 Ancient entrance to the city | |
  Ariassus Shown within Turkey | |
| Location | Antalya Province,Turkey |
|---|---|
| Region | Pisidia |
| Coordinates | 37°10′52″N30°28′21″E / 37.18111°N 30.47250°E /37.18111; 30.47250 |
| Type | Settlement |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | In ruins |
Ariassus orAriassos (Ancient Greek:Ἀριασσός) was a town inPisidia,Asia Minor built on a steep hillside about 50 kilometres inland fromAttaleia (modern Antalya).
The town was founded in theHellenistic period in the 3rd century BC.[1] It was mentioned (asAarassos) in about 100 BC byArtemidorus Ephesius, who was quoted byStrabo a century later. The only further mentions are byPtolemy in the 2nd century AD and in lists of Christiandioceses (Notitiae Episcopatuum).[2]
It was part ofPisidia and belonged originally to theSeleucid Empire. In 189 BC it passed to the Hellenistic kingdom ofPergamum.
In 133 BC,Attalus III of Pergamum left his kingdom to the Roman Republic.[3]
Under OctavianAugustus, Ariassos was made part of theRoman province ofGalatia.[2] In the ecclesiastical lists it appears in the late Roman province ofPamphylia Secunda, whose capital wasPerge, hence also its bishopric's Metropolitan.
Coins minted at Ariassos are extant.[4][5]
The ruins are mainly of Roman and Byzantine times, with few remains of the earlier Hellenistic period. The best preserved is that of the 3rd-century-AD triple-arched city entrance once surmounted by four statues. Other buildings include an extensive nymphaeum and baths, as well as a large domestic area. There is an abundance of funerary monuments.[6][7]
The names of three bishops of the see of Ariassus are known: Pammenius (at theFirst Council of Constantinople in 381); Theophilus (at theCouncil of Chalcedon in 451); and Ioannes (signatory of a joint letter of the bishops of the province to EmperorLeo I the Thracian in 458).[8][9]
No longer a residential bishopric, Ariassus is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[10]
Nominally restored as a Latintitular bishopric in 1911, it is vacant, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (Episcopal) rank :
