Blaundus () was a Greek city founded during the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, presently

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

(Asian Turkey), and is now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric.

History

The ancient city was between the regions 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, ...

and

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

in the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

. Its ruins are in

Sülümenli Sülümenli is a town (''belde'') and municipality in the Afyonkarahisar District, Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey. Its population is 3,877 (2021). It is located 20 km away from the city of Afyonkarahisar. It is bordered by Gebeceler to the no ...

(formerly Süleimanli), near Ulubey (formerly Göbek) in the

Uşak Province Uşak () is a Provinces of Turkey, province in western Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Manisa Province, Manisa to the west, Denizli Province, Denizli to the south, Afyon Province, Afyon to the east, and Kütahya Province, Kütahya to the north. ...

of modern Turkey. Greek coins have been discovered which write the city name as Mlaundus.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Blaundus
/ref> A Greek inscription of the Roman period though write the city as ''Blaundus''. Recent findings of cylinder-seals in archaeological excavation point towards the conclusion that there was a settlement already stablished at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, belonging to the Assyrian trade colony period.

Bishopric

In the Roman and Byzantine eras, the city was 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 ...

, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Sardes. The diocese was known by the names Blaundus, Blandus and Balandus. It was part of the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed ...

. In the 5th century AD, the bishopric was connected to the diocese center at Sebaste. Three bishops of Blaundus are historically attested. * Phoebus (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

359), who at the

Council of Seleucia The Council of Seleucia was an early Christian church synod at Seleucia Isauria (now Silifke, Turkey). History In 358, the Roman Emperor Constantius II requested two councils, one of the western bishops at Ariminum and one of the eastern bishop ...

in 359 distanced himself from his fellow

Arians Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered h ...

, signing the

orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

formula drafted by

Acacius of Caesarea Acacius of Caesarea (; date of birth unknown, died in 366) was a Christian bishop probably originating from Roman Syria, Syria; Acacius was the pupil and biographer of Eusebius and his successor on the Episcopal see, see of Caesarea Palestina. Acac ...

, and for this reason was deposed. * Elijah or Helias (fl. 451) who took part in 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 ...

of 451.Richard Price, Michael Gaddis, ''The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon'', Volume
p90
* Onesiphorus (fl. 458), who signed a letter written by the bishops of Lydia to Emperor Leo in 458 following the killing of

Proterius of Alexandria Pope Proterius of Alexandria (died 457) was Patriarch of Alexandria from 451 to 457. He had been appointed by the Council of Chalcedon to replace the deposed Dioscorus. He regarded as hieromartyr by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic ...

. Additionally, a certain Eustathius of Alandos attended the Council of Constantinople (879-880) that rehabilitated Photius, but evidence is lacking that Alandos was the same as Balandus. The last record of Blaundus dates from the 12th century.

References

External links

GigaCatholic, with titular incumbent biography links
{{Authority control History of Uşak Province Hellenistic colonies in Anatolia Archaeological sites in the Aegean region Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Populated places in ancient Lydia Populated places in Phrygia Ulubey District, Uşak