Tium (Greek:Τῖον) was an ancient settlement, also known as Filyos (Greek:Φίλειος), on the south coast of theBlack Sea at the mouth of the riverBillaeus[1] in present-dayTurkey. Ancient writers variously assigned it toancient Paphlagonia orBithynia.
Apart fromTium, Latinized forms of the name areTeium,[2]Tieium andTius, corresponding to the Greek names Τεῖον (Teion), Τιεῖον (Tieion), Τῖον (Tion) and Τῖος (Tios).[3]
The town was founded as a colony from the Greek city ofMiletus in the 7th century BCE.[4] According toStrabo, the town was only remarkable as the birthplace ofPhiletaerus, founder of the royal dynasty ofPergamon.[5] At the beginning of the 3rd century BCE,Amastrine (Amastris), the niece of the last Persian kingDarius III, who was the wife ofDionysius, tyrant of Heracleia, and after his death the wife ofLysimachus caused asynoecism ofSesamus,Cytorus,Cromna, all towns mentioned in theIliad,[6] and Tium after her separation from Lysimachus,[7] to form the new community ofAmastris. Tium, says Strabo, soon detached itself from the community, but the rest kept together,[8] probably in 282 BCE, recovered its autonomous status.[1]
Tium was part ofKingdom of Bithynia, which on the death of KingNicomedes IV in 74 BC became aRoman province.[1] EmperorTheodosius I (379–392) incorporated it intoHonorias, when he carved out this new province from portions of Bithynia andPaphlagonia and named it after his younger sonHonorius. In 535, the EmperorJustinian united Honorias with Paphlagonia in a decree that expressly mentioned Tium among the cities that were affected.[9] There are coins of Tium as late as the reign ofGallienus, on which the ethnic name appears as Τιανοί, Τεῖοι, and Τειανοί.[10]
Its site is located nearFilyos (formerly Hisarönü),Asiatic Turkey.[11][12]
Tium was a bishopric from at least the 4th century, asuffragan ofClaudiopolis, capital andmetropolitan see of Honorias.[3]
Le Quien (Oriens christianus, I, 575) mentions among its bishops:[13]
This see figures in all theNotitiae episcopatuum.
Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Tius".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Amastris".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
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41°33′41″N32°01′23″E / 41.561257°N 32.023112°E /41.561257; 32.023112