Aperlae

Aperlae or Aperlai (Ancient Greek: Ἄπερλαι, romanized: Aperlai) was a city on the southern coast of ancient Lycia and former bishopric. It did not play any significant role in history or politics, yet its lifespan of 1,300 years is worth note. Harsh terrain made it difficult to survive, but like other towns along the coast, it thrived on the production of Tyrian dye.

Location and name

The town's position is fixed by the Stadiasmus at 60 stadia west of Somena, and 64 stadia west of Andriace. Leake (Asia Minor, p. 188) supposes Somena to be the Simena of Pliny (v. 27). Aperlae, which is written in the text of Claudius Ptolemy Aperrae, and in Pliny Apyrae, is proved to be a genuine name by an inscription found by Cockerell, at the head of Hassar bay, with the ethnic name Ἀπερλειτων on it. But there are also coins of Gordian III with the ethnic name Ἀπερραιτων. The confusion between the "l" and the "r" in the name of a small place is nothing remarkable.

Geography

Aperlae is situated near a bay and had harsh conditions all around. The sea in this region was unreliable in a storm and the bay offered near no protection from weather. It was directly between the mountains and the coast, the city's fortifications didn't encompass the arable terraced part of the mountains. There were no reliable sources of fresh water, but numerous cisterns located around the town indicated a heavy reliance on rain water. Aperlae was near a faultline leading to the seaside district of Aperlae sinking due to slow slumping over time. The most defining feature of the Aperlae landscape was the vast amount of Murex snail shells. There were two distinct parts of town where they were dumped covering altogether 1,600 square meters (at an unknown depth until the Turkish government allows archeologists to dig), they were discovered in the mortar and concrete of the buildings of the city, and they were found in large quantities dumped into the ocean.

History

Aperlae was founded sometime between the late 4th and early 3rd century BCE and sustained a long lifespan of about 1,300 years until the end of the 7th century AD.

With the start of the Muslim conquests, security of the coast failed and Aperlae was abandoned due to the threat of pirate raids and Arab corsairs. Though with the evidence of some late repairs on a church suggest that there was possibly a small settlement of squatters or stragglers after it was left, Aperlae was never rebuilt and resettled.

Economy

The economy was built around the production of Tyrian dye, a deep and costly purple which is gleaned from the hypobroncial gland of the Murex trunculus (which has been reclassified as Hexaplex trunculus), said to have cost 20 times its weight in gold. Experiments conducted in 1909 concluded that it would take 12,000 snails to produce 1.4 grams or 0.05 oz. Three ceramic lined vats found in the sunken district are suggested to have been holding tanks for the live snails until there were enough to be processed. Evidence of the presence of other mollusks in these piles indicates that the Murex were collected using nets and not by hand.

Though there was a rudimentary harbor with a jetty but not a breakwater, it is evident from the opulence presented by the city that there were more than enough resources to make one if they wanted. The city boasted four churches, a great number of tombstones and good fortifications which indicate an affluence of that time.

Ecclesiastical history

Since it was in the Roman province of Lycia, the bishopric of Aperlae was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Myra, the province's capital, and was among the most important of the suffragan sees, being mentioned in fifth place in the Notitiae Episcopatuum of Pseudo-Epiphanius, composed under Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in about 640.[1] No name of any of its bishops was identified by Le Quien in his Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus.

Titular see

No longer a residential bishopric, Aperlae is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see,[2] as the diocese was nominally restored in 1933, the curiate Italian name version being Aperle.

It is vacant since decades, having had only the following incumbents, both of the lowest (episcopal) rank :

  • Ferdinando Baldelli (1959.07.22 – 1963.07.20), President of Caritas Internationalis (1951 – 1962)
  • Felicissimus Alphonse Raeymaeckers, Capuchin Franciscans (O.F.M. Cap.) (1963.08.05 – 1967.03.12) as Auxiliary Bishop of Lahore (1963.08.05 – 1966) and next Coadjutor Bishop of Lahore (1966 – 1967.03.12), later succeeding as Bishop (12 March 1967 Succeeded - 10 July 1975 Resigned)

References
  1. Heinrich Gelzer, Ungedruckte und ungenügend veröffentlichte Texte der Notitiae episcopatuum, in: Abhandlungen der philosophisch-historische classe der bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1901, p. 539, nº 258.
  2. Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 835

Works cited
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Aperlae". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
  • Carter, R.S.. "The Submerged Seaport of Aperlae." International Journal of Nautical Archeology 7(1978): 177-85. Print.
  • Hohlfelder, Robert L.; Vann, Robert L. "Cabotage at Aperlae in Ancient Lycia." International Journal of Nautical Archeology 29(2000): 126-135. Print.
  • Hohlfelder, Robert L.; Vann, Robert L. "Uncovering the Maritime Secrets of Aperlae, a Coastal Settlement of Ancient Lycia." Near Eastern Archeology 61(1998): 26-37. Print.

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