Citharizum
Encyclopedia
Citharizum is a Catholic titular see
Titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....

. The original diocese lay in Roman Armenia
Roman Armenia
From the end of the 1st century BC onwards, Armenia was, in part or whole, subject to the Roman Empire and its successor, the East Roman or Byzantine Empire...

; the city was situated in Asthianene or Balabitene, a region between Masius and Anti-Taurus, north of Commagene and Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

. It is identified with the modern Keterig.

Justinian built a castle there, in which he stationed a garrison under the command of a duke. He also included it in the province, Armenia Quarta, which he had just formed. In 613 Citharizum was taken by Ashot, a general of the Persian king, Chosroes II.

Bishops

In the records of the Trullan Council (692) we meet the name of Marianus, Bishop of Kitharizon (or Kithariza), for the name seems to have been indeclinable (Lequien, I, 453). No other bishop is known. the city is mentioned in Parthey, Notitia Prima, about 840 as belonging to Armenia Quarta, under the metropolis of Melitene.
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