Cibyra

Cibyra

A titular see of Caria, in Asia Minor. Kibyra, later Kibyrrha, had been founded by the Lycian district inhabited by the Solymi. It was the leading city of Kabalis, having two votes in the Kabalian tetrapolis; it could arm 30,000 foot and 2000 horse; in 190 B.C. it was ruled by its own kings. In 130 the Romans allowed it to remain independent with its territory. But in 84 it was incorporated with the province of Asia by L. Licinius Murena, a lieutenant of Sulla, and became the capital of the Cibyratic conventus. It was renowned for its ironwork, but, being situated away from the great lines of Roman commerce did not maintain its ancient prosperity. Tiberius restored it after an earthquake. It struck coins, and had its own era reckoned from A.D. 25. It was annexed by Justinian to Caria, and as early as the eighth century became the chief town of the theme (department) of the Cibyriotes. From the seventh to the twelfth or thirteenth century it figures in the "Synecdemus" of Hierocles, and in many "Notitiae episcopatuum" as a suffragan of Stauropolis, the metropolis of Caria. Six bishops are mentioned by Lequien (I, 963), the first being Letodorus (not Leontius) at Nicaea in 325; and the last Stephen, a partisan of Photius, who retracted at the Eighth Ecumenical Council in 869. The ruins of Cibyra are near Horzoum, a village in the vilayet of Koniah, where the ancient theatre, odeon, stadium etc., are still to be seen.

S. PETRIDES