Sura, Syria

Sura

Shown within Syria
Location	Syria
Region	Raqqa Governorate
Coordinates	35°53′56.0″N 38°46′47.2″E

Sura (Suriya), was an ancient city on the Euphrates River in northern Syria, today on a site 25 km west of Raqqa and 35 km north of Resafa. In the Roman Empire, Sura was a fortress city in the Roman province of Syria, and later on, in the Euphratensis.

In the 3rd century, Sura was a marginal attachment to the Strata Diocletiana to protect it against the Parthians. According to the Notitia dignitatum, Sura was the seat of the Prefect of the Legio XVI Flavia Firma. The legionary camp was located in the city and the city wall (1700 × 450 meters) was renewed under Justinian.

Remains of the fortress at Sura. Photo by Frank Kidner

Bishopric

Sura became a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Hierapolis Euphratensis, the capital of the Roman province of Syria Euphratensis, as witnessed by a 6th-century Notitia Episcopatuum.[1] At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, metropolitan bishop Stephanus signed the acts also on behalf of Bishop Uranius of Sura. Bishop Marius of Sura was deposed in 518 for joining the Jacobites.[2][3][4]

No longer a residential bishopric, Sura is now listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[5]

References

1. Echos d'Orient X, 1907, p. 94.
2. Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 949-950
3. Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 437
4. Sura in Catholic Encyclopedia
5. Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 978

Bibliography

• Nigel Pollard: Soldiers, Cities, & Civilians in Roman Syria. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2000, ISBN 0-472-11155-8. S. 295–296.
• Michaela Konrad: Der spätrömische Limes in Syrien. Archäologische Untersuchungen an den Grenzkastellen von Sura, Tetrapyrgium, Cholle und in Resafa. Resafa 5. Zabern, Mainz 2001.