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Adramyttium ( Adramyttion, Ἀδραμύττειον Adramytteion, or Ἀτραμύττιον Atramyttion) was an ancient city and bishopric in Aeolis, in modern-day Turkey. It was originally located at the head of the Edremit Gulf, at Ören in the Plain of Cilician Thebe, 4 kilometres west of the modern town of Burhaniye, but later moved 13 kilometres northeast to its current location and became known as Edremit.
Following the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC, Adramyttium came again under the control of Mytilene. The Ten Thousand, a Greek mercenary force, travelled through Adramyttium during their march along the coast.Leaf (1923), p. 307 Mytilene retained control of Adramyttium until 386 BC, after which the city formed again part of the Persian Empire by the terms of the Peace of Antalcidas. During the Great Satraps' Revolt, Ariobarzanes, satrap of Hellespontine Phygia, joined the revolt against Artaxerxes II in 367 BC.Lendering (2005) Autophradates, satrap of Lydia, and Mausolus, satrap of Caria, besieged Ariobarzanes at Adramyttium in 366 BC.Almagor (2012) However, the siege of Adramyttium was abandoned following the arrival of Agesilaus II, King of Sparta, in 365 BC.
Adramyttium came under the control of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon during the rule of Eumenes I, a nominal vassal of the Seleucid Empire, in the mid-third century BC.Picón & Hemingway (2016), p. 34 The alliance between Attalus I, Eumenes's successor, and Rhodes during the Cretan War led Philip V, King of Macedonia, to invade Attalid kingdom and pillage the countryside surrounding Adramyttium in 201 BC. As an ally of Roman Republic, Pergamon fought in the Roman–Seleucid War against the Seleucid Empire. In 190 BC, Antiochus III plundered the countryside surrounding Adramyttium, but the appearance of a Roman–Pergamene fleet prevented him from taking the city.Magie (2017), p. 757 In the second century BC, Cistophorus, the coinage of Attalid Pergamon, were minted at Adramyttium.Magie (2017), p. 776 Attalus III, the last king of Pergamon, bestowed his kingdom to the Romans in his will,Coruhlu (2012), p. 64 and thus, in 133 BC, Adramyttium came under Roman control.Kiminas (2009), p. 81 The city became part of the province of Asia.Mills & Bullard (1990), p. 12
During the First Mithridatic War, Diodorus, a strategos and supporter of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, had the members of the city council killed and granted control of the city to Mithridates. Following the completion of the conquest of the province of Asia in 88 BC, Mithridates ordered the execution of all Roman settlers. At Adramyttium, the Romans were driven into the sea, where they were slaughtered.Magie (2015), pp. 216-217 At the conclusion of the war, the province of Asia returned to Roman control and Xenocles of Adramyttium, a prominent orator, was sent to Rome to defend the actions of the city during the war. Adramyttium, however, was deprived of its civitas libera, and was henceforth obligated to pay regular taxes to Rome.Magie (2015), pp. 236-237
According to the Acts of the Apostles, whilst en route to Rome, St. Paul departed Caesarea Maritima on a ship from the city of Adramyttium which took him to Myra in Lycia.
Adramyttium later also became the seat of a portorium. Adramyttium was damaged by an earthquake during the reign of Emperor Trajan (), who subsequently rebuilt the city.Karavul et al. (2010), p. 878 Upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I in 395, and subsequent division of the Roman Empire into eastern and western halves, Adramyttium became part of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Adramyttium was sacked by Tzachas, a Turkish ruler, in and subsequently rebuilt and repopulated by Eumathios Philokales in 1109.Foss (1991) During this period, Adramyttium was used as a base to defend against Italian and Turkish attacks. Upon discovering that Malik Shah, Sultan of Rum, planned to invade in early 1112, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent an army to Adramyttium ahead of him as he travelled to the Chersonese peninsula.Venning & Harris (2006), p. 450 During the reign of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (), Adramyttion formed part of the new theme of Neokastra.Haldon (1999), p. 97 French crusaders passed through Adramyttium on their march south to Ephesus during the Second Crusade.Hendy (2008), pp. 107-108 After the ascension of Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos in 1183, Andronikos Lapardas revolted against the emperor and travelled to Bithynia to join the rebels, but was seized at Adramyttium and imprisoned.Kazhdan & Wharton (1985), pp. 54-55 The megas doux Michael Stryphnos levied a fine on the Genoese merchant Cafforio,Venning & Harris (2006), p. 535 who subsequently raided the cities of the Aegean Sea and sacked Adramyttium in 1197.
Following the Fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and the formation of the Latin Empire, Emperor Baldwin granted the land between Abydos on the Hellespont to Adramyttium to his brother Henry of Flanders, who went on to capture Adramyttium in the winter of 1204/1205.Van Tricht (2011), p. 106 The Byzantine magnate Theodore Mangaphas attempted to seize the city but was defeated by Henry of Flanders at the Battle of Adramyttium on 19 March 1205.Brand (1991a) Adramyttium was recovered by the Empire of Nicaea, a successor state of the Byzantine Empire, later that year. Nicaea maintained control of the city until 1211.Van Tricht (2011), p. 104 Henry of Flanders regained Adramyttium in October 1211 after his victory over the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris at the Battle of the Rhyndacus.Brand (1991b) Theodore I subsequently ceded Adramyttium to the Latin Empire in the Treaty of Nymphaeum.Venning & Harris (2006), p. 559 In 1224, Latin rule in Anatolia collapsed and Adramyttium was recaptured by the Empire of Nicaea.Venning & Harris (2006), p. 569
The Treaty of Nymphaeum of 1261 granted the Republic of Genoa trading privileges, such as marketplaces, at Adramyttium, among other Aegean cities.Kazhdan (1991b) In 1268, the Venetians were granted a concession in Adramyttium. In early 1284, a synod was held at Adramyttium by Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, accompanied by his aunt Theodora and his cousins Anna Palaiologina Kantakouzene and Theodora Raoulaina, with the intention of reconciling with the "Arsenites", supporters of Arsenios Autoreianos, the deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Arsenites who were poorly treated by Andronikos' father Michael VIII Palaiologos, who had deposed Arsenios, were declared martyrs; in exchange, the Arsenites temporarily recognized the appointment of Gregory II as Patriarch of Constantinople, as legitimate.Venning & Harris (2006), p. 622 During the synod, the two factions agreed to settle their dispute by setting fire to separate documents containing their arguments; the undamaged document was said to contain the truth, but both documents were destroyed in the fire.Kazhdan (1991c)
Following victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Bapheus in July 1302, the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, Osman I, raided the countryside surrounding Adramyttium.Venning & Harris (2006), p. 636 The threat of Turkish attacks led the Genoese of Phocaea to seize the Venetian concession in Adramyttium in 1304. The city fell to the Karasid Turks before 1334. The Karasid beylik, including Adramyttium, was annexed by the Ottoman beylik in the mid-fourteenth century.Zachariadou (1991)
Sergius was Bishop of Adramyttium at the beginning of the 11th century, and Bishop George was active later during the 11th century.Culerrier (1987), p. 153 Constantine was bishop sometime in the 11th–12th centuries. John was bishop in the second half of the 12th century, and Gregory was bishop in 1167. George was present at the Synod of Ephesus in 1230, and Athanasius was bishop later in the 13th century. The diocese of Adramyttium became defunct in the 15th century, but was united with the former Archdiocese of Pergamon to form the Archdiocese of Pergamon and Adramyttium on 19 February 1922. Following the Greco-Turkish population exchange in 1923, the see is titular only.
During the second period of Latin occupation, between 1211 and 1224, a Latin bishop of Adramyttium was appointed and the diocese of Adramyttium was made a suffragan of the Latin archdiocese of Cyzicus.Van Tricht (2011), p. 325 Since the mid-15th century, it is a titular bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church.
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