Gordus (Lydia)

Julia Gordos among the cities of Lydia (ca. 50 AD)

Gordus or Gordos (Ancient Greek: Γόρδος),[1] also known as Julia Gordus or Iulia Gordos, and possibly also known as Porotta,[2][3] was an ancient Greek city located in eastern Lydia (modern western Turkey). It was a strategically important town founded by the Seleucid Kings. The Julio-Claudian emperors of the Roman Empire renamed the city Julia Gordos in the 1st century and the city minted its own coins.[4][5][6]

The city achieved the full status of a polis under the Flavian emperors.[7]

It was the home to Appolophanes the physician,[8] and there is epigraphical evidence of both pagans[9] and Christians in the town.[10]

Three bishops of the town are known: Isidor attended Third Council of Constantinople, Neophytus attended the Second Council of Nicaea and Stephen attended the Photian Council of 870. No longer the seat of a residential bishop, it remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.[11]

Its site is located near Eski Gördes in Asiatic Turkey.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ Hierocles. Synecdemus. Vol. p. 671.
  2. ^ a b Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 56, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
  3. ^ a b Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
  4. ^ Getzel M. Cohen, The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor (University of California Press, 2 Nov. 1996)p209.
  5. ^ Gordos-Julia in Lydia, Trajan, Coins.
  6. ^ Coin of Julia Gordos under Antoninus Pius.
  7. ^ Getzel M. Cohen, The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor (University of California Press, 2 Nov. 1996)p210.
  8. ^ Vivian Nutton, Ancient Medicine (Routledge, 2012) p409.
  9. ^ H. Malay, Great Antiochose Basic Apollophanes A Adjusted To Zeus Around Gordos.
  10. ^ Peter Thonemann, Inscriptions from Hadrianopolis, Tieion, Iulia Gordos and Toriaion, P H I L I A - International Journal of Ancient Mediterranean Studies Volume 1 • 2015 p82-83[permanent dead link].
  11. ^ Catholic Hierarchy

38°52′36″N 28°18′51″E / 38.876702°N 28.31421°E / 38.876702; 28.31421