Pentapolis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A pentapolis, from the Greek words penta 'five' and polis 'city(-state)' is geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities.
[edit] Significant historical cases
The Pentapolis on the Adriatic was part of the Exarchate of Ravenna, an administrative unit of the Byzantine Empire. Red: The Pentapolis. Orange: Other cities of the Exarchate.
- in the biblical Holy Land, the word, occurring in Wisdom, x, 6, designates the region where five cities — Sodom, Gomorrha, Segor (A. V., Zoar), Adama and Seboim — united to resist the invasion of Chedorlaomer (Genesis, xiv), and of which four were shortly after utterly destroyed. (see: Catholic Encyclopaedia)
- in the Roman province of Libya Superior (the western part of Cyrenaica until Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform in AD 296), five Mediterranean coastal cities (east of it was Marmarica, which became Libya inferior province): the eponymous capital Cyrene and its port Apollonia, Ptolemais (the next capital after Cyrene's destruction by an earthquake), Barca (the later Arab provincial capital Barka) and Berenice (modern Benghazi); also known as the Pentapolis inferior ('lower P.')
- the medieval Pentapolis on the Adriatic coast of the Italian Peninsula, atypically, was actually a duchy east of Tuscany and north of the duchy of Spoleto, including the port cities (West to East) of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia and Ancona. It was part of the core of the Byzantine secular Exarchate of Ravenna. Later, after the fall of the Exarchate, it was transformed into the March of Ancona
- the Philistine Pentapolis: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza
- the Doric - or Dorian Pentapolis: Kos, on the island of the same name in the Aegean Sea; Cnidus, in Caria on the west coast of Asia Minor; Lindus, Ialysus and Camirus, all three on Rhodes.
- the Pontic Pentapolis: Apollonia, Callatis, Mesembria, Odessos, and Tomis, all on the Euxeinos Pontos
[edit] See also
- Tripolis (meaning three cities)
- Tetrapolis (meaning four cities)
- Doric Hexapolis (meaning six Doric cities in the eastern Aegean)
- Heptapolis (meaning seven cities)
- Decapolis (meaning ten cities)
[edit] Sources and references
- many occurrences in the Catholic Encyclopaedia
- Westermann Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte ('Great Atlas of World History', in German)
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