Pionia (Ancient Greek: Πιονία) or Pioniai (Πιονίαι) was a town in the interior of ancient Mysia, on the river Satnioeis, to the northwest of Antandrus, and to the northeast of Gargara.[1]
Its people believed the town was founded by Pionis, one of the descendants of Heracles. According to local tradition, whenever the inhabitants prepared a sacrifice to honor him as a hero, smoke would mysteriously rise from his tomb on its own.[2]
History
Under the Roman dominion it belonged to the jurisdiction of Adramyttium,[3] and in the ecclesiastical notices it appears as a bishopric of the Hellespontine province.[4] The bishop Aetius represented the city at the Council of Ephesus. No longer the seat of a residential bishop, it remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.[5]
Its site is located near Gömeniç in Asiatic Turkey.[6][7]
References
- 1.Strabo. Geographica. Vol. xiii. p. 610. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- 2.Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9.18.4
- 3.Pliny. Naturalis Historia. Book 5.32.
- 4.Hierocles. Synecdemus. Vol. p. 663.
- 5.Catholic Hierarchy
- 6.Talbert, Richard, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9, with accompanying Map-by-Map Directory.
- 7.Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.