# Mosynopolis > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mosynopolis > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mosynopolis.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosynopolis > Source revision: 1345068229 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Ancient settlement and archaeological site near Komotini, Greece}} {{Infobox ancient site |name = Mosynopolis |native_name = Μοσυνόπολις |alternate_name = Maximianopolis |image = 20100418 Maximianoupolis Mosynopolis Rhodope Thrace Greece 2.jpg |alt = |caption = A central plan church in Mosynopolis |map_type = Greece |map_alt = |coordinates = {{coord|41|07|43|N|25|19|31|E|display=inline,title}} |location = Near [Komotini](/source/Komotini), Greece |region = [Thrace](/source/Thrace) |type = Settlement |part_of = |length = |width = |area = |height = |builder = |material = |built = |abandoned = 13th century |epochs = |cultures = [Roman](/source/Roman_Empire), [Byzantine](/source/Byzantine_Empire) |dependency_of = |occupants = |event = |excavations = |archaeologists = |condition = In ruins |ownership = |management = |public_access = |website = |notes = }} '''Mosynopolis''' ({{langx|el|Μοσυνόπολις}}), of which only ruins now remain in Greek [Thrace](/source/Thrace), was a city in the [Roman province](/source/Roman_province) of [Rhodope](/source/Rhodope_(Roman_province)), which was known until the 9th century as '''Maximianopolis''' (Μαξιμιανούπολις) or, to distinguish it from other cities of the same name, as '''Maximianopolis in Rhodope'''.[http://www.ipet.gr/cultureportalweb/print.php?article_id=868&lang=en&print_mode=article Aikaterini Balla, "Mosynopolis-Maximianoupolis"] == History == The city of Maximianopolis appears in written sources from the 4th century on. Its fortifications were renewed by [Byzantine emperor](/source/Byzantine_emperor) [Justinian I](/source/Justinian_I), and it was later a base for operations by Emperor [Basil II](/source/Basil_II) in his [wars](/source/Byzantine_conquest_of_Bulgaria) against the [Bulgarians](/source/First_Bulgarian_Empire).{{cite encyclopedia | last = Gregory | first = Timothy E. | title = Mosynopolis | pages = 1418–1419 | editor-last=Kazhdan | editor-first=Alexander | editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan | year=1991 | encyclopedia = [The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium](/source/The_Oxford_Dictionary_of_Byzantium) | location = Oxford and New York | publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-504652-6 }} In the 11th century, the city was the center of a district (''[bandon](/source/bandon_(Byzantine_Empire))'') in the [theme](/source/theme_(Byzantine_district)) of [Boleron](/source/Boleron), and [Anna Komnene](/source/Anna_Komnene) reports in her ''[Alexiad](/source/Alexiad)'' that there were many [Manichaean](/source/Manichaean)s living in Mosynopolis in the late 11th/early 12th centuries. The town was captured in 1185 by the [Normans](/source/Normans), while the monk Ephrem says that the city was captured in 1190 by [Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor](/source/Frederick_I%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor).Cæsares, V. 5695, in ''[Patrologia Graeca](/source/Patrologia_Graeca)'', CXLIII, 216. The [Battle of Messinopolis](/source/Battle_of_Messinopolis), in which the Bulgarians defeated [Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat](/source/Boniface_I%2C_Marquess_of_Montferrat), took place nearby in 1207, and was speedily followed by the destruction of Mosynopolis by Tsar [Kaloyan of Bulgaria](/source/Kaloyan_of_Bulgaria).{{ cite journal | last = Kiel| first = Machiel| year =1971 | title = Observations on the History of Northern Greece during the Turkish Rule: Historical and Architectural Description of the Turkish Monuments of Komotini and Serres, their place in the Development of Ottoman Turkish Architecture and their Present Condition| journal =Balkan Studies | volume =12 | pages = 417}} The fate of the town thereafter is somewhat obscure: it re-appears in 1317 as part of the theme of "Boleron and Mosynopolis", and its bishopric was still active, but the historian Catherine Asdracha, in her 1972 survey of the [Rhodope](/source/Rhodope_(regional_unit)) area in the late Middle Ages, suggests that it never recovered from Kaloyan's sack and remained in ruins, proposing that it is to be identified with the town of Mesene, which the emperor and historian [John VI Kantakouzenos](/source/John_VI_Kantakouzenos) reported as "destroyed many years ago". The town at some point had other names including '''Porsula''' or '''Porsulae''',{{Barrington Atlas|page=51}} '''Corsulae''', '''Impara''' and '''Pyrsoalis''',[Antonine Itinerary](/source/Antonine_Itinerary), {{Cite DGRG|title=Maximianopolis}} == Ecclesiastical history == Bishops of Maximianopolis in Rhodope were present at the 5th and 6th-century [ecumenical council](/source/ecumenical_council)s of [Ephesus](/source/Council_of_Ephesus) (431), [Chalcedon](/source/Council_of_Chalcedon) (451), and [Constantinople II](/source/Second_Council_of_Constantinople) (553) and in another council of 459. From the 7th to the 9th centuries, the [see](/source/Episcopal_see) is referred to as archiepiscopal, giving it [autocephalous](/source/autocephalous) status. In all these instances, the see appears under the name Maximianopolis, but in 879 it is under the name Mosynopolis that it is represented by a bishop called Paul at the [Fourth Council of Constantinople](/source/Fourth_Council_of_Constantinople_(Eastern_Orthodox)). From the following century to the 12th, it appears with reduced status as a [suffragan](/source/suffragan) of [Trajanopolis in Rhodope](/source/Traianoupoli). In the 13th century it became a [Latin](/source/Latin_Church) bishopric. The see is mentioned under the name Mosynopolis also in the ''[Notitiae Episcopatuum](/source/Notitiae_Episcopatuum)'' of [Leo the Wise](/source/Leo_the_Wise), about 900;[Heinrich Gelzer](/source/Heinrich_Gelzer), ''Ungedruckte ... Notitiæ episcopatuum'', 558. in that for 940;Gelzer, ''Georgii Cyprii Descriptio orbis Romani'', 79. in that for 1170 under the name of Misinoupolis.Parthey, ''Hierocles Synecdemus'', 122.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10600b.htm Siméon Vailhé, "Mosynoupolis" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1911)] After the destruction of the city, the [Patriarchate of Constantinople](/source/Patriarchate_of_Constantinople) in August 1347 authorized the Metropolitan of [Trajanopolis](/source/Traianoupoli) to exercise jurisdiction in what had been the see of Maximianopolis or Mosynopolis. === Titular see === The bishopric is included in the [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church)'s list of [titular see](/source/titular_see)s both as an archiepiscopal see under the name Maximianopolis in Rhodope''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 925 and as a suffragan diocese of Mosynopolis subject to Trajanopolis in Rhodope.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'', p. 934 The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as the Latin Catholic titular archbishopric '''Massimianopolis in Rhodope'''. It is vacant, having had a single incumbent of the intermediary (archiepiscopal) rank: * Adam Hefter (5 December 1939 – 9 January 1970), previously Bishop of [Gurk](/source/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Gurk) (Austria) (26 December 1914 – 4 May 1939) and Titular Bishop of [Marciana](/source/Marciana) (4 May 1939 – 5 December 1939) == Photographs == Image:20100418_Maximianoupolis_Mosynopolis_Rhodope_Thrace_Greece_1.jpg | Fortress: a little south from the church. Image:20100418_Maximianoupolis_Mosynopolis_Rhodope_Thrace_Greece_3.jpg | A central plan church. Image:20100418_Maximianoupolis_Mosynopolis_Rhodope_Thrace_Greece_4.jpg | A central plan church. Image:20100418_Maximianoupolis_Mosynopolis_Rhodope_Thrace_Greece_5.jpg | A central plan church. == See also == * [Maximianopolis (disambiguation)](/source/Maximianopolis_(disambiguation)) == References == {{Reflist|2}} == Source and External links == * [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t1102.htm GigaCatholic, with titular incumbent biography link] {{commons category|Maximianoupolis}} Category:Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Category:Rhodope (regional unit) Category:Geography of medieval Thrace Maximianopolis in Rhodope Category:Byzantine sites in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mosynopolis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosynopolis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosynopolis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.