Laranda

Laranda

A titular see of Isauria, afterwards of Lycaonia. Strabo (XII, 569), informs us that Laranda had belonged to the tyrant Antipater of Derbe, whence we may infer that it was governed by native princes. The city was taken by storm and destroyed by Perdiccas (Diodorus Siculus, XVIII, 22), afterwards rebuilt. Owing to its fertile teritory Laranda became one of the most important cities of the district, also one of the principal centres for the pirates of Isauria. It was the birthplace of the poets Nestor and his son Pisander (Suidas, s.v.). In later time it was a part of the sultanate of Konia, and after the possessions of the Seljuks were divided, it became the capital of Caramania, conquered in 1486 by the Osmanli Sultan Bajazet II. The name Laranda is seldom heard in modern days; the city is generally known as Caraman. It has about 15,000 inhabitants, the majority being Mussulmans, and is one of the chief towns of the vilayet of Konia. Cotton and silk fabrics are made there, and it is a railway-station, between Konia and Eregli on the way to Bagdad. There are no ancient ruins. Laranda is mentioned as a suffragan of Iconium by the "Notitiae Episcopatuum" until about the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Only four of its bishops are known: Neo, mentioned by Eusebius (Hist. Exxl., VI, xix); Paul, present at the Council of Nicaea, 325; Ascholius, at Chalcedon, 451; Sabbas, at Constantinople, 879.

LE QUIEN, Oriens Christ., I, 1081; SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog., s.v.; RAMSAY, Asia Minor, passim.

S. PÉTRIDÈS