Ermenek

Ermenek
Ermenek
Municipality
	Ermenek, April 2012
	Ermenek Location in Turkey Ermenek Ermenek (Turkey Central Anatolia)
	Coordinates: 36°38′20″N 32°53′33″E / 36.63889°N 32.89250°E
Country	Turkey
Province	Karaman
District	Ermenek
Government
• Mayor	Mustafa Bozcu (CHP)
Elevation	1,196 m (3,924 ft)
Population (2022)	11,629
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code	70400
Area code	0338
Website	www.ermenek.bel.tr

Ermenek is a town in Karaman Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. It is the seat of Ermenek District.^[2] Its population is 11,629 (2022).^[1] As ancient Germanicopolis (in Isauria; has namesakes), a former bishopric, it remains a Latin Catholic titular see.

Names

The town was historically known as Germanicopolis (Greek: Γερμανικόπολις), Germanig and possibly Clibanus;^[3] which later mutated to Ermenek.

History

Germanicopolis was an ancient town in the Roman province of Isauria.^[4] The city took its name from Germanicus, grandson of first Emperor Octavian Augustus, as several others.

The Crusaders sustained a great defeat at the hands of the Seljuks near the city in 1098. It passed to the Turkish dynasty of the Karamanids and became a centre of the Afşar Turks in 1228. During the Karamanid period, several of Ermenek's historical mosques were constructed, notably : Akca Mosque (1300), Ermenek Grand Mosque (1302), Sipas Mosque (1306) and Meydan mosque (1436).

It was later incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, becoming part of the Karaman Eyalet, where it was the second most important town after Karaman itself.

Ecclesiastical history

No later than the 5th century, Germanicopolis became a suffragan bishopric of the Archdiocese of Seleucia in Isauria, in the sway of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

Four of its bishops are known during the Byzantine government :

Tyrannus, participant at the Council of Chalcedon in 451
Bisulas in the sixth century^[5]
Eustathius, participant at the Second Council of Nicaea in 797
Basil(eus), participant at the Council of Constantinople in 879-880 which reinstated that Byzantine capital's Patriarch Photius 878^[6]

Titular see

The diocese was nominally restored no later than 1717 as Latin Titular bishopric of Germanicopolis (Latin) / Germanicopoli (Curiate Italian) / Germanicopolitan(us) (Latin adjective).

It is vacant since decades, having had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank :

Gottfried Langwerth von Simmern (1717.05.10 – death 1741.06.19) as Auxiliary Bishop Diocese of Regensburg (Germany) (1717.05.10 – 1741.06.19)
Giacomo Filippo Consoli (1741.11.27 – 1743.12.02) (Italian), as Apostolic Administrator of Diocese of Acquapendente (1741.12.09 – 1743.12.02); later Bishop of Amelia (Italy) (1743.12.02 – death 1770.07)
Michael Ignatius Frivaisz (1744.02.03 – death 1748.10.07) no actual prelature
Archbishop James Butler (1773.03.15 – 1774.05.17) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Cashel (Ireland) (1773.03.15 – 1774.05.17), next succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of Cashel (1774.05.17 – death 1791.07.29)
Bishop-elect Lorenzo D’Antoni (1815.12.18 – ?) (Italian), no actual prelature
Johann Michael von Sailer (1822.09.27 – 1829.10.23) as Coadjutor Bishop of Diocese of Regensburg (Germany) (1822.09.27 – 1829.10.23), next succeeding as Bishop of Regensburg (1829.10.23 – 1832.05.20)
Manuel José Pardio Lizama (1840.04.27 – death 1861.05) as Auxiliary Bishop of Yucatán (Mexico) (1840.04.27 – 1861.05)
Joseph Larocque (1867.01.15 – death 1887.11.18) as emeritate; previously Titular Bishop of Cydonia (1852.07.06 – 1860.06.22) as Coadjutor Bishop of Montréal (Quebec, Canada) (1852.07.06 – 1860.06.22), Bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe (Canada) (1860.06.22 – 1866.02.04)
Joseph-Auguste Chevalier, Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.) (born France) (1873.11.11 – death 1880.03.25) as Apostolic Vicar of Mysore (British India) (1873.11.11 – 1880.03.25)
André-Albert Blais (1889.12.28 – 1891.02.06) as Coadjutor Bishop of Saint-Germain de Rimouski (Canada) (1889.12.28 – 1891.02.06), next succeeded as Bishop of Saint-Germain de Rimouski (1891.02.06 – death 1919.01.23)
John Conmy (1892.05.25 – 1893.04.23) as Coadjutor Bishop of Killala (Ireland) (1892.05.25 – 1893.04.23), next succeeded as

Bishop of Killala (1893.04.23 – death 1911.08.26)

Augustin Dontenwill, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.) (1897.04.19 – 1899.06.01) as Coadjutor Bishop of New Westminster (BC, Canada) (1897.04.19 – 1899.06.01), next succeeding as Bishop of New Westminster (1899.06.01 – 1908.09.19), Metropolitan Archbishop of Vancouver (BC, Canada) (1908.09.19 – 1908.09.21), Superior General of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (Oblates) (1908.09.20 – 1931.11.30) and Titular Archbishop of Ptolemais in Phoenicia (1909.01.19 – death 1931.11.30)
Tobias Mullen (1899.08.10 – death 1900.04.22) as emeritate, formerly Bishop of Erie (USA) (1868.03.03 – 1899.08.10)
Joseph Maria Koudelka (1907.11.29 – 1913.08.06) first as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Cleveland (USA) (1907.11.29 – 1911.09.04), then as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Milwaukee (USA) (1911.09.04 – 1913.08.06); later Bishop of Superior (USA) (1913.08.06 – death 1921.06.24)
Thomas Joseph Shahan (1914.07.24 – death 1932.03.09) as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Baltimore (USA) (1914.07.24 – 1932.03.09)
Francesco Joosten, Scheutists (C.I.C.M.) (born Netherlands) (1932.06.14 – 1946.04.11) as last Apostolic Vicar of Datongfu 大同府 (at Datong, China) (1932.06.17 – 1946.04.11); next promoted first Bishop of Datong 大同 (China) (1946.04.11 – 1947.11.20), emeritate as Titular Bishop of Sagalassus (1947.11.20 – death 1948.05.02)
Aurelian Bilgeri, Benedictine Order (O.S.B.) (born Germany) (1947.06.12 – 1951.01.11) as last Apostolic Vicar of Eshowe (South Africa) (1947.06.12 – 1951.01.11), next promoted first Bishop of Eshowe (1951.01.11 – death 1973.07.24)
Jan Klooster, Lazarists (C.M.) (1953.02.19 – 1961.01.03) as last Apostolic Vicar of Surabaia (Java, Indonesia) (1953.02.19 – 1961.01.03), promoted first Bishop of Surabaya (Indonesia) (1961.01.03 – retired 1982), died 1990
Lionello Berti, O.M.I. (norn Italy) (1962.06.18 – death 1968.02.24) first as Auxiliary Bishop of Apostolic Vicariate of Vientiane (Laos) (1962.06.18 – 1963.03.01), then as Apostolic Vicar of Luang Prabang (Laos) (1963.03.01 – 1968.02.24).

Notable natives

Lütfi Elvan (born 1962), mining engineer, politician and government minister

References

^ ^a ^b "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports" (XLS). TÜİK. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
^ İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
^ Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (ISBN 0-691-03169-X), Map 66 & text.
^ Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Germanicopolis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Vol. 1. London: John Murray. p. 998.
^ Brooks, Sixth Book of the Letters of Severus, 13, 26, 80
^ Le Quien, Or. christ., II, 1027)

Gallery

Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Town view
Ermenek Ulu Cami
Ermenek Ulu Cami General view
Ermenek Ulu Cami Mihrab
Ermenek Ulu Cami Detail of minber
Ermenek Ulu Cami top of minber
Ermenek Ulu Cami
Ermenek Unknown mosque
Ermenek Unknown mosque

Sources and external links

Bibliography

Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 438
Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 1027-1028
Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 5, p. 209; vol. 6, pp. 224–225
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Germanicopolis". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. "Geographical information on Ermenek, Turkey".
Ermenek at GEOnet Names Server
Ermenek in 120 pictures

[tuik-1] "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports" (XLS). TÜİK. Retrieved 13 March 2023.

[ilce-2] İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023.

[3] Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (ISBN 0-691-03169-X), Map 66 & text.

[4] Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Germanicopolis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Vol. 1. London: John Murray. p. 998.

[5] Brooks, Sixth Book of the Letters of Severus, 13, 26, 80

[6] Le Quien, Or. christ., II, 1027)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Ermenek District
Municipalities	Ermenek Güneyyurt Kazancı
Villages	Ağaççatı Ardıçkaya Aşağıçağlar Balkusan Boyalık Çamlıca Çavuşköy Elmayurdu Eskice Evsin Gökçekent Gökçeseki Görmeli İkizçınar Katranlı Kayaönü Olukpınar Pamuklu Pınarönü Sarıvadi Tepebaşı Yalındal Yaylapazarı Yerbağ Yeşilköy Yukarıçağlar