Marcopolis was a city in the late

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Osrhoene Osroene or Osrhoene (; ) was an ancient kingdom and region in Upper Mesopotamia. The ''Kingdom of Osroene'', also known as the "Kingdom of Edessa" ( / "Kingdom of Urhay"), according to the name of its capital city (now Şanlıurfa, Turkey), exi ...

. It is described at the beginning of the 7th century by the geographer

George of Cyprus George of Cyprus (; Latinized as ''Georgius Cyprius'') was a Greek Byzantine geographer of the early seventh century. Nothing is known of his life save that he was a Byzantine Greek born at Lapithos in the island of Cyprus. He is known for his ...

History

Siméon Vailhé, writing at the beginning of the 20th century, says that the native name of the city is not known, and that it owes its Greek name to the Emperor

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

(121–180). Writing almost a century later,

Maurice Sartre Maurice Sartre (born 3 October 1944) is a French historian, an Emeritus professor of ancient history at the François Rabelais University, a specialist in ancient Greek and Eastern Roman history, especially the Hellenized Middle East, from Alexan ...

says that "Batnai of Anthemousia" (in Latinized form, Batnae of Anthemusia) was called Marcopolis in honour of the emperor Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius Augustus (225–244). However, Steven K. Ross points out that Marcopolis and Barnae are listed as distinct episcopal sees in the ''Notitia Antiochena'', showing that they are not the same place, though they may have been close to each other. The kings of Osrhoene resided at Marcopolis before the 40s of the 3rd century. The site of this city has not been found, but it may be at

Sinjar Sinjar (; , ) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its population in 2013 was estimated at 88,023, and is predominantly Yazidi. History ...

Bishops

Marcopolis was 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 ...

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 ...

during the Byzantine empire The bishopric of Marcopolis is alluded to in the 6th-century '' Notitiæ episcopatuum'' of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

as a see of Osrhoene and thus as 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 ...

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

, the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

of that province. Two of its early bishops are known:. *Cyrus, who attended the

First Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...

in 431; *Caioumas, present at 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 ...

in 451

Eubel Konrad Eubel or Conradus Eubel (19 January 1842 – 5 February 1923) was a German Franciscan historian. He is known for his reference work, the ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', on medieval popes, cardinals and bishops. It appeared in thre ...

mentions four other titulars between 1340 and 1400, and a fifth from 1441 to 1453. In modern times,

Paul Durieu Pierre-Paul Durieu (; December 3, 1830 – June 1, 1899), was a Roman Catholic missionary and the first Bishop of New Westminster, in British Columbia, Canada. Life Durieu was born in 1830 in Saint-Pal-de-Mons, the second son of Blaise Durieux ...

, O.M.I. (1830–1899), a French missionary in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, held this title while

coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

for the

apostolic vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...

. The bishopric of Marcopoli survives as only as titular bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church and that office has been vacant since December 5, 1969.

References

{{Reflist Catholic titular sees in Asia Populated places in Osroene