Temple of Zeus at Olba
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Location | Mersin Province, Turkey |
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Region | Cilicia |
Coordinates | 36°35′N 33°56′E / 36.583°N 33.933°ECoordinates: 36°35′N 33°56′E / 36.583°N 33.933°E |
Type | Settlement |
Site notes | |
Condition | In ruins |
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 Latin titular sees.
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".
Its ruins, north of Silifke in the Turkish province of Mersin, are called Oura in Turkish.
Olba was a suffragan of the Metropolitan of Isauria's provincial capital Seleucia, but faded like most sees in Asia Minor.
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.
The diocese was nominally restored as Titular bishopric]] of the Episcopal (lowest) rank under the name Olba (Latin and Curiate Italian); Latin adjective Olbien(sis).