Tripolis on the Meander

Tripolis on the Meander (Greek: Τρίπολις, Eth. Greek: Τριπολίτης, Latin: Tripolis ad Maeandrum) – also Neapolis (Greek: Νεάπολις), Apollonia (Greek: Απολλωνία), and Antoniopolis (Greek: Αντωνιόπολις) – was an ancient city on the borders of Phrygia, Caria and Lydia, on the northern bank of the upper course of the Maeander, and on the road leading from Sardes by Philadelphia to Laodicea ad Lycum. (It. Ant. p. 336; Tab. Peut.) It was situated 20 km to the northwest of Hierapolis.

Tripolis on the Meander

Greek: Τρίπολις
Shown within Turkey
Location	Turkey
Region	Denizli Province
Coordinates	38°03′N 28°57′E

Ruins of Tripolis ad Maeandrum near Yenicekent, Turkey

Ruins of it still exist near Yenicekent (formerly Yeniji or Kash Yeniji), a township in the Buldan district of Denizli Province, Turkey. (Arundell, Seven Churches, p. 245; Hamilton, Researches, i. p. 525; Fellows, Asia Minor, p. 287.) The ruins mostly date from the Roman and Byzantine periods and include a theater, baths, city walls, and a necropolis. An ancient church, dating back 1,500 years, has been unearthed in 2013.^[1]

Province

The earliest mention of Tripolis is by Pliny (v. 30), who treats it as a Lydian town. Ptolemy (v. 2. § 18) and Stephanus of Byzantium describe it as a Carian town. Hierocles (p. 669) likewise calls it a Lydian town.

William Mitchell Ramsay also places Tripolis within Lydia.^[2]

The city minted coins in antiquity, some of which bore an image of Leto. Catalogues of coins of Tripolis generally refer to the city as belonging to Lydia.^[3][4] However, one book on coin collecting list Tripolis as part of Lydia on one page, but speaks of it as part of Caria on another.^[5]

A website on which various contributors give news of Turkish archaeology treats Tripolis as part of Phrygia.^[6]

Other names

Pliny says the city was also called Apollonia (Greek: Ἀπολλωνία),^[7] and Stephanus of Byzantium that, in his time, it was called Neapolis (Greek: Νεάπολις).^{[citation needed]}

Bishopric

The city of Tripolis was the seat of an ancient bishopric,^[8] suffragan to Sardis. Very little is known of the Bishopric, but we retain the names of some bishops, including:

• Ramsay reports that a bishop of Tripolis in Lydia named Agogius attended the First Council of Nicaea in 325.^[2]
• Leontius^[9]
• Commodus at Council of Chalcedon.^[10] and Ephesus^[11]
• Paulus, fl. 451
• Joannes, fl. 451^[12]
• Anastasius
• Sisinnius^[9]

The see is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees,^[13] which treats it as part of the late Roman province of Lydia.^[14]

• Nicolas Fryes de Brisaco, (21 June 1456 Appointed – 17 July 1498) ^[15]

• 
  Ruins of Tripolis ad Maeandrum near Yenicekent, Turkey
• 
  Supportive arch in Tripolis, Turkey
• 
  Further ruins

See also

• List of ancient Greek cities

References

1. "Ancient church found in Aegean province of Denizli". Hürriyet Daily News. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
2. William Mitchell Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor (reprint by Cambridge University Press 2010 ISBN 978-1-10801453-3), p. 134
3. Ancient Coinage of Lydia, Tripolis
4. Asia Minor Coins
5. Wayne G. Sayle, Ancient Coin Collecting IV: Roman Provincial Coins (F+W Media, Inc, 1998, ISBN 978-0-87341552-1), pp. 146 and 129
6. Tripolis Turkish Archaeological News
7. see also Ludwig Bürchner: Apollonia 16a.(in German) In: Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Supplementband I, Stuttgart 1903, col. 109.
8. Joseph Bingham, Origines Ecclesiasticae; Or the Antiquities of the Christian ..., Volume 3 p105.
9. Michel Le Quien, Oriens christianus: in quatuor patriarchatus digestus (Typographia Regia, 1740).p879
10. Richard Price, Michael Gaddis The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, Volume 1 (Liverpool University Press, 2005) p245.
11. Richard Price, Politics and Bishops’ Lists at the First Council of Ephesus Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum 44 (2012), 395-420.
12. W. M. Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor (Cambridge University Press, 2010) p120.
13. David M. Cheney, Tripolitanus in Lydia at catholic-hierarchy.org.
14. Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 997
15. Hierarchia Catholica, Volume 2, Page 256

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Tripolis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.

External links

• Tripolis ad Maeandrum archaeological project website
• "Tripolis" at the Turkish Ministry of Culture
• Hazlitt, Classical Gazetteer, "Tripolis"
• Tripolis site description and photo gallery at Turkish Archaeological News