Myrina ( grc, Μυρίνα) was one of the Aeolian cities on the western coast of Mysia, about 40 stadia to the southwest of Gryneion. The former bishopric is now a Latin Catholic

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

. Its site is believed to be occupied by the modern Sandarlik at the mouth of the Koca Çay, near the town of

Aliağa Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking ...

in Izmir Province, in the

Aegean Region The Aegean Region () is one of the 7 geographical regions of Turkey. The largest city in the region is İzmir. Other big cities are Manisa, Aydın, Denizli, Muğla, Afyonkarahisar and Kütahya. Located in western Turkey, it is bordere ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, near Kalavas(ar)i.

History

Mirina Eólida (RPS 04-04-2015) enano de terracota

It is said to have been founded by one Myrinus before the other Aeolian cities, or by the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

Myrina. Artaxerxes gave

Gryneium Gryneium or Gryneion ( grc, Γρύνειον), also Grynium or Grynion (Γρύνιον), Grynia or Gryneia (Γρύνεια) and Grynoi (Γρῦνοι), was a city of ancient Aeolis. It was located 40 stadia from Myrina and 70 from Elaea. In ear ...

and Myrina to Gongylus, an

Eretria Eretria (; el, Ερέτρια, , grc, Ἐρέτρια, , literally 'city of the rowers') is a town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important Greek polis in the 6th and 5th centur ...

n, who had been banished from his native city for favoring the interests of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Myrina was a very strong place, though not very large, and had a good harbor.

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

mentions the fame of its oysters and that it bore the surname of Sebastopolis; while, according to Syncellus, it was also called Smyrna. An inscription (''Bulletin de correspondance hellenique'', V, 283) tells us that Myrina formed part of the Kingdom of Pergamon in the 3rd century BC. For some time Myrina was occupied by

Philip V of Macedon Philip V ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 238–179 BC) was king ( Basileus) of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He would lead Macedon a ...

; but the Romans compelled him to evacuate it, and declared the place free. Under Roman rule, Myrina was part of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

Asia Prima The Asia ( grc, Ἀσία) was a Roman province covering most of western Anatolia, which was created following the Roman Republic's annexation of the Attalid Kingdom in 133 BC. After the establishment of the Roman Empire by Augustus, it was th ...

. It twice suffered severe earthquakes; first in the reign of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

, on which occasion it received a remission of duties on account of the loss it had sustained; and a second time in the reign of

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

. The town was restored each time, and continued to exist until a late period. It was the birthplace of Agathias, a Byzantine poet and historian of the 6th century. Myrina minted coins in Antiquity, some of which survive. Around 20 AD, Myrina minted a coin celebrating the betrothal of

Claudius Drusus Tiberius Claudius Drusus (c. AD 9/1220/27) was the eldest son of the Roman Emperor Claudius with his first wife Plautia Urgulanilla. He had one younger sister, Claudia, who was repudiated by Claudius along with Plautia. Background Tiberius Cla ...

, son of the future emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...

, to a daughter of

Sejanus Lucius Aelius Sejanus (c. 20 BC – 18 October AD 31), commonly known as Sejanus (), was a Roman soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Of the Equites class by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Praetorian ...

, commander of the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...

under

Remains

The site of Myrina was discovered at the mouth of the river that was the ancient Pythicos, whose alluvia have covered what was the city's harbour. Excavations (1880-1882) brought to light about four thousand tombs, dating from the last two centuries BC, in which were found numerous objects representing the divinities of the Greek pantheon; children's toys, reproductions of famous works, etc.: most of these may be seen today in the Museum of the Louvre. Archaeologist Dorothy Burr Thompson carried out a study of the 117 Hellenistic terracotta figures from Myrina in the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

Ecclesiastical history

Under Roman rule, Myrina was part of the

and its bishopric was a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

of the capital's

Metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a t ...

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built i ...

. The names of some of its bishops are known: Dorotheus, 431 AD; Proterius, 451; John, 553; Cosmas, 787. It still existed as a residential see in the 14th century, but was suppressed.

Titular see

It is now included in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

's list of titular bishoprics, .''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ), p. 931 nominally restored in the 18th century. It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, of the lowest (episcopal) rank : * Matthaeus Prichard, Recollect Fathers ( O.F.M. Rec.) (1713.09.20 – 1750.05.22) * Karl Aloys von Königsegg und Rothenfels (1770.03.12 – 1796.02.24) * John Ryan (1825.09.31 – 1828.03.17) * Pietro India (1836.02.01 – 1837?) * François-Alexis Rameaux (穆導沅), Vincentians (C.M.) (1838.12.11 – 1845.07.14) * Pierre Lavaissière (石伯鐸), C.M. (1846.03.27 – 1849.12.19) * Raffaele Bacchettoni (1880.12.13 – 1881) * Giovanni Rosati (1882.03.30 – 1884.03.14) * Joseph-André Boyer (包),

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (french: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons de ...

(M.E.P.) (1886.04.13 – 1887.03.08) * Isidorus Barriga (1890.06.26 – 1894?) * Maximilian Gereon Graf von Galen (1895.07.16 – 1908.11.05) * Joseph Gaudentius Anderson (1909.04.29 – 1927.07.02) * Edward John Galvin (高爾文),

Missionary Society of St. Columban The Missionary Society of St. Columban ( la, Societas Sancti Columbani pro Missionibus ad Exteros) (abbreviated as S.S.C.M.E. or SSC), commonly known as the Columbans, is a missionary Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right foun ...

(S.S.C.M.E., founder) (1927.07.14 – 1946.04.11), as first Apostolic Vicar of Hanyang (China); previously first Apostolic Prefect of Hanyang (November 1, 1924 – July 14, 1927), later first bishop of Hanyang (April 11, 1946 – February 23, 1956) * Alfred-Jean-Félix Ancel, Prado (1947.02.17 – 1984.09.11)

Notable residents

* Agathias, Byzantine historian and poet

References

* *

Sources and external links

asiaminorcoins.com
Ancient coins of Myrina

{{Authority control Aeolian dodecapolis Greek colonies in Mysia Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Roman towns and cities in Turkey Catholic titular sees in Asia Former populated places in Turkey Members of the Delian League Populated places in ancient Aeolis Greek city-states Aliağa District History of İzmir Province