Laodicea ad Libanum – ), also transliterated as Laodiceia or Laodikeia; also Cabrosa, Scabrosa and Cabiosa Laodiceia – was an ancient Hellenistic city on the Orontes in Coele-Syria

Coele-Syria

Coele-Syria , or Cœle-Syria or Celesyria, traditionally given the meaning 'hollow' Syria, was the region of southern Syria disputed between the Seleucid dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty. Rather than limiting the Greek term to the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, it is often used to cover the entire area...

, the remains of which are found approximately 25 km southwest of Homs

Homs

Homs , previously known as Emesa , is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus...

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. The city is mentioned by Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

 (xvi. p. 755) as the commencement of the Marsyas Campus, which extended along the west side of the Orontes, near its source. It is called Cabiosa Laodiceia by Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

 (Kabiôsa Laodikeia, v. 15), and gives its name to a district Laodicene (Laodikênê), in which he places two other towns, Paradisus (Paradeisos) and Jabruda

Yabrud

Yabrud is a city in Syria, located in the Rif Dimashq governorate about 80 km north of the capital Damascus. The city is known for its ancient caves, most notably the Iskafta cave , and the Yabrud temple, which was once Jupiter...

 (Iabmouda). Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 (v. 23), among other people of Syria, reckons ad orientem Laodicenos, qui ad Libanum cognominantur.

Laodicea ad Libanum is a 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"....

 of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, Laodicensis ad Libanum; the seat is held by bishop Paul Bassim

Paul Bassim

Paul Bassim, is an Lebanese Prelate of Roman Catholic Church.Paul Bassim was born in Zgharta, ordained a priest on June 29, 1946 from the religious order of the Order of Discalced Carmelites...

.

External links

• Hazlitt, Classical Gazetteer, "Laodicea"
• Smith, William
  William Smith (lexicographer)
  Sir William Smith Kt. was a noted English lexicographer.-Early life:Born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents, he was originally destined for a theological career, but instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught himself classics, and when he entered University College...
  
   (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
  The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, first published in 1854, was the last of a series of classical dictionaries edited by the English scholar William Smith , which included as sister works A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and...
  
  , "Laodiceia", London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
  , (1854)