Μοσυνόπολις | |
 A central plan church in Mosynopolis | |
  Mosynopolis Shown within Greece | |
| Alternative name | Maximianopolis |
|---|---|
| Location | NearKomotini, Greece |
| Region | Thrace |
| Coordinates | 41°07′43″N25°19′31″E / 41.12861°N 25.32528°E /41.12861; 25.32528 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Abandoned | 13th century |
| Cultures | Roman,Byzantine |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | In ruins |
Mosynopolis (Greek:Μοσυνόπολις), of which only ruins now remain in GreekThrace, was a city in theRoman province ofRhodope, which was known until the 9th century asMaximianopolis (Μαξιμιανούπολις) or, to distinguish it from other cities of the same name, asMaximianopolis in Rhodope.[1]
The city of Maximianopolis appears in written sources from the 4th century on. Its fortifications were renewed byByzantine emperorJustinian I, and it was later a base for operations by EmperorBasil II in hiswars against theBulgarians.[1][2]
In the 11th century, the city was the center of a district (bandon) in thetheme ofBoleron, andAnna Komnene reports in herAlexiad that there were manyManichaeans living in Mosynopolis in the late 11th/early 12th centuries.[2] The town was captured in 1185 by theNormans,[2] while the monk Ephrem says that the city was captured in 1190 byFrederick I, Holy Roman Emperor.[3] TheBattle of Messinopolis, in which the Bulgarians defeatedBoniface I, Marquess of Montferrat, took place nearby in 1207, and was speedily followed by the destruction of Mosynopolis by TsarKaloyan of Bulgaria.[4]
The fate of the town thereafter is somewhat obscure: it re-appears in 1317 as part of the theme of "Boleron and Mosynopolis", and its bishopric was still active, but the historian Catherine Asdracha, in her 1972 survey of theRhodope area in the late Middle Ages, suggests that it never recovered from Kaloyan's sack and remained in ruins, proposing that it is to be identified with the town of Mesene, which the emperor and historianJohn VI Kantakouzenos reported as "destroyed many years ago".[2]
The town at some point had other names includingPorsula orPorsulae,[5]Corsulae,[5]Impara andPyrsoalis,[6]
Bishops of Maximianopolis in Rhodope were present at the 5th and 6th-centuryecumenical councils ofEphesus (431),Chalcedon (451), andConstantinople II (553) and in another council of 459.
From the 7th to the 9th centuries, thesee is referred to as archiepiscopal, giving itautocephalous status.
In all these instances, the see appears under the name Maximianopolis, but in 879 it is under the name Mosynopolis that it is represented by a bishop called Paul at theFourth Council of Constantinople. From the following century to the 12th, it appears with reduced status as asuffragan ofTrajanopolis in Rhodope.
In the 13th century it became aLatin bishopric.[1]
The see is mentioned under the name Mosynopolis also in theNotitiae Episcopatuum ofLeo the Wise, about 900;[7] in that for 940;[8] in that for 1170 under the name of Misinoupolis.[9][10]
After the destruction of the city, thePatriarchate of Constantinople in August 1347 authorized the Metropolitan ofTrajanopolis to exercise jurisdiction in what had been the see of Maximianopolis or Mosynopolis.[1]
The bishopric is included in theCatholic Church's list oftitular sees both as an archiepiscopal see under the name Maximianopolis in Rhodope[11] and as a suffragan diocese of Mosynopolis subject to Trajanopolis in Rhodope.[12]
The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as the Latin Catholic titular archbishopricMassimianopolis in Rhodope.
It is vacant, having had a single incumbent of the intermediary (archiepiscopal) rank:
Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Maximianopolis".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.