Nyssa (Cappadocia)
Nyssa (Ancient Greek: Νύσσα) was a town and bishopric in Cappadocia, Asia Minor. It is important in the history of Christianity due to being the see of the prominent 4th century bishop Gregory of Nyssa. Today, its name continues to be used as a titular see in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
Not to be confused with Nysa on the Maeander or Nisa (Lycia).Location
Harmandalı, Ortaköy, Aksaray Province, Turkey
Site and location[edit]
The Antonine Itinerary places it on the road from Ancyra to Caesarea, between Parnassos and Asiana, 24 Roman miles from Parnassus and 32 from Asiana. Ptolemy's Geography places it at 68°20' 38°40 (in his degrees) in the Prefecture of Murimene (Ancient Greek: Στρατηγίας Μουριμηνῆς).[1]
The Synecdemus and the Notitiae Episcopatuum indicate that Nyssa was in the Roman province of Cappadocia Prima.[2]
The site of Nyssa has been identified as near the modern town of Harmandalı, Ortaköy district, Aksaray province, in south-central Turkey.[3] The archaeological site consists of two tells, named Büyükkale (big castle) and Küçükkale (little castle), located 1 and 2 km to the north of Harmandalı with the town located 1 km north[1]
Another proposed location associates it with the modern city of Nevşehir, but modern scholarship has cast serious doubt on this.[1][4]
William Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography placed the town at a village, not otherwise mentioned, called Nirse or Nissa and said that it was anciently in a district called Muriane, not far from the river Halys.[5]