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| Location | Turkey |
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| Region | Afyonkarahisar Province |
| Coordinates | 38°04′18″N30°09′56″E / 38.07167°N 30.16556°E /38.07167; 30.16556 |
Apamea Cibotus,Apamea ad Maeandrum (on theMaeander),Apamea orApameia (Ancient Greek:Ἀπάμεια,romanized: Apámeia,Ancient Greek:κιβωτός,romanized: kibōtós) was an ancient city inAnatolia founded in the 3rd century BC byAntiochus I Soter, who named it after his motherApama. It was in HellenisticPhrygia,[1] but became part of theRoman province ofPisidia.[2][3] It was near, but on lower ground than,Celaenae (Kelainai).
The site is now partly occupied by the city ofDinar (sometimes locally known also asGeyikler, "the gazelles," perhaps from a tradition of the Persian hunting-park, seen byXenophon at Celaenae), which by 1911 was connected withİzmir by railway; there are considerable remains, including a theater and a great number of importantGraeco-Roman inscriptions.[4]Strabo (p. 577) says, that the town lies at the source (ekbolais) of theMarsyas, and the river flows through the middle of the city, having its origin in the city, and being carried down to the suburbs with a violent and precipitous current it joins theMaeander after the latter is joined by theOrgas (called the Catarrhactes byHerodotus, vii. 26).
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 manyJews there. (Josephus,Ant. xii. 3, § 4). It became a seat ofSeleucid power, and a center of Graeco-Roman andGraeco-Hebrew civilization and commerce. ThereAntiochus the Great collected the army with which he met theRomans atMagnesia, and two years later theTreaty of Apamea between Rome and the Seleucid realm was signed there. After Antiochus' departure for the East, Apamea lapsed to thePergamene kingdom and thence toRome in 133 BCE, but it was resold toMithridates V of Pontus, who held it till 120 BCE. After theMithridatic Wars it became and remained a great center for trade, largely carried on by residentItalians and by Jews.[4] By order of Flaccus, a large amount of Jewish money – nearly 45kilograms of gold – intended for the Temple in Jerusalem was confiscated in Apamea in the year 62 BCE.[5] In 84 BCESulla made it the seat of aconventus, and it long claimed primacy among Phrygian cities.[4] When Strabo wrote, Apamea was a place of great trade in the Romanprovince of Asia, next in importance toEphesus. Its commerce was owing to its position on the great road toCappadocia, and it was also the center of other roads. When Cicero wasproconsul ofCilicia, 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.
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The city minted its own coins in antiquity. The nameCibotus appears on some coins of Apamea, and it has been conjectured that it was so called from the wealth that was collected in this great emporium; for kibôtos in Greek is a chest or coffer. Pliny (v. 29) says that it was first Celaenae, then Cibotus, and then Apamea; which cannot be quite correct, because Celaenae was a different place from Apamea, though near it. But there may have been a place on the site of Apamea, which was called Cibotus.
The country about Apamea has been shaken by earthquakes, one of which is recorded as having happened in the time ofClaudius (Tacit.Ann. xii. 58); and on this occasion the payment of taxes to the Romans was remitted for five years.Nicolaus of Damascus (Athen. p. 332) records a violent earthquake at Apamea at a previous date, during theMithridatic Wars: lakes appeared where none were before, and rivers and springs; and many which existed before disappeared. Strabo (p. 579) speaks of this great catastrophe, and of other convulsions at an earlier period. The92 BC Levant earthquake likely affected the area as well.
Apamea continued to be a prosperous town under theRoman Empire. Its decline dates from the local disorganization of the empire in the 3rd century; and though abishopric, it was not an important military or commercial center inByzantine times. TheTurks took it first in 1080, until it was reconquered by emperorJohn II Komnenos in the early 12th century. Apamea fell back under Turkish rule in the late 13th century, when the Byzantine frontier collapsed. For a long period it was one of the greatest cities ofAsia Minor, commanding the Maeander road; but when the trade routes were diverted toConstantinople it rapidly declined, and its ruin was completed by an earthquake.[4]
Apamea is mentioned in theTalmud. 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 fromCorduene to Apamea in Phrygia; for ifApamea in Mesene were meant (Brüll'sJahrb. x. 145) it is quite impossible that theBabylonians 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 byHierocles among theepiscopal cities of theRoman province ofPisidia.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 byAlexander of Hierapolis (Phrygia) to have joined others in examining the claims of theMontanistMaximilla. The list of bishops from Pisidia who participated in theFirst 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 ofGregory of Nazianzus. Paulinus took part in theCouncil of Chalcedon (451) and was a signatory of the letter from the bishops of Pisidia to EmperorLeo I the Thracian concerning the killing in 457 ofProterius of Alexandria. In the early 6th century, Conon abandoned his bishopric of Apamea in Phrygia and became a military leader in a rebellion againstEmperor Anastasius. The acts of theSecond 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 theSecond Council of Nicaea (787). TheCouncil held at Constantinople in 879–880 was attended by two bishops of Apamea in Pisidia, one appointed byPatriarch Ignatius of Constantinople the other byPhotios I of Constantinople.[2]
Since it is no longer a residential diocese, Apamea Cibotus is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[6]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Apameia".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Apamea".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Hogarth, David George (1911). "Apamea s.v. 2". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 159.| International | |
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