View source for Abonoteichos

{{short description|Ancient city in Asia Minor}}
[[File:03 Inebolu2005 0804 133337a(AydinTiryaki).JPG |thumb|right|Area around Abonoteichos]]'''Abonoteichos''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀβώνου τεῖχος|Abṓnou teîchos}}, [[demonym]]: {{lang|grc|Αβωνοτειχίτης}}, {{Transliteration|grc|Abōnoteichítēs}}), later '''Ionopolis''' ({{lang|grc|Ιωνόπολις}}, {{Transliteration|grc|Ionópolis}}; {{langx|tr|[[İnebolu]]}}), was an ancient city in [[Asia Minor]], on the site of modern [[İnebolu]] (in Asian Turkey), and remains a Latin Catholic titular see.

== History ==
Abonoteichos was a town on the coast of [[Paphlagonia]], memorable as the birthplace of the infamous fortuneteller [[Alexander of Abonoteichus|Alexander Abonoteichites]], founder of the cult of [[Glycon]], of whom [[Lucian]] left an amusing account in the treatise bearing his name.<ref name="DGRG">{{Citation  | last = Smith  | first = William  | author-link = William Smith (lexicographer)  | contribution = Abonoteichos  | editor-last = Smith  | editor-first = William  | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 5  | publisher = Walton & Maberly  | place = London  | year = 1857  | contribution-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_sYPAAAAYAAJ }}</ref>  According to Lucian, Alexander petitioned the [[Roman emperor]] (probably [[Antoninus Pius]]) that the name of his native place should be changed from Abonoteichos to '''Ionopolis'''; and whether the emperor granted the request or not, we know that the town was called Ionopolis in later times.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Alex'' § 58</ref> 
 
Not only does this name occur in [[Marcian of Heraclea]]<ref>[[Marcian of Heraclea]], ''Peripl.'' p. 72</ref> and [[Hierocles (author of Synecdemus)|Hierocles]],<ref>[[Synecdemus]], p. 696</ref> but on coins of the time of Antoninus and [[Lucius Verus]] we find the legend Ionopoliton ({{lang|grc|ΙΩΝΟΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ}}), as well as Abonoteichiton ({{lang|grc|ΑΒΩΝΟΤΕΙΧΙΤΩΝ}}). The modern Turkish name [[İnebolu]] is evidently a corruption of Ionopolis.<ref>[[Strabo]], p. 545</ref><ref>[[Arrian]], ''[[Periplus Ponti Euxini]]'' p. 15</ref><ref>Ptol. v. 4 § 2</ref><ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''s. v.'' {{lang|grc|Ἀβώνου τείχος}}</ref>

It was the site of a 2nd-century AD temple of [[Apollo]].<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Ionopolis}}</ref>

== Ecclesiastical history of Ionopolis ==
It was important enough in the [[Roman province]] of [[Paphlagonia]] to become a [[suffragan]] bishopric of the Metropolitan of its capital [[Gangra]],<ref>[[Louis Vivien de Saint-Martin]], Historical and geographical description of Asia Minor, including ancient times, the Middle Ages and modern times (A. Bertrand, 1845)  p436</ref> but faded later.  [[Michel Le Quien|Michel LeQuien]]<ref>{{Oriens Christianus|volume=1|at=col. 555}}</ref> mentions eight bishops between 325 and 878 <ref>[http://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia/i/ionopolis.html  CUINET, La Turquie d'Asie, IV (Paris, 1894), p466-69].</ref> and Ionopolis is mentioned in the later “[[Notitiae episcopatuum]].” <ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08093a.htm  The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908].</ref>
* Petronius of Ionopolis was at the [[First Council of Nicaea|Council of Nicaea]]<ref>Roderic Mullen, The expansion of Christianity (Brill, 2004) p. 123.</ref>
*Rhenus, at the [[Council of Chalcedon]]<ref>Richard Price, Michael Gaddis, The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, Volume 1 (Liverpool University press, 2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=6IUaOOT1G3UC&q=Ionopolis&pg=PA33 p88].</ref>
*Diogenes of Ionopolis, at [[Council of Ephesus]]<ref>Eduard Schwartz, Collectio Novariensis de re Eutychis (Walter de Gruyter, 1 July 1962) [https://books.google.com/books?id=gURqBTq8eckC&q=Ionopolis  p207].</ref>
*  ''.....ios'', bishop of Ionopolis. (known only from a 10th century [[coin]])<ref>[http://www.doaks.org/resources/seals/byzantine-seals/BZS.1958.106.152/view  N. bishop of Ionopolis (tenth century) ].</ref>
* Niketas, bishop of Ionopolis and chartoularios of the Great Orphanotropheion.<ref>Jean-Claude Cheynet, Studies in Byzantine Sigillography, Volume 8 (Walter de Gruyter, 2003)[https://books.google.com/books?id=TyRllGN2Tq0C&dq=diocese+of+Ionopolis&pg=PA58 p58].</ref>  11th century <ref>[http://www.doaks.org/resources/seals/byzantine-seals/BZS.1951.31.5.2092   Niketas bishop of Ionopolis (and chartoularios) of the Great Orphanotropheion (eleventh century).]</ref><ref>Elizabeth Jeffreys, John F. Haldon, Robin Cormack, The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies (Oxford University Press, 2008) [https://books.google.com/books?id=liFKua_cWL8C&dq=Bishop+of+Ionopolis&pg=PA154  p154].</ref>
*John, bishop of Ionopolis<ref>[http://www.doaks.org/resources/seals/byzantine-seals/BZS.1955.1.4648  John bishop of Ionopolis (eleventh century) ].</ref>  11th century<ref>{{Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art|volume=4|pages=49-50}}</ref>

=== Catholic titular see ===
The [[diocese]] was nominally revived as a [[Roman Catholic Church|Latin Catholic]] [[titular bishopric]] under the name Ionopolis, which was spelled '''Jonopolis''' in the [[Roman Curia]] (besides Italian ''Gionopoli'') from 1929 to 1971.

It has been vacant for decades, having had the following incumbents, both of the lowest (episcopal) and intermediary (archiepiscopal) ranks :
* Titular Bishop Wilhelm Hermann Ignaz Ferdinand von Wolf-Metternich zu Gracht (1720.09.16 – 1722.10.28)<ref>Hierarchia Catholica, Volume 5, Page 229</ref><ref>Les Ordinations Épiscopales, Year 1721, Number 6.</ref>
* Titular Bishop Joannes Karski (1771.07.29 – 1785)<ref>Hierarchia Catholica, Volume 6, Page 244, and Page 454.</ref><ref>Les Ordinations Épiscopales, Year 1772, Number 34.</ref>
* Titular Bishop [[Bishop-elect]] John Murphy (1815.02.21 – 1815.02.21)
* Titular Bishop Bishop-elect Ferdinand Corbi (1833.09.30 – ?)
* Titular Bishop Wincenty Lipski (1856.09.18 – 1875.12.13)<ref>Le Petit Episcopologe, Issue 178, Number 14.787</ref><ref>Hierarchia Catholica, Volume 8, Page 323.</ref>
* Titular Archbishop James Gibbons (1877.05.29 – 1877.10.03), previously Titular Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Adramyttium|Adramyttium]] (1868.03.03 – 1872.07.30) & [[Apostolic Vicar]] of [[Apostolic Vicariate of North Carolina|North Carolina]] (USA) (1868.03.03 – 1877.05.20), also Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond|Richmond]] (USA) (1872.07.30 – 1877.05.29); later [[Coadjutor Archbishop]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore|Baltimore]] (USA) (1877.05.29 – 1877.10.03), succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of Baltimore (1877.10.03 – 1921.03.24), [[Cardinal-Priest]] of [[S. Maria in Trastevere]] (1887.03.17 – 1921.03.24), becoming [[Protopriest of the Sacred College of Cardinals]] (1920.12.07 – 1921.03.24)
* Titular Archbishop Francis Xavier Leray (1879.09.30 – 1883.12.28)
* Titular Bishop Giacomo Daddi (1884.03.24 – 1897?)
* Titular Bishop Andrea Cassato (1898.03.24 – 1913.05.01)
* Titular Bishop Henri Doulcet, [[Passionists]] (C.P.) (1913.06.03 – 1914.03.17); previously Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Nikopol|Nikopol]] (Bulgaria) (1895.01.07 – 1913.03.31); later Titular Archbishop of [[Dioclea in Praevalitana|Dioclea]] (1914.03.17 – 1916.07.27)
* Titular Bishop Joseph John Fox (1914.11.07 – 1915.03.14)
* Titular Bishop Nicolás Gonzalez Pérez, [[Claretians]] (C.M.F.) (1918.08.24 – 1935.03.23)
* Titular Bishop Eugène-Louis-Marie Le Fer de la Motte (1935.07.08 – 1936.07.20)
* Titular Bishop Johann Baptist Dietz (1936.07.25 – 1939.04.10), [[Coadjutor Bishop]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Fulda|Fulda]] (Germany) (1936.07.25 – 1939.04.10), succeeding as Bishop of Fulda (1939.04.10 – 1958.10.24), later Titular Archbishop of [[Cotrada]] (1958.10.24 – 1959.12.10)
* Titular Bishop Maurice-Auguste-Eugène Foin (1939.06.10 – 1948.07.10)
* Titular Bishop Hubert Joseph Paulissen, [[Society of African Missions]] (S.M.A.) (1951.11.15 – 1966.08.12)

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

== References ==
* {{SmithDGRG|wstitle=Aboni-Teichos|volume=1|pages=5}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0871.htm GigaCatholic with titular incumbent biography links]
{{Pontic colonies}}
{{Former settlements in Turkey}}

{{coord|41.9740255|N|33.7660475|E|display=title|format=dms|source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/27453}}

[[Category:Populated places in ancient Paphlagonia]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in Turkey]]
[[Category:Roman Paphlagonia]]
[[Category:Populated places of the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:Glycon cult]]