Bithynium or Bithynion ( Ancient Greek: Βιθύνιον) was a city in the interior of Bithynia, lying above Tius, as Strabo describes it, [1] and possessing the country around Salone or Salon, which was a good feeding country for cattle, and noted for its cheese. [2] It was the capital of Salone district. Bithynium was the birthplace of Antinous, the favourite of Hadrian, as Pausanius tells us, [3] who adds that Bithynium is beyond, by which he probably means east of, the river Sangarius; and he adds that the remotest ancestors of the Bithynians are Arcadians and Mantineans. In this case a Greek colony settled here. Bithynium was afterwards called Claudiopolis ( Greek: Κλαυδιόπολις), a name which it is conjectured it first had in the time of Tiberius; but it is strange that Pausanias does not mention this name. Dio Cassius speaks of it under the name of Bithynium and Claudiopolis also. [4] It later bore the name Hadriana after the emperor. [5] The names of Claudiopolis and Hadriana appear on coins minted here.
The town was Christianised early and became an archbishopric. An archbishop suffered martyrdom under Diocletian. No longer a residential see, it remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church under the name Claudiopolis in Honoriade. [6] A former titular see under the name of Claudiopolis in Bithynia was suppressed. [7]
Its site is occupied by the modern town of Bolu, Asiatic Turkey. [5] [8]
References
- ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. p. 565. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia. Vol. 11.97.
- ^ Pausanias (1918). "9.1". Description of Greece. Vol. 8. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
- ^ Dio Cassius, 69.11. ed. Reimarus, and his note.
- ^ a b Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 86, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
- ^ Catholic Hierarchy
- ^ Catholic Hierarchy
- ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain:
Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Bithynium".
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
40°44′22″N 31°36′42″E / 40.739479°N 31.611561°E
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