Caloe was a town in theRoman province ofAsia. It is mentioned as Kaloe or Keloue in 3rd-century inscriptions; as Kalose inHierocles'sSynecdemos (660); and as Kalloe, Kaloe, and Kolone inParthey'sNotitiæ episcopatuum, in which it figures from the 6th to the 12fth or 13th century.
Caloe was in the upper valley of theKüçük Menderes (Kaystros) westernTurkey, and is identified with the modernKiraz, Keleş stream, to the southwest ofAlaşehir (ancient Philadelphia). The 10th-century historianLeo the Deacon, who was born in Caloe, describes the village as, "a very beautiful village in Asia, located on the slopes of Mt. Tmolos, near the sources of the river Kaystros, which, after flowing past the Kelbianon region and offering a most pleasant vista to the beholder, empties out into the gulf of Ephesos, that famous and celebrated city, and forms an estuary."
The bishopric of Caloe was asuffragan of the metropolitan see ofEphesus and was thus within the Roman province of Asia.Le Quien was therefore mistaken in supposing that the titular see was named after Lake Koloe inLydia, near which were the tombs of Lydian kings and the temple of Artemis Koloene.[1]
The names of three of its bishops are known because their participation in councils: Aphobius in theCouncil of Ephesus of 431; Gregorius in theTrullan Council of 692; and Theophanes in theSecond Council of Nicaea in 787.[2][3]
No longer a residential bishopric, Caloe is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[4]