Apollonos Hieron (, "Temple of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

") was an ancient city of

Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...

Location

It was located about 300 stadia from

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

on a hill, but its exact location is unknown. The inhabitants of the village of

Buldan Buldan is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Denizli Province, Turkey. Its area is 523 km2, and its population is 26,630 (2022). Buldan district area neighbors to the east and the south three other districts of the same prov ...

hold that their town is the location of Apollonos Hieron. However, Buldan is known to be the site of Tripolis, and both cities sent separate delegates to the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

. Ramsay believed that both cities were adjacent to each other and this may explain why Pliny thought the name of Tripolis had previously been Apollonos. He more generally puts it in the Plain of Philadelphia, in the Lykos River Valley. Apollonos Hieron was known for its temple, and is mentioned by Pliny, who describes it as small. It is possibly mentioned by Aristides and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

. Apollonos Hieron minted its own coins, of which there are today many examples.

Bishopric

Apollonos Hieron was also the seat of a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

and remains a

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 ...

in the

Roman 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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Bishop Leucius of Apollonos Hieron signed at the

.Richard Price, Michael Gaddis, ''The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon'', Volume 1(Liverpool University Press, 2005) p104.

References

Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Catholic titular sees in Asia Dioceses established in the 1st century Greek colonies in Anatolia Populated places in ancient Lydia Former populated places in Turkey Temples of Apollo History of Denizli Province {{Denizli-geo-stub