Isauropolis () was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

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 ...

-era town in southern Turkey. Possibly also known as Isaura Vetus, the city was in the Anatolian countryside of what was

Lycaonia Lycaonia (; , ''Lykaonia''; ) was a large region in the interior of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), north of the Taurus Mountains. It was bounded on the east by Cappadocia, on the north by Galatia, on the west by Phrygia and Pisidia, while to ...

in today's southern Turkey and may have been the chief town of Isauria (Ἰσαυρία) district.W. M. Ramsay, ''The Historical Geography of Asia Minor'' (2010
p395
The town was mentioned by

Sozomen Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos (; ; c. 400 – c. 450 AD), also known as Sozomen, was a Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church. Family and home Sozoman was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christia ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

, and Heirocles. About 450 Maximinus entered the town in his war with

Zeno Zeno may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Zeno (surname) Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 B ...

. Its location is not known, but suggestions include Siristat or Tris Maden, about west of Isaura, or Isaura Vetus. It must have been near

Isaura Nova Isaura Nea (), in Latin Isaura Nova, both meaning 'New Isaura', was a town of the Roman Empire, Roman and Byzantine era, so called in juxtaposition with the settlement of Isaura Palaea. It also bore the name Leontopolis, and in later days was incl ...

with which it was joined.

Bishopric

The city was also the site of an ancient

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 ...

which dates from the

early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

era. Bishops from here attended both Council of Nicea and

Chalcedon Chalcedon (; ; sometimes transliterated as ) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, Turkey. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the city of Ist ...

. There is no mention of Isauropolis in any

Notitiae episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') were official documents that furnished for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the mos ...

, so Ramsay supposes that the Diocese was joined with that of

Leontopolis Leontopolis was an ancient Egyptian city located in the Nile Delta, Lower Egypt. It served as a provincial capital and Metropolitan Archbishopric. The archaeological site and settlement are known today as Kafr Al Muqdam. Name Known most popularl ...

which is mentioned in all the "Notitiae". The see was resurrected in 1925 as 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 ...

Known bishops

Ancient bishopric *Silvanus of Isauropolis at Council of Nicaea *Ilyrius of Isauropolis ( Council of Constantinople 381) *Aetius, 451 Titular see * Bernard Gozdzki Auxiliary Bishop in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

(Poland-Lithuania) July 6, 1722 – March 16, 1725. * Gregorio de Molleda y Clerque September 26, 1725 – August 3, 1729 * Louis-Mathias-Joseph de Barral Coadjutor Bishop of Troyes (France) September 15, 1788 – December 22, 1790 *

Michele Di Pietro Michele di Pietro (18 January 1747 – 2 July 1821) was an Papalini Catholic prelate who served as Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary and as Prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide. He was elevated to the cardinala ...

(February 21, 1794 – August 9, 1802) *

Jean-Louis Taberd Jean-Louis Taberd (1794–1840) was a French missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and titular bishop of Isauropolis, '' in partibus infidelium''. Career Born in Saint-Étienne, Jean-Louis Taberd was ordained priest in Lyon in 18 ...

MEP Vicar Apostolic of Cochin (Vietnam) September 18, 1827 – July 31, 1840 * Dominique Lefebvre (Vicar Apostolic of Western Cochin) (Vietnam) December 10, 1839 – April 30, 1865. * Tomás Badía January 19, 1842 – September 10, 1844 * Stanislas-Gabriel-Henri Baudry Apostolic Vicar of Ningyüan (Republic of China) March 18, 1927 – April 11, 1946. * Jean-Baptiste Urrutia MEP Apostolic Vicar of Hue (Vietnam) February 21, 1948 – November 24, 1960. *

Philip Francis Pocock Philip Francis Pocock (2 July 1906 – 6 September 1984) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto from 1971 to 1978. Early years Pocock was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, on 2 July 1906. After studying theology at St. Peter's Seminary ...

(February 18, 1961 – March 30, 1971)David M. Chene
Isauroplis
at catholic-hierarchy.org. (2016).

References

{{Authority control Catholic titular sees in Asia Populated places in ancient Isauria Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Roman towns and cities in Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Lost ancient cities and towns