Helenopolis (Bithynia)

Coordinates: 40°43′24″N 29°30′08″E / 40.72339°N 29.50224°E / 40.72339; 29.50224
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

40°43′24″N 29°30′08″E / 40.72339°N 29.50224°E / 40.72339; 29.50224 Helenopolis (

Saint Helena
.

History

According to the 6th-century historian Procopius, Helena's son Emperor Constantine the Great renamed the city "Helenopolis" to honor her birthplace; but the name may simply have honored her without marking her birthplace.[1] Constantine also built there a church in honour of the martyr Saint Lucian; it soon grew in importance, and Constantine lived there very often towards the end of his life.

Near it were some famous mineral springs. These mineral springs might be those of Termal near Yalova.

Emperor

Justinian
built there an aqueduct, baths and other monuments. It does not seem ever to have grown, and it was slightingly called (a pun on its name) Eleinou Polis, "the wretched town".

Nearby, in the late 11th century, Alexios I Komnenos built a castle called Kibatos or Civetot for Anglo-Saxon mercenaries who had opted to flee England after the Norman Conquest and serve the Byzantine Emperor. On 21 October 1096, the forces of the

Seljuk Turks in the battle of Civetot
. The victory of the Turks ended the People's Crusade. In 2019, an academic survey identified the remains of Kibatos/Civetot 3.5 meters underwater in Hersek Lagoon. The remains of the castle span approximately 4,200 square meters and were identified based on architectural similarities to contemporary descriptions.[2] In addition to the discovery of the castle - believed to have been abandoned due to earthquakes at an indeterminate time - among other structures, remains of a pier and lighthouse were found, which were visited by Evliya Çelebi and are known to have been used from the Byzantine period right up until the demise of the Ottoman Empire.[3]

Ecclesiastical history

The see of Helenopolis in Bithynia was a

suffragan of the Metropolis of Nicomedia.[4]

Council of Constantinople (879-880). Helenopolis occurs in the Notitiae Episcopatuum
until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Helenopolis in Bithynia is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.[4]

Notes and references

  1. ^ Harbus, Antonia. Helena of Britain in Medieval Legend. Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, 2002, p. 12ff
  2. ^ "Lost Byzantine castle found under water". Hürriyet Daily News. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  3. ^ "Secrets of sunken Kibatos Castle unraveled". Hürriyet Daily News. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  4. ^ ), p. 886
  5. .

Sources and external links

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainHerbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Helenopolis". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.