Metropolis

METRO´POLIS(Μητρόπολις: Eth. Μητροπολίτης.)

1. A town in the Caystrian plain in Lydia, on the road from Smyrna to Ephesus, at a distance of 120 stadia from Ephesus, and 180 from Smyrna. The district of Metropolis produced excellent wine. (Strab. xiv. pp. 632, 637; Ptol. 5.2.17; Steph. B. s. v.; Plin. Nat. 5.31; Hierocl. p. 600.) Near the modern village of Tourbali, no doubt a corruption of the ancient name Metropolis, some ruins are still seen; and as their distance from Smyrna and Ephesus agrees with that mentioned by Strabo, there can be no hesitation in identifying the place. (Comp. Arundell, Seven Churches, p. 22, &c. Hamilton, Researches, 1. p. 542; Rasche, Lexic. Num. 3.1, p. 633, &c.)


2. A town in the north of Phrygia, and, as the name seems to indicate, the capital of the ancient kings of Phrygia, though Stephanus Byz. (s. v.) derives the name from the mother of the gods. It was situated to the north of Synnada (Athen. 13. p. 574.), and must not be confounded with another town of the same name in the south of Phrygia. Its site is, in all probability, indicated by the ruins of Pismesh Kalasi, north of Doganlu, which show a very antique style of architecture, and mainly consist of tombs cut into the rocks; one of these tombs is that of king Midas. Leake (Asia Minor, p. 24) is inclined to think that these ruins mark the site of Nicoleia; but other travellers, apparently with more justice, identify them with Metropolis. (Franz, Fünf Inschriften, p. 42.) From the extent of the ruins, it would seem that in the time of the Roman emperors Metropolis was an important town; but afterwards it declined, though it is still mentioned by Hierocles (p. 677.)


3. A town in the southern part of Phrygia, belonging to the conventus of Apamea. (Plin. Nat. 5.29.) That this town is different from No. 2, is quite evident, even independently of the fact that Stephanus B. mentions two towns of the name of Metropolis in Phrygia, and that Hierocles and the Notitiae speak of a town of this name in two different provinces of Phrygia. (Hierocl. p. 673; Strab. 12. p. 576, 14. p. 663; Liv. 38.15.) [L.S]