Barca

Barce ( Barca Italian, French Barqa, Greek Βάρκη, Arabic برقة ) was an ancient Greek colony and later Roman, Byzantine city in North Africa, on the territory of modern Libya.

Location

As a Greek city of Barce was part of the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica and the city of Cyrene. It is not to be confused with " Barca " or " Barqah " which are other names of the province of Cyrenaica.

According to many archaeologists, the ancient Barce is identical to the modern al - Marj, Alexander Graham, however, it locates in Tolmeitha ( Ptolemais ( Cyrenaica ) ).

1911 Italy conquered the city from the Turks. Located on the Cyrenian plateau was Barce - also known as al - Jabal al - Akhdar or " Montagna Verde " - a major center of Italian colonization in Cyrenaica.

History

Christianity came from Egypt in the North African Pentapolis. From the Council of Nicaea of 325 Cyrenaica was established as an ecclesiastical province below Alexandria, in accordance with the provisions of the Fathers of Nicaea. The patriarch of the Coptic Church is subject to the present day the Pentapolis ..

After frequent destruction and reconstruction during the Roman period it became a larger district, and a bishopric. Meanwhile, Bishop Zopyrus took part in the Council of Nicea 325 In the writings of Ephesus (431 ) and Chalcedon ( 451) are the names of two other bishops to find, Zenobius and Theodorus.

Barce was part of the Exarchate of Africa until it was conquered 643/644 during the Islamic conquest of North Africa by the Arabs. Originally Barce capital of the province of the Caliphate Barqah. When the Ottomans conquered the region in 1521, the province was named after the Turkish name of the form " Barka ", but the city did not remain provincial capital.

Barca is now a Roman Catholic titular, but currently vacant. The Eparchy of the Western Pentapolis belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, as Patriarch of Alexandria is the patriarch of Africa. The second highest position in the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church after the patriarch is the Metropolitan of Western Pentapolis.

The present city at this point, Al - Marj ( capital of the Munizips Al- Marj ), was created around a Turkish fort of the 19th century. The city was founded by Italians during the colonial era in Libya and today has a population of 120,000. The Italian city was destroyed in an earthquake in 1963 and has been abandoned for the most part today. From the old village of no more residues are visible, while findings of Italian archaeologists at the nearby Museum of Ptolemais ( Tolmeitha ) can be seen.

Swell

• GigaCatholic - Titularbistümer
• Butler, The Arab Conquest of Egypt, p. 430
• Heinrich Gelzer, Patrum Nicaenorum nomina, p. 231
• Joachim Marquardt, state administration, I, p. 459
• Westermann, Big Atlas of World History