Olba (ancient city)

For the Beirut airport with this ICAO Code, see Rafic Hariri International Airport.

Olba

Temple of Zeus at Olba
Shown within Turkey
Location	Mersin Province, Turkey
Region	Cilicia
Coordinates
Type	Settlement
Site notes
Condition	In ruins

Temple of Zeus

Olba (Turkish: Oura) was an ancient city and bishopric in the Roman province of Isauria, in present-day southern Turkey. It is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.

History

Temple of Tyche, Olba.

Olba was a city of Cetis in Cilicia Aspera, later forming part of Isauria; it had a temple of Zeus, whose priests were once kings of the country, and became a Roman colony. Strabo (XIV, 5, 10) and Ptolemy (V, 8, 6) call it Olbasa.

A coin of Diocæsarea, Olbos; Hierocles (Synecdemus, 709), Olbe; Basil of Seleucia (Mirac. S.Theclæ, 2, 8) and the Greek Notitiæ episcopatuum, Olba. The primitive name must have been Ourba or Orba, found in Theophanes the Chronographer, hence Ourbanopolis in "Acta S. Bartholomei".

Le Quien (Oriens christianus, II, 1031) gives four bishops between the fourth and seventh centuries; but the Notitiæ episcopatuum mentions the see until the thirteenth century.

Its ruins, north of Silifke in the Turkish province of Mersin, are called Oura in Turkish.

References

 

External links

• Livius.org: Olba (Diocaesarea)

See also

• Uzuncaburç
• Hellenistic Anatolia