Editing Aphrodisias (section)

==History==

Aphrodisias was the metropolis (provincial capital) of the region and [[Roman province]] of [[Caria]].<ref name ="ODB">{{ODB|last=Foss|first=Clive|title=Aphrodisias|page=128}}</ref>

White and blue-grey Carian marble was extensively quarried from adjacent slopes in the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] and [[Roman Empire|Roman]] periods, for building [[facade]]s and [[sculpture]]s.{{cn|date=January 2025}} [[Marble sculpture]]s and sculptors from Aphrodisias became famous in the Roman world. Many examples of statuary have been unearthed in Aphrodisias, and some representations of the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias also survive from other parts of the Roman world, as far afield as [[Beja, Portugal|Pax Julia in Lusitania]].<ref>Peter Noelke, "Zwei unbekännte Repliken der Aphrodite von Aphrosias in Köln" ''Arkäologischer Anzeiger'' '''98'''.1:107-31.</ref>

The city had notable schools for sculpture, as well as philosophy, remaining a centre of [[Ancient Greek religion|paganism]] until the end of the 5th century.<ref name ="ODB"/> It was destroyed by earthquake in the early 7th century, and never recovered its former prosperity, being reduced to a small fortified settlement on the site of the ancient theatre.<ref name ="ODB"/> Around the same time, it was also renamed to ''Stauropolis'' ({{langx|el|Σταυροῡπολις}}, "city of the Cross") to remove pagan connotations, but already by the 8th century it was known as ''Caria'' after the region, which later gave rise to its modern Turkish name, Geyre.<ref name ="ODB"/><ref name="DOAKS">{{Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art|volume=2|chapter=Karia/Stauropolis|pages=167–169}}</ref> In Byzantine times, the city was the seat of a fiscal administrative unit (''dioikesis'').<ref name="DOAKS"/>

Aphrodisias was sacked again by the rebel [[Theodore Mankaphas]] in 1188, and then by the [[Seljuk Turks]] in 1197. It finally fell under Turkish control towards the end of the 13th century.<ref name ="ODB"/>

===Geological history===
The site is in an [[Fault (geology)|earthquake zone]] and has suffered a great deal of damage at various times, especially in severe tremors of the 4th and 7th centuries.{{cn|date=January 2025}} An added complication was that one of the 4th century earthquakes altered the water table, making parts of the town prone to [[flood]]ing. Evidence can be seen of emergency [[plumbing]] installed to combat this problem.

The city of Aphrodisias never fully recovered from the 7th century earthquake, and fell into disrepair. Part of the town was covered by the modern village of [[Geyre]]; some of the cottages were removed in the 20th century to reveal the older city. A new Geyre has been built a short distance away.

===Ecclesiastical history===
{{main|Stauropolis (diocese)}}
[[Le Quien]] (''Oriens christianus'', I, 899–904) mentions twenty bishops of this see. In the 7th century Stauropolis had twenty-eight [[suffragan]] bishops and twenty-six at the beginning of the 10th century.

Stauropolis is also a [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[titular metropolitan see]], under the name ''Stauropoli'' (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Stauropolitana'').<ref>{{Catholic-hierarchy|diocese|d3s58|Stauropolis|21 January 2015}}</ref>