36°43′54″N31°58′31″E / 36.731600°N 31.975400°E /36.731600; 31.975400Colybrassus orKolybrassos (Ancient Greek:Κολυβρασσός;Armenian:Surp Sope) was a city in Cilicia Tracheia (modern-dayTurkey) that belonged to theRoman province ofPamphylia Prima, identified as such byPtolemy.[1][2]
Inscriptions found on the site show that it was located at present-day Ayasofya on the Susuz Dağ, some 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast ofAlanya, at 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level.[2][3][4]
The remains include the walls of a temple of Hercules that rise to 25 feet and the 20-foot walls of another unidentified temple,[5] and a small theatre or odeion.[6] Part of the city wall is preserved, with steps leading to the up to its gate, and in what was the necropolis there are several sarcophagi and a tomb cut in the rock.[2]
Cited by the geographerPtolemy as an important city center, in 113 BC, inRoman times housed theLegio Pontica. InByzantine times it was the seat of abishopric and the patron saint of the city took the name of Άγια Σοφία (Hagia Sophia). After the collapse of the Byzantine power in Anatolia in 1199, the city became part of the possessions of theArmenian prince Kervard with the name of "Surp Sope". The name was derived directly from the Armenian church dedicated to St. Sophia. After that date the city disappears from history.[citation needed]
Thebishopric of Colybrassus was asuffragan of themetropolitan see ofSide, the capital of the Roman province of Pamphylia Prima. Of itsbishops, Longinus was at theFirst Council of Constantinople in 381, Nessius at theCouncil of Ephesus in 431, and Tates at theTrullan Council of 692.[7][8][9]
No longer a residential bishopric, Colybrassus is today listed by the Catholic Church as atitular see.[10]