Dioclea (also Dioclia, Diocleia or Diokleia; ) was a town of ancient

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 ...

, inhabited during Roman and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times.

History

In ancient times it had a mint, under its king

Elagabalus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus ( ) and Heliogabalus ( ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short r ...

. It was the see of a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. Lequien, names only two known bishops of the town. Constantius (fl 431 – 451) and Evander Another bishop, Gregorios, is attested in the first half of the 11th century. Diokleia was included in diocese lists until the 12th century. No longer the seat of a residential bishop, 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 archbi ...

of 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 ...

as well as the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

(for which it is now a metropolitan titular see, with Kallistos Ware as its metropolitan until his death in August 2022). Its site is located near Yeşilhisar in Asiatic Turkey. This site is located on the southwest flank of the Ahır Dağ, 84 km south of

Kütahya Kütahya (; historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion; Ancient Greek, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the seat of Kütahya Province and Kütahya District. In 19 ...

. The only remains of the ancient settlement are a few old inscriptions and a capital dated to the early Byzantine period. The old name "Diokleia" is preserved in the nearby place called Dolay, or Doğla, a short distance to the south.

References

* Populated places in Phrygia Former populated places in Turkey Roman towns and cities in Turkey Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Catholic titular sees in Asia History of Afyonkarahisar Province Hocalar District {{Afyonkarahisar-geo-stub