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Loryma

{{for|the genus of moths|Loryma (moth)}}

{{short description|Ancient town in Asia Minor}}

Loryma ({{langx|grc|τὰ Λόρυμα or Λώρυμα}}) was an ancient town and episcopal see of ancient Caria, in Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian Turkey). It is now listed as a titular see.Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 918 Loryma was a fortified place with a port, close to Cape Cynossema, on the westernmost point of the Rhodian Chersonesus, in Caria. Its harbour was about 20 Roman miles distant from Rhodes{{Cite Livy|37.17, 45.10}}{{Cite Stephanus|s.v.}}{{Cite Pliny|5.29}}{{Cite Ptolemy|5.2.11}}{{Cite Thucydides|8.43}}Seneca, Quaest. Nat. 3.19; {{cite encyclopedia|title=The Civil Wars (B.C.)|author=Appian|volume= 4.72}} and was belonging to the Rhodians.[https://topostext.org/work/498#4.9.72 Appian, Civil Wars, §4.9.72]

Strabo applies the name Loryma to the whole of the rocky district, without mentioning the town.{{Cite Strabo|xiv. p.652}} The Larumna of Pomponius Mela{{Cite Mela|1.16}} and the Lorimna of the Tabula Peutingeriana perhaps refer to Loryma, although it is also possible that they may be identical with a place called Larymna mentioned by Pliny in the same district.

Location

Loryma was a small fortified town and harbour on the coast of Caria, not far from Cape Cynossema, at the western extremity of the peninsula known as Rhodian Chersonesus, opposite to and twenty Roman miles from Rhodes island.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09365a.htm Sophrone Pétridès, "Loryma" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1910)] It was a fortified and was belonging to the Rhodians.

Its ruins, west of Port Aplothiki, with towers, tombs and ramparts are described by William Martin Leake (Asia Minor, 223).[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=loryma-geo William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854)] The site was later explored by the British antiquaries Theodore and Mabel Bent in March 1888.J.T. Bent, ‘Discoveries in Asia Minor’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1888, Vol. 9, pp. 82-7; The Travel Chronicles of Mrs J Theodore Bent, vol. 1, Oxford, 2006, pp. 225-54.

Above the bay of Loryma (modern Bozuk Bükü) lie the ruins of a curtain wall surrounding the top of the hill. Constructed from large blocks of stone shaped in-situ, the remaining walls (up to several metres high on the outside) retain very precise corners and sheer faces.

Ecclesiastical history

Up to the 12th and 13th centuries, the Notitiæ episcopatuum mention Loryma as one of the suffragan sees of the Stauropolis, the metropolitan see of Caria. Le Quien names three bishops of Loryma:{{Oriens Christianus|volume=1|article=Ecclesia Lorymorum|at=cols. 915–916}}

{{anchor|Titular see}}The see also exists as a titular see in the Catholic Church. Its bishops are:{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2l79.html |title=Loryma (Titular See) |encyclopedia=Catholic-Hierarchy.org |publisher=David M. Cheney |date=17 March 2023 |accessdate=14 March 2024}}

Literary reference

The British traveler and writer Freya Stark visited Loryma and wrote concerning the historical significance of its sheltered harbor:

In the stillness of Loryma we spent the night. The wind could be heard howling outside, against the hills that enclosed our sheltered water as if it were a mountain tarn. Only a fanning ripple touched the centre. The sound of the wind, inarticulate and busy like the world’s voice, gave an illusion of safety, of an unassailable peace. If it could penetrate, how many sleeping echoes would it waken? Athenians from Samos, dodging the Dorian Cnidus, picking up ship’s tackle at Syme, sheltering at Loryma; Conon, before the battle, with his ninety ships; the Roman fleet that dared not face Hannibal in the offing; Cassius, gathering forces against Rhodes, twenty miles away. Each in their turn passed through the narrow opening and felt the sudden calm. In these places, the natural features have remained unaltered; the moments that visit them, fashioned to one pattern by nature itself, drop like beads on a string, through long pauses, one after the other, into the same silence.[https://books.google.com/books?id=1offll32_yUC&q=Loryma Freya Stark, The Lycian Shore (Tauris Parks Paperbacks 2011), pp. 100–101 (originally published in 1956)] {{ISBN|978-1-84885-312-6}}

Gallery

File:Loryma Citadel from the sea - 6 Jun 2013.jpg

File:Loryma Citadel round blocks from outside wall, 6 Jun 2013.jpg

File:Loryma Citadel tower blocks from inside wall, 6 Jun 2013.jpg

File:Loryma Citadel wall section, 6 Jun 2013.jpg

References

{{Reflist}}

{{DGRG|title=Loryma}}

{{Ancient settlements in Turkey}}

{{coord|36|33|58|N|28|00|55|E|region:TR-48_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki|display=title}}

Category:Catholic titular sees in Asia

Category:Populated places in ancient Caria

External links

[https://www.destinations.com.tr/loryma-ancient-city-marmaris/ Loryma Ancient City]