Doclea (town)


Doclea or Dioclea, also known as Docleia or Diocleia, was an ancient Illyrian, Roman and Byzantine city, in the region of the Docleatae tribe, now an archeological site near Podgorica in modern Montenegro.
It was an episcopal see since the late Roman period, and during the Early Middle Ages. Today, it is a titular see, both in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and in the Catholic Church.
When spelled as Diocleia or Diokleia, it should not be confused with ancient Phrygian city of Diokleia in Phrygia.

History

The town was situated ca. 3 km north from present-day Podgorica, Montenegro's capital. The Romanized Illyrian tribe known as Docleatae that inhabited the area derived their name from the city. It was the largest settlement of the Docleatae, founded in the first decade of the 1st century AD. A large town with between 8,000 and 10,000 inhabitants, Doclea was built to conform to the terrain. The surrounding area had a relatively high population density within a radius of 10 km due to the city's geographical position, a favorable climate, positive economic conditions and defensive site that were of great importance at that time.
After the administrative division of the Roman Empire in 297, Doclea became the capital of the new Roman province of Praevalitana, which Roman emperor Diocletian established in the imperial administrative reform of 293, splitting this southern part from the province of Dalmatia.
In the 4th and the 5th centuries, it was taken by the barbarian tribes and went into decline. At the beginning of the 5th century, it was attacked by the Germanic Visigoths. A severe earthquake destroyed it in 518. The South Slavs migrated into the land and proceeded to rebuild the settlement in the 7th century. The historical ruins of the town can be seen today.

Ecclesiastical History

Circa 400, the city became the seat of a bishopric, initially as suffragan of the Archdiocese of Salona. A letter from Pope Gregory I to bishop Constantius suggests it had become suffragan of the Archdiocese of Scutari.
Few of its bishops are historically documented, and some sources may confound the see with Diocletiana.
Auxiliary bishops of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral are given the title "Bishop of Dioclea". Recent holders of the title were bishops Jovan Purić, Kirilo Bojović, and Metodije Ostojić.

Roman Catholic titular see

In 1910, the archdiocese was nominally restored as Latin titular archbishopric of the Metropolitan rank as Dioclea, renamed from 1925 as Doclea.
It has had the following archiepiscopal incumbents :