Bithynium or Bithynion ( grc, Βιθύνιον) was a city in the interior of
Bithynia
Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the sout ...
, lying above
Tius, as
Strabo describes it, and possessing the country around Salone or Salon, which was a good feeding country for cattle, and noted for its cheese. It was the capital of Salone district. Bithynium was the birthplace of
Antinous
Antinous, also called Antinoös, (; grc-gre, Ἀντίνοος; 27 November – before 30 October 130) was a Greek youth from Bithynia and a favourite and probable lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Following his premature death before his ...
, the favourite of
Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman '' municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispan ...
, as
Pausanius tells us, who adds that Bithynium is beyond, by which he probably means east of, the river
Sangarius
The Sakarya (Sakara River, tr, Sakarya Irmağı; gr, Σαγγάριος, translit=Sangarios; Latin: ''Sangarius'') is the third longest river in Turkey. It runs through the region known in ancient times as Phrygia. It was considered one of ...
; and he adds that the remotest ancestors of the Bithynians are
Arcadians and
Mantineis. In this case a Greek colony settled here. Bithynium was afterwards called Claudiopolis, a name which it is conjectured it first had in the time 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 ...
; but it is strange that Pausanias does not mention this name.
Dio Cassius speaks of it under the name of Bithynium and Claudiopolis also. It later bore the name Hadriana after the emperor.
[ The names of Claudiopolis and Hadriana appear on coins minted here.
The town was Christianised early and became an ]archbishopric
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 ...
. An archbishop suffered martyrdom under Diocletian. No longer a residential see, it 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 archbis ...
of the Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
under the name Claudiopolis in Honoriade
Claudiopolis ( gr, Κλαυδιόπολις) was an ancient city in the Roman province of Paphlagonia (and later Honorias) in northern Asia Minor.
It was an episcopal see during Late Antiquity, and remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Chur ...
. A former titular see under the name of Claudiopolis in Bithynia was suppressed.
Its site is occupied by the modern town of Bolu
Bolu is a city in Turkey, and administrative center of the Bolu Province. The population is 131,264 (2012 census).
The city has been governed by mayor Tanju Özcan ( CHP) since local elections in 2019. It was the site of Ancient Claudiopolis an ...
, Asiatic Turkey.
References
Populated places in Bithynia
Former populated places in Turkey
{{Bolu-geo-stub