Savatra (), Sabatra, or Soatra () was a city in the

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 ...

province of

Galatia Galatia (; , ''Galatía'') was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (cf. Tylis), who settled here ...

, and subsequently the

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 ...

province of

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 ...

History

Little is known of this ancient town, but some of its coins have been preserved, and it is mentioned by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

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 ...

, Hierocles, and the ''

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin Language, Latin for 'The Peutinger Map'), also known as Peutinger's Tabula, Peutinger tablesJames Strong (theologian) , James Strong and John McClintock (theologian) , John McClintock (1880)"Eleutheropolis" In: ''The Cyclopedia of Bibli ...

''. The name appears as "Savatra" on the coins, while "Sabatra" is found in the ''Tabula'', and "Soatra" in Strabo. The town was situated in an arid region on the road from

Laodicea Combusta Laodicea Combusta (, ''Laodikeia Katakekaumenê'', "Laodicea the Burned") or Laodicea (), and later known as Claudiolaodicea, was a Hellenistic city in central Anatolia, in the region of Pisidia; its site is currently occupied by the town of Ladik ...

(now

Ladik Ladik is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Its area is 541 km2, and its population is 16,072 (2022). It is on the site of the ancient Laodicea Pontica. The mayor is Adnan Topal ( AKP). History Laodicea Pontica or Laodic ...

) to Archelais (now

Aksaray Aksaray () is a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Aksaray Province and Aksaray District.

), near the village of Souverek, in what was formerly the Ottoman

vilayet of Koniah The Vilayet of Konya () was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire in Asia Minor which included the whole, or parts of, the ancient regions of Pamphylia, Pisidia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, Cilicia and Cappadocia. Demograph ...

: according to

W. M. Ramsay Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (15 March 185120 April 1939) was a British archaeologist and New Testament scholar. He was the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor, and a leading scholar in the study of the New Testament. R ...

, at the ruins four hours south-west of

Eskil Eskil is a town in Aksaray Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, situated on the southern shore of Lake Tuz. It is the seat of Eskil District Eskil District is a district of Aksaray Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town Eskil.< ...

; according to Müller, near Djelil between Obrouklou, or Obrouk, and Sultan Khan. Modern scholars place the site near Yağlibayat in Asiatic Turkey.

Ecclesiastical history

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

mentions two bishops of Savatra: Aristophanes, present at the First Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381; and Eustathius, who was living at the time of 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. The Greek ''

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 ...

'' mention the see till the thirteenth century. It remains a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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 ...

, suffragan of the archbishopric of

Iconium Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

Notes

Sources

* * Catholic titular sees in Asia Populated places in ancient Lycaonia Roman towns and cities in Turkey Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Former populated places in Turkey History of Konya Province {{Konya-geo-stub