Editing First Council of Nicaea (section)

=== Attendance and logistics===
The expenses of the council, including the travel of the bishops, were paid by the imperial treasury.{{sfn|Jacobs|2021|p=77}} Contemporary reports of attendance range from 250 to 300, with the figure of 318 given by Athanasius of Antioch becoming traditionally accepted.{{sfn|Hanson|1988|pp=155–156}} 318 is also the number of members of [[Abraham]]'s household given in the [[Book of Genesis]].{{sfn|Edwards|2006|p=558}} Lists of signatories to the final decisions of the council contain 200–220 names.{{sfn|Gwyn|2021|p=93}} With presbyters and deacons attending each bishop, the total attendance may have been between 1200 and 1900.{{sfn|Jacobs|2021|p=77}} Most of the bishops were eastern, with about twenty from Egypt and Libya, another fifty from Palestine and Syria, and more than one hundred from Asia
Minor.{{sfn|Edwards|2006|p=558}} One bishop each from Persia and Scythia were present.{{sfn|Gwyn|2021|p=93}} The few western attendees were Hosius, [[Caecilianus|Caecilianus of Carthage]], [[Nicasius of Die]], [[Marcus of Calabria]], [[Domnus of Pannonia]], and Victor and Vicentius, two presbyters representing [[Pope Sylvester I|Bishop Sylvester of Rome]]. Of the eastern bishops, the principal supporters of Arius were Eusebius of Nicomedia, Eusebius of Caesarea, Menophantus of [[Metropolis of Ephesus|Ephesus]], [[Patrophilus of Scythopolis]], Narcissus of [[Irenopolis (Cilicia)#Bishopric|Neronias]], Theonas of Marmarike, [[Secundus of Ptolemais]], and [[Theognis of Nicaea]]. The principal anti-Arians included Alexander of Alexandria, [[Eustathius of Antioch]], [[Marcellus of Ancyra]] and [[Macarius of Jerusalem]].{{sfn|Hanson|1988|pp=156–157}}

The council was held in Nicea's imperial palace.{{sfn|Jacobs|2021|p=78}} The bishops most likely assembled in a rectangular [[basilica]] hall based on Eusebius of Caearea's description.{{sfn|Jacobs|2021|pp=82–86}}