APAMEA

Apamea is the name of several ancient cities. Modern Mudanya was once the bishopric of Apamea in Bithynia originally called Myrleia and located in southeast Propontis on the Sea of Marmara. The city was founded by colonists from Colophon, and taken by Philip V of Macedonia (221–179 b.c.) and given to Prusias I of Bithynia (c. 230–183 b.c.), who changed its name to Apamea in honor of his wife. Julius Caesar called it colonia Julia Concordia Augusta Apamea. There were many Christians in Bithynia in the early 2nd century as a letter of Pliny the Younger (a.d. 62–113) to Trajan proves; but there is little information on the early bishops of Apamea. It was a suffragan see of Nicomedia; but by 536 it had become a metropolitan see. Since the middle of the 14th century it has been only a titular see.

In Phrygia, Apamea is known to have had a bishop during the 4th or 5th century; but the exact site is not known, and it is not mentioned in the Byzantine lists of bishoprics.

Apamea in Pisidia is known from the ruins found near modern Dinar at the source of the Maeander River. The original city, built on a hill, was called Kelainai. At the foot of this hill the Syrian King Antiochus III (223–187 b.c.) built a new town and gave it the name of his mother, Apamea. It was known in history as Apamea ad Meandrum, Apamea Kelainai, and Apamea of the Ark (Cibotus), since legend made it the landing site of Noah's ark. After Ephesus, it was the most renowned see in Asia Minor. Under the Romans it was a trade center, but it was destroyed in the 11th century by the Seljuk Turks.

Apamea, metropolitan see in Syria, was first called Pharnake, and then Pella by the Macedonians. Seleucus I Nicator named it Apamea for his wife. It was sacked under the Persian Chosroes II in 611 and, though rebuilt, was destroyed in an earthquake in 1152. Its ruins can be seen near modern Qal'at al-Mudiq northeast of Hama. It is possible that Apamea in Syria had a bishop in apostolic times. Under Theodosius II (408–450) it was a metropolitan see that disappeared under Arab occupation after 650. Tancred captured it in 1111 and erected a Latin archbishopric that continued in existence till 1238; since then it has served as a titular archbishopric.

Bibliography: r. janin, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastique, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912–) 3:916–920. r. north, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) suppl., Das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil: Dokumente und Kommentare 1:684. w. m. ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, 2 v. (Oxford 1895–97) 2:396–483. v. schultze, Altchristliche Städte 4 v. (Leipzig 1913–37) 2.1:450–461. r. dussaud, Topographie de la Syrie (Paris 1927) 194–198. f. mayence, L'Antiquite classique 1 (1932) 233–242; 4 (1935) 199–204; 5 (1936) 405–411.

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