Provinces in the civil diocese of Prima and which Holstenius' adds another, called Trista, [or Tirista], or Prista; by Socrates and Nicephorus Callistus, Zegavтáпpiota : but whether increased or diminished we know not, for there is no account of them in the Notitia of later ages. I make no further remark upon these dioceses, save that they were generally large ones, as any one that will cast his eye upon a map, or examine particular distances of cities, will easily be convinced. And we may make the same general observation upon most of the dioceses of the European provinces in Macedonia, Dacia, and Illyricum, till we come as far as Italy: for which reason, it will be sufficient to give the reader only a catalogue of the names of dioceses in every province of those regions, according to the order and distribution of them in the Church, following the model of the civil government, which divided these countries into three great dioceses and seventeen or eighteen provinces, under the general name of Illyricum Orientale and Occidentale. 7. The first of these are the provinces of Greece, which by the Romans are all comprehended under one common name of Macedonia. the civil dioceses of Macedonia, which, with the diocese of Dacia, Episcopal dioceses in was anciently the district of the Præfectus-Prætorio Illyrici Macedonia Orientalis. In the diocese of Macedonia were anciently six Secunda. provinces, or, according to the account of Hierocles, seven. 1. Macedonia Prima. 2. Secunda. 3. Epirus Vetus. 4. Epirus Nova. 5. Thessalia. 6. Achaia. 7. The Isle of Crete. Carolus à Sancto Paulo confounds the two Macedonias together, and reckons seventeen dioceses in both. 1. Thessalonica, the metropolis of the first Macedonia. 2. Philippi, the metropolis of the second. 3. Stobi, the old metropolis of the second province. 4. Berrhoea. 5. Dium. 6. Particopolis. 7. Doberus, [or Debor.] 8. Cassandria. 9. Neapolis. 10. Heraclea Pelagoniæ. 11. Torone. 12. Lete. 13. Topiris. 14. Serre. 15. Heraclea Strymonis. 16. Isle of Thassus, [or Thasos.] 17. Hephæstia, in the Isle of Lemnos. To which Holstenius2 adds 1 [Ap. Oper. Car. à S. Paul. (p. 203.) Tirista vel alii Prista, quæ Socrati et Nicephoro Callisto Σε§aντáπρiσтa, &c. Auxilius presbyter in defensionem Formosi Ântapristenam urbem vocat, &c. ED.] 2 Ibid. p. 114. (ubi supr. p. 197. in text.) Primula Hierocli, in Actis Conc. Constantinopol. sub Flavio: Primopolis, cujus episcopus Timotheus ibidem subscripsit.-Ibid. Zapara Hierocli, Macedoniæ Secundæ Primula and Zapara, but rejects Topiris, as belonging to Rhodope, a province in the Thracian diocese, and observes of Serre, that it was but another name for Philippi. salia. 8. The next province upon the Egean Sea is Thessalia, Of Theswhere Carolus à Sancto Paulo finds but eight dioceses. 1. Larissa, the metropolis. 2. Demetrias. 3. Echinus. 4. Cypera. 5. Metropolis. 6. Lamia. 7. Tricca. 8. Theba Phthioticæ. But Holstenius3 adds three more, Dicæsarea, Gomphi, and Scarphia, the last of which Carolus à Sancto Paulo confounds with Echinus. The Notitia [of Leo Sapiens] in Leunclavius calls this province Hellas Secunda, and names eleven dioceses in it, four of which retain their old names, by which it is reasonable to conjecture, that Hellas Secunda and Thessalia were but two names for the same province; and the number of dio. ceses agreeing exactly in both accounts, we may conclude there never was above eleven dioceses in all this province. sus, and 9. The next province to Thessaly is Achaia, which was a Of Achaia, very large province, including not only what the Ancients Peloponnecalled Attica and Achaia, but also all Peloponnesus, and the Euboea. Isle of Euboea. Here Carolus à Sancto Paulo finds twenty-six dioceses, four of which were in the Isle of Euboea. 1. Chalcis, now called Negroponte. 2. Oreum. 3. Porthmus. 4. Carystus. Nine in Peloponnesus. 1. Corinthus, the metropolis of the whole province. 2. Argos. 3. Tegea. 4. Megalopolis. 5. Lacedæmon. 6. Messena. 7. Corone. 8. Petræ. 9. Helice. Thirteen in the other part of Achaia. 1. Athenæ. 2. Megara. 3. Thespiæ. 4. Naupactus. 5. Secorus. 6. Elatea. 7. Opus. 8. Strategis. 9. Theba. 10. Platæa. 11. Tanagra. 12. Marathon. 13. Carsia, or Corissia. Holstenius adds another Corone, or rather Coronea, in Boeotia, beside the Corone civitas in Conc. V. Constantinopol. col. 2. legitur, Sabinianus episcopus Zaparenæ civitatis Illyricianæ dice ceseos. 3 Ibid. p. 115. (ubi supr. p. 197.) Cæsarea vel Dicæsarea Hierocli. Timotheus episcopus Dicæsariensis in Conc. Romano Bonifacii Papæ II. Gomphi Ptolem. Steph. et Hierocli. Eustathius Gomphiensis episcopus legitur in Conc. Bonifacii II. Scarphia Ptolem. ibid. Steph. et Hiero cli. Cyriacus ejus episcopus sub- that was in Peloponnesus. The Notitia of Leo Sapiens in Of Epirus va. dioceses. 1. Nicopolis, the metropolis. 2. Anchiasmus. 3. Phoenicia. 4. Dodone. 5. Adrianopolis. 6. Buthrotum. 7. Euria. 8. Photica. 9. Isle of Cephalenia. 10. Isle of Corcyra. In Epirus Nova only eight. 1. Dyrrachium, or Doracium, the metropolis. 2. Scampes. 3. Apollonia. 4. Aulon. 5. Amantia. 6. Lychnidus. 7. Bullidum, or Bulis. 8. Prina, or Prisna. To which Holstenius adds Listra or Helistra, but with some doubting, whether it do not rather belong to Lycaonia. These were very large dioceses, above forty or fifty miles long: notwithstanding which, two of them were sometimes united together; for in the Acts of the Council of Ephesus, as Holstenius has observed, one Felix is called bishop of Bulis and Apollonia together. In the Greek Notitia of Leo Sapiens, Old Epirus goes by the name of Ætolia, and has the same number of ten dioceses only, though not the same names. The other Epirus has sixteen, but then the province of Prævalitana is joined to it, and most of its dioceses taken in to make up the number. Whence I conclude, that the dioceses in these provinces have been of great extent in all ages; the Isle of Corcyra itself being reckoned by some geographers forty-five miles long, and by Pliny no less than ninety-seven. 4 Act. 1. (t. 3. p. 447 c.) ÞýλiKOS Απολλωνίας καὶ Βελλιάδος. 5 L. 4. c. 12. (p. 55.37.) Corcyra ...cum urbe ejusdem nominis Cor of Crete. 11. In the Isle of Crete, which was the last of the Macedo- Of the Isle nian provinces, Carolus à Sancto Paulo names eleven dioceses. 1. Gortyna, the metropolis. 2. Gnossus. 3. Hierapetra. 4. Lappa. 5. Subrita. 6. Eleuthera. 7. Cherronesus. 8. Cydonia. 9. Cysamus. 10. Citium. 11. Cantanum. The Notitia of Leo Sapiens in Leunclavius makes them twelve, but Hierapetra is there by mistake of some transcriber divided into two, which being corrected reduces them to the same number. Whence I conclude, this was pretty near the standing number for several ages. Now Crete is reckoned by Ferrarius and others, out of Pliny and Strabo, 270 or 300 miles long and fifty broad; which makes these twelve dioceses equal to the rest of the Macedonian provinces, all which appear visibly to be dioceses of great extent, without descending any further to give a more particular account of them. Of Prævali 12. The other civil diocese of Illyricum Orientale went by Of the five provinces in the common name of Dacia, consisting of five provinces. 1. the diocese Prævalitana. 2. Masia Superior. 3. Dacia Mediterranea. of Dacia. 4. Dacia Ripensis. 5. Dardania. Prævalitana lies on the tana. north of Epirus to the Adriatic sea, being part of that country which is now called Albania. Carolus à Sancto Paulo names but two dioceses in it, Scodra, the old metropolis of the province, and Achidra, which was anciently called Prævalis, but afterwards Justinian honoured it with his own name, Justiniana Prima, and advanced it to patriarchal dignity, assigning it all the five provinces of the Dacian diocese, and the two Pannonias in the diocese of Illyricum Occidentale for the limits of its jurisdiction. Besides these two bishoprics Holstenius has found out two more in this province, Rhizinium and Lissus, now called Alessio on the Adriatic sea. Carolus à Sancto Paulo also by mistake places Scodra in the province of Dalmatia, making Justiniana Prima a metropolitan see without any suffragans under it. 13. On the north of Prævalitana to the Danube lay Moesia Of Mœesia Superior, between Pannonia on the west, and Dacia on the Superior. east. Carolus à Sancto Paulo confounds the episcopal dioceses of this province and the Dacias together, making Sardica the cyra,.... pass. 97. m. in longitudinem patens. 6 Novel. 131. c. 3. See b. 2. ch. 17. s. 12. v. 1. p. 207. n. 62. metropolis of them all, and calling them, from that, by the common name of Provincia Sardicensis; and, beside Sardica, he finds but three more dioceses in the three provinces, Remessiana, Aquæ, and Castrum Martis. But Holstenius is a little more accurate, and treats distinctly of them he assigns to Masia Superior Castrum Martis, and another called Margus, seated on the confluence of the river Margus and the Danube. : 14. To Dacia Mediterranea Holstenius assigns Sardica, the metropolis, and Romatiana, and Naïssus, which he and Pagi make to be the birth-place of Constantine the Great. In the other Dacia, called Ripensis, from its running along the banks of the Danube, between Mœsia Prima and Secunda, he places Aquæ, which is mentioned in the Council of Sardica, in St. Hilary's Fragments 7, and Iscus, or Iscopolis, another city, whose bishop subscribed, out of the same province, in the foresaid Council. In his Annotations also upon Ortelius, he observes two other episcopal cities in this province, one called Martis by Hierocles, or Stramartis by Procopius, and another called Budine, now Bodine, in Bulgaria, upon the Danube. But perhaps these are both modern sees; for he cites no other authority but that of the Notitia for them, and Stramartis seems to be a corruption of Castra Martis. 15. On the south of Dacia, between it and Macedonia, was the province of Dardania, divided from Macedonia by Mount Scardus, and from Thracia by part of Mount Hæmus. It is now part of Servia, and was anciently a part of Moesia, as Dacia also was, till the Daci, passing over the Danube, got themselves planted in the middle of Mosia, which, from that 7 [Ex Oper. Histor. Fragm. 2. (t. 2. p. 632 b.) Vitalis a Dacia Ripensi de Aquis: but Iscus or Iscopolis is not mentioned there. Neither is it found in Crabbe's edition of the Councils (t. 1. pp. 333-335.) where the first mentioned place is termed Aquiripensis in one word. See Labbe's edition (t. 2. p. 662 e.) Vitalis a Dacia Ripensi de Aquis. But no mention of Iscus or Iscopolis, as above. See Holstein, (in Geogr. Sacr. Car. a S. Paul. p. 202.) upon whose authority my learned Ancestor makes the statement in the text: Iscus Daciæ Ripensis Hierocli. Valens de Isco Sardicensi subscripsit, qui et Iscopolitanus. ED.] 8 (P. 116.) Martis fuit civitas episcopalis Daciæ Ripensis. [Among the Subscriptions in the Council of Sardica (ap. Labb. t. 2. p. 663 a.) we have Calvus ab Achaia Ripensi de Castra Martis.— See Car. à Sanct. Paul. (p. 202.) Castrum Martis, Sozomeno, 1. 9. c. 5. Mosiæ civitas, vulgo Marota. ED.] |