Ecdaumava Explained

Ecdaumava or Ekdaumaua (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Έκδαύμαυα), also known as Egdava and Gdanmaa (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Γδανμάα), was a town of ancient Lycaonia, inhabited in Roman and Byzantine times. It became a bishopric; no longer the seat of a residential bishop, it remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.[1]

Its site is located near Çeşmelisebil, Sarayönü, Konya Province, Turkey, 85km (53miles) north of Konya at the foot of a chain of low hills running north–south.[2] The site is specifically on a hill east of Çeşmelisebil and was once the richest find site of Christian inscriptions in Lycaonia, but today there are relatively few remains including ancient and Byzantine spolia.[2] There are also inscriptions at Kuyulusebil, 4km (02miles) north of Çeşmelisebil.[2]

According to the Tabula Peutingeriana, Gdanmaa lay on the more northerly of the ancient routes crossing through Lycaonia from northwest to southeast, between Vetisso and Pegella.[2] There may have also been a north–south route passing through the town, branching off from the main Ankyra-Ikonion road and leading to Laodicea Combusta.[2] Gdanmaa was still described as a chorion through post-Constantine times.[2] The First Council of Nicaea in 325 contains the first reference to Gdanmaa as a bishopric: its bishop (a suffragan of Ankyra) was listed among the participants.[2] At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 it was listed as a suffragan of Ikonion and was represented by the metropolitan.[2]

In later periods the bishopric is given the alternate name of Eudoxias or Eudokias, which exclusively appears in later periods.[2] The change of name indicates that the seat of the bishopric had shifted to the better-protected location of Eudokias.[2] Eudokias's location is unknown but it must be one of the fortified places of northern Lycaonia, perhaps at Karanlı Kale north of Yeniceoba.[2] Eudokias was also the seat of a bandon and topoteresia, which was transferred into the new tourma of Kommata, in the theme of Cappadocia under Leon VI.[2]

References

38.6229°N 32.55°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ecdaumava (Titular See). Catholic Hierarchy.
  2. Book: Belke . Klaus . Restle . Marcell . Tabula Imperii Byzantini Bd. 4. Galatien und Lykaonien . 1984 . Herbert Hunger . Wien . 3700106343 . 166, 193 . 15 December 2021 . 15 December 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211215053518/https://tib.oeaw.ac.at/reader/TIB/tib4.html#page/166/mode/2up . dead .