Parthicopolis ( grc, Παρθικόπολις) was an ancient city in

Sintice Sintice or Sintike (Greek: Σιντική) was an ancient region and later district of the kingdom of Macedon. It was located north of Bisaltia and Odomantike up to Messapio mount and west of Crestonia and South Paeonia to Strymon river and ...

region in ancient

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

and later

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled b ...

. During Byzantine times it was a bishopric seat. Its site is located near modern Sandanski,

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

History

The city was probably founded during the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...

and named to commemorate a victory over the

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conq ...

, most likely the Parthian campaign of Emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presid ...

in AD 113. It may have been intended as a replacement for

Alexandropolis Maedica Alexandropolis ( grc, Ἀλεξανδρόπολις, Alexandrόpolis, Alexander's city) in the Thracian region of Maedians, was the first town founded in 340 BC by Alexander the Great (he was sixteen years old), after defeating a local Thrac ...

, which had ceased to exist by the Roman Imperial period. A letter written to the city by Emperor

Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius ( Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatori ...

in AD 158, which was inscribed on stone, survives. It deals with issues that had arisen in the process of establishing the new city, namely the jurisdiction of the town's courts over people who were not citizens of the community, the right of the town to charge a poll tax in addition to the provincial tax, the number of members on the town council, and the amount that council members had to pay on appointment (a

summa honoraria The summa honoraria (or summa legitima) was a sum that civic magistrates and priests paid upon entering their office in the cities of the Roman Empire. In some places, like the Caesarian colony at Urso, duoviri and aediles were required to contrib ...

). The document is important for understanding the relationship between

Roman citizen Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: ''civitas'') was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in Ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, t ...

ship and local citizenships under the Roman empire. It suggests a movement towards giving jurisdiction to the town where the dispute arose, rather than requiring disputes to be remitted to the defendent's town of origin (the older practice). The town is mentioned by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...

as being in Sintice, a part of

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

, as well as by

Phlegon of Tralles Phlegon of Tralles ( grc, Φλέγων ὁ Τραλλιανός ''Flegon o Trallianos'') was a Greek writer and freedman of the emperor Hadrian, who lived in the 2nd century AD. Works His chief work was the ''Olympiads'', an historical compendi ...

, Hierocles, and Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The latter locates it in

. Ptolemy's text refers to the town as "Paroecopolis" ( grc, Παροικόπολις), but this is a copyist's error. A town named Pathenopolis, mentioned by

Stephanus Byzantius Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...

, Pliny, and Eutropius has been identified with Parthicopolis, but this appears to be incorrect, since that city was located on the shore of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

between

Callatis Mangalia (, tr, Mankalya), ancient Callatis ( el, Κάλλατις/Καλλατίς; other historical names: Pangalia, Panglicara, Tomisovara), is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanța County, Northern ...

and Tomis.

Ecclesiastical history

Its bishop, Jonas or John, assisted at the

Council of Sardica The Council of Serdica, or Synod of Serdica (also Sardica located in modern day Sofia, Bulgaria), was a synod convened in 343 at Serdica in the civil diocese of Dacia, by Emperors Constans I, augustus in the West, and Constantius II, augustus in ...

(342 or 343); at the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' 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, Bi ...

(451) there was present John "Parthicopolis primæ Macedoniae".

Le Quien Michel Le Quien (8 October 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – 12 March 1733, Paris) was a French historian and theologian. He studied at Plessis College, Paris, and at twenty entered the Dominican convent in Faubourg Saint-Germain, where he made his ...

, ''Oriens christianus'', II, 75. That suggests it was in

Macedonia Prima Macedonia ( grc-gre, Μακεδονία) was a province of the Roman Empire, encompassing the territory of the former Antigonid Kingdom of Macedonia, which had been conquered by Rome in 168 BC at the conclusion of the Third Macedonian War. The pro ...

and hence a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

of its capital

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region ...

's Metropolitan Archbishopric. This see is not mentioned in any of the Greek ''

Notitiae episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the -mostly Lati ...

'', so it probably was not an important city.

Notes

{{coord, 41.565131, N, 23.279729, E, display=title, format=dms, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/22700 Populated places in ancient Macedonia Populated places in ancient Thrace Former populated places in the Balkans Catholic titular sees in Europe Macedonia (Roman province) Roman Thrace History of Blagoevgrad Province Sandanski