Constantia orKonstantia (Ancient Greek:Κωνσταντία) was a town of some importance in the provinceOsrhoene inMesopotamia, on the road betweenNisibis andCarrhae, at no great distance fromEdessa. It was, after his departure from Nisibis, the residence of thedux Mesopotamiae until the foundation ofDara.[1] There is considerable variation in different authors in the way in which the name of this town is written and the names under which it is known, including: Constantia or Konstantia (Κωνσταντία),[2]Constantina orKonstantina (Κωνσταντίνα),[3]Antoninopolis,[4]Nicephorium orNikephorion (Νικηφόριον),[5]Maximianopolis (Μαξιμιανούπολις),[4]Constantinopolis in Osrhoene,[6]Tella andAntiochia Arabis,[7]Antiochia in Mesopotamia (Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Μεσοποταμίας –Antiocheia tes Mesopotamias) andAntiochia in Arabia (Ἀντιόχεια ἡ Ἀραβική –Antiocheia e Arabike).[8][9]
According toPliny it was founded bySeleucus I Nicator after thedeath of Alexander the Great.[8] According to the Byzantine historianJohn Malalas, the city was built by theRoman EmperorConstantine I on the site of former Maximianopolis, which had been destroyed by a Persian attack and an earthquake.[10]Jacob Baradaeus was born near the city and was a monk in a nearby monastery.[11]
Under the names Constantina and Tella, it was also abishopric, suffragan ofEdessa; some names of early bishops have been preserved, includingSophronius who attended theCouncil of Antioch in 445.[12] No longer a residential bishop, it remains atitular see of theRoman Catholic Church under the name Constantina.[13] The city wascaptured by theArabs in 639.[11]
Its site is near the modernViranşehir,Turkey.[7][14]
V.L. (1911)."Sophronius, bishop of Tella" . InWace, Henry; Piercy, William C. (eds.).Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century (3rd ed.). London: John Murray.Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Constantia".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Vol. 1. London: John Murray. pp. 656–657.Authority control databases: Geographic |
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37°13′44″N39°45′21″E / 37.229021°N 39.755832°E /37.229021; 39.755832
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