in Mesene]] were meant (Brüll's ''Jahrb.'' x. 145) it is quite impossible that the [[Babylonia]]ns should have had any difficulty in identifying the body of such a distinguished personage. The mid third century CE coins of Apamea/Kibotos with scenes of Noah and his ark are among the earliest biblical scenes in Roman art.

Apamea Cibotus is enumerated by [[Hierocles (author of Synecdemus)|Hierocles]] among the [[Diocese|episcopal cities]] of the [[Roman province]] of [[Pisidia]]. [[Lequien]] gives the names of nine of its bishops. The first is a Julianus of Apamea at the Maeander who, [[Eusebius]] records, was in about 253 reported by [[Alexander of Hierapolis (Phrygia)]] to have joined others in examining the claims of the [[Montanism|Montanist]] [[Maximilla]]. The list of bishops from Pisidia who participated in the [[First Council of Nicaea]] (325) includes Tharsitius of Apamea. It also gives a Paulus of Apamea, but Lequien considers that in the latter case "Apamea" is a mistake for "Acmonia". A Bishop Theodulus of Apamea (who may, however, have been of Apamea in Bithynia) witnessed a will of [[Gregory of Nazianzus]]. Paulinus took part in the [[Council of Chalcedon]] (451) and was a signatory of the letter from the bishops of Pisidia to Emperor [[Leo I the Thracian]] concerning the killing in 457 of [[Proterius of Alexandria]]. In the early 6th century, Conon abandoned his bishopric of Apamea in Phrygia and became a military leader in a rebellion against [[Emperor Anastasius]]. The acts of the [[Second Council of Constantinople]] (553) were signed by "John by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Apamea in the province of Pisidia". Sisinnius of Apamea was one of the Pisidian bishops at the [[Second Council of Nicaea]] (787). The [[Fourth Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox)|Council held at Constantinople in 879–880]] was attended by two bishops of Apamea in Pisidia, one appointed by [[Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople]] the other by [[Photios I of Constantinople]].<ref name=Lequien>Michel Lequien, [httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=0agp0mJFG_sC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus''], Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 1045-1046</ref>

* [[Richard Talbert]], [[Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World]], ({{ISBN |0-691-03169-X}}), p.&nbsp;65.

* {{1911SmithDGRG|title=Apameia}}

*[[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]] (editor); ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography]]'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-binhopper/ptexttext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064&query=id%3D3Aalphabetic+letter%23828&layout=&loc=apameia3DA%3Aentry+group%3D11%3Aentry%3Dapameia-geo-4 "Apameia"], [[London]], (1854)

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071006061429/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/gazetteer/0041.html Hazlitt, Classical Gazetteer, "Apamea"]

[[Category:PisidiaPopulated places in Phrygia]]

[[Category:VisitorTourist attractions in Afyonkarahisar Province]]

[[Category:3rd-century BC establishments in Asia Minor]]