The modern Adrianople. A town in Thrace, on the right bank of the Hebrus, situated in an extensive plain, founded by the emperor Hadrian. In the Middle Ages it ranked second to Constantinople alone.
The primitive name of Adrianopolis in Thrace, and which the Byzantine authors frequently employ in speaking of that city. The name is derived from the circumstance of Orestes having purified himself on this spot after the murder of his mother.
Ouskoudama was the Thracian name of the ancient city of Orestias and was preserved along with the name "Orestias" till the Roman times.
District of Adrianoupoli.
Hadrianopolis (Hadrianoupolis) (Adrianople or Edrene), the most important of the many towns founded by the emperor Hadrian, was situated in Thrace, at the point where the river Tonzus joins the Hebrus, and where the latter river, having been fed in its upper course by numerous tributaries, becomes navigable. From Ammianus Marcellinus (xiv. 11, xxvii. 4) it would appear that Hadrianopolis was not an entirely new town, but that there had existed before on the same spot a place called Uscudama, which is mentioned also by Eutropius (vi. 8). But as Uscudama is not noticed by earlier writers, some modern critics have inferred that Marcellinus was mistaken, and that Uscudama was situated in another part of the country. Such criticism, however, is quite arbitrary, and ought not to be listened to. At one time Hadrianopolis was designated by the name of Orestias or Odrysus (Lamprid. Heliog. 7; Nicet. pp. 360, 830; Aposp. Geog. ap. Hudson, iv. p. 42); but this name seems afterwards to have been dropped. The country around Hadrianople was very fertile, and the site altogether very fortunate, in consequence of which its inhabitants soon rose to a high degree of prosperity. They carried on extensive commerce and were distinguished for their manufactures, especially of arms. The city was strongly fortified, and had to sustain a siege by the Goths in A.D. 378, on which occasion the workmen in the manufactories of arms formed a distinct corps. Next to Constantinople, Hadrianopolis was the first city of the Eastern empire, and this rank it maintained throughout the middle ages; the Byzantine emperors, as well as the Turkish sultans, often resided at Hadrianopolis. (Spart. Hadr. 20; Amm. Marc. xxxi. 6, 12, 15; It. Ant. 137, 175, 322; Procop. B. G. iii. 40; Ann. Comn. x. p. 277; Zosim. ii. 22; Cedren. ii. pp. 184, 284, 302, 454; Hierocl. p. 635; Nicet. p. 830.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Germanus, of Constantinople, was bishop of Adrianople, and a friend of the emperor Michael Palaeologus, at whose solicitation he was elected patriarch of Constantinople by a synod held A. D. 1267. He unwillingly accepted the office; and resigned it within a few months, and retired to a monastery, in consequence of the opposition made to his appointment, either on the ground of some irregularity in his translation, or more probably of his holding the patriarchate, while his deposed predecessor, Arsenius, was living. He was a learned man, of mild disposition, polished manners, and irreproachable morals. He was afterwards one of the ambassadors of the emperor to the fourteenth General Council, that of Lyon (A. D. 1277), and there supported the union of the Greek and Latin churches. He does not appear to have left any writings, but the Decreta of Germanus II. of Constantinople, contained in the Jus Graeco-Romanum of Leunclavius, have been sometimes improperly ascribed to him. (Niceph. Gregor. Hist. Byzant. iv. 5, 8; Georg. Phranza, Chronicon, i. 3; Fabr. Bibl. Gr. vol. xi., &c., L'Art de Verifier les Dates.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Lucius (Loukios) of Adrianople or Hadrianople, was bishop of that city in the fourth century, succeeding, though Tillemont doubts if immediately, St. Eutropius. He was expelled from his see by the Arian party, then predominant in the East, under the emperor Constantius II., the son of Constantine the Great; and went to Rome to lay his cause before the pope, Julius I., apparently in the year 340 or 341. Several other bishops were at Rome on a similar errand, about the same time; and the pope, having satisfied himself or their innocence and of their orthodoxy, sent them back to their respective churches, with letters requiring their restoration, and other letters rebuking their persecutors. The Oriental bishops appear to have rejected the pope's authority, and sent him back a remonstrance against his rebukes. Lucius, however, recovered his see by the authority of the emperor Constantius, who was constrained to restore him by the threats of his brother Constans, then emperor of the West. This restoration is placed Tillemont before the council of Sardica, A. D. 347. When the death of Constans (A. D. 350) was known in the East, the Arian party, whom Lucius had provoked by the boldness and severity of his attacks, deposed him, bound him neck and hands with irons (as they had done at least once before), and in that condition banished him. He died in exile. The Romish church commemorates him as a martyr on the eleventh of February. (Athanas. Apolog. de Fuga sua, c. 3, and Hist. Arianor. ad Monach. c. 19; Socrat. H. E. ii. 15, 23, 26; Sozomen. H. E. iii. 8, 24, iv. 2; Theodoret, H. E. ii. 15; Tillemont, Memoires, vols. vi. and vii.; Bolland, Acta Sanctorum Februarii, vol. ii. p. 519, Epistolae Julii Papae et Orient. Episc. apud Concilia, vol. ii. col. 475, &c. ed. Labbe.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Ammon, Bishop of Hadrianople, A. D. 400, wrote (in Greek) On the Resurrection against Origenism (not extant). A fragment of Ammon, from this work possibly, may be found ap. S. Cyril. Alex. Lib. de Recta Fide. He was present at the Council of Constantinople A. D. 394, held on occasion of the dedication of Rutinus's church, near Chalcedon.
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