Diocletianopolis (
Ancient Greek: Διοκλητιανούπολις) was a city near
Ascalon. It was given the status of a city under the name Diocletianopolis as part of a Roman policy of urbanization,[1] what had been the territory of Ascalon was divided into three municipal districts, those of Ascalon,
Maiumas Ascalon, and Diocletianopolis.[2] Ken Butcher says that what was given the name Diocletianopolis was the port of Ascalon.[1]
Diocletianopolis was also called Sarafia[4] a name that survives in the present name of Khirbat al-Sharaf or Khirbat al-Ashraf and that Christians seem to have preferred to the official name that recalled the persecuting emperor.[5]
Ecclesiastical History
Diocletianopolis was a Christian
episcopal see by the mid-4th century,[4] but the only bishop of the see who is known by name is Eliseus, who took part in the
Semi-Arian synod of Seleucia in 359.[6][7]
The diocese was initially (18th century?) restored nominally under the name Diocletianopolis, only in 1933 the titular bishopric was renamed Diocletianopolis in Palæstina.
It is vacant, having had the following incumbent, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :
Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll de Quitenbach (1794.02.21 – 1802.05.25)
Johann Michael Leonhard (1836.02.01 – 1863.01.19)
James Whelan,
Dominican order (O.P.) (1864.02.12 – 1878.02.18)
Anton Johann Zerr (1883.03.15 – 1889.12.30)
Fedele Abati,
Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (1890.06.06 – 1915.04.08)
Antônio Augusto de Assis (1918.08.02 – 1922.02.24), as
Auxiliary Bishop of
Mariana (Brazil) (1918.08.02 – 1931.07.31); previously Titular Bishop of
Sura (1907.07.10 – 1909.11.29),
Coadjutor Bishop of
Pouso Alegre (Brazil) (1907.07.10 – 1909.11.29), succeeding as Bishop of Pouso Alegre (1909.11.29 – 1916.02.07), Bishop of
Guaxupé (Brazil) (1916.02.07 – 1918.08.02); later
Titular Archbishop of
Berytus (1922.02.24 – 1931.07.31), Bishop of
Jaboticabal (Brazil) (1931.07.31 – 1961.02.07)
^The Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine, Volume 5 (1935), p. 156 |Quote: The territory of Ascalon was later on subdivided into three districts, each with its own municipal centre, viz. Ascalon, Maiumas, and Sarafia-Diocletianopolis.