Podalia (Ancient Greek:Ποδαλία), also spelledPodalaea orPodalaia (Ποδαλαία),Podallia (Ποδαλλία), andPodaleia (Ποδάλεια), was a town ofancient Lycia, mentioned by several ancient authors.
Although this town in Lycia appeared inSmith'sDictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) under the namePodalaea,[1] the more recentPrinceton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (1976) calls itPodalia.[2] The form "Podalia" is also what appears in the 1902 edition of theEncyclopædia Britannica,[3] and is used by David Cunliffe Pointer.[4]
The city is called Podalia inPliny the Elder's Natural History,[5] inHierocles'sSynecdemus, and in theNotitiae Episcopatuum.[6]
Smith reported the theory ofCharles Fellows that the site of Podalia was at Eskihisar (Turkish for "old town"), nearAlmalec, where there are remains of ancientCyclopean town walls and rock tombs; but the Princeton Encyclopedia dismisses that theory, and another that would place Podalia at Armutlu, as lacking evidence. A better theory, it holds, is that the town was situated at a place still called Podalia or Podamia on a hill at the northwest corner of the Avlan Gölü lake, 16 km south of Elmali. It sees as even more likely, and indeed almost certain, a site at Söğle, where there are remains of a large town for which no other identification is possible, since the only other candidate would be Choma, now positively identified with Hacimusalar, southwest of Elmali.
Inscriptions show that, in the 2nd century AD, Podalia received benefits from Opramoas of Rhodiapolis and that it honoured Jason of Kyaneai. The very few coins of Podalia that have been found of the time ofGordian III (238–244).[2]
Podalia became aChristianbishopric, asuffragan of themetropolitan see ofMira, the capital of theRoman province of Lycia. Its bishop Callinicus took part in theFirst Council of Constantinople (381). Aquilinus was one of the signatories of the letter that in 458 the bishops of Lycia sent toByzantine EmperorLeo I the Thracian concerning the murder ofProterius of Alexandria. A bishop named Ioannes was ata synod called byMenas of Constantinople in 536. Another Ioannes was at thePhotianCouncil of Constantinople (879).[7]
No longer a residential bishopric, Podalia is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[8]
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36°40′27″N30°02′11″E / 36.6741°N 30.0364°E /36.6741; 30.0364
