Balbura (Lycia)


Balbura or Balboura was a town of ancient Lycia, the site of which is at Çölkayiği. The acropolis hill is about 90 metres above the plain of Katara, and the plain is above the level of the sea. The ruins occupy a considerable space on both sides of the stream. There are two theatres at Balbura; one is on the south side of the acropolis hill, and the other is in a hollow in the front of the mountain on the south side of the stream: the hollow in the mountain formed the cavea. There are also remains of several temples at Katara; and of Christian churches. The ethnic name Βαλβουρεύς occurs on two inscriptions at least at Katara. The site was discovered by Hoskyn and Forbes. Balbura was part of a district called Cabalia, named Cabalis by Strabo with two other cities, Bubon and Oenoanda.
Balbura minted coins during the Hellenistic Age and during the reign of Caligula.

Bishopric

Balbura was a bishopric early, a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Myra, the capital of the Roman province of Lycia. The names of four of its bishops are recorded in extant documents. Hermaeus was at the First Council of Constantinople in 381. Philippus took part the Council of Chalcedon in 351. Nicolaus was a signatory of the protest letter that the bishops of the province of Lycia sent in 458 to Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian over the killing of Proterius of Alexandria. Ioannes was a participant in the Photian Council of Constantinople.
No longer a residential bishopric, Balbura is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.