Birgi


Birgi is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Ödemiş, İzmir Province, Turkey. Its population is 1,832. Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town. Its current name is a turkified version of its medieval Greek name, Pyrgion.

History

In antiquity, the town was known as Dios Hieron, one of two cities thus named. The city became part of the Roman Republic and the Roman province of Asia with the annexation of the Kingdom of Pergamon.
It was renamed to Christoupolis in the 7th century and was known as Pyrgion from the 12th century on. Pyrgion fell to the Turks in 1307, and became the capital of the beylik of Aydin.
Ibn Battuta visited the city and attended a lecture by the eminent professor Muhyi al-Din.
It was subsequently incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1390. Birgi is well known for its classic Seljuk and Ottoman architecture and has been listed as a World Cultural Heritage by ÇEKÜL since 1994.
In 2021, archaeologists unearthed a Byzantine fort.

Bishopric

The Roman Era city had an ancient Christian Bishopric attested as an episcopal see from at least 451, It was a suffragan of Ephesus, which it remained under until the late 12th century when it became a separate metropolis.
There are four known bishops of this diocese from antiquity.
Today Dioshieron survives as titular bishopric in the Roman Catholic Church, so far the see has never been assigned.

Notable historic structures