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Parætonium
Historical Article from The Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia
Historical Context
This article preserves the historical wording and context of the printed encyclopedia. Dates, statistics, terminology, disciplinary descriptions, and civic or ecclesiastical circumstances may reflect the period in which the article was published.
Article Text
Parætonium, a titular see of Lybia Secunda or Inferior (i.e. Marmarica), suffragan of Darnis. This city, which some claim should be called Ammonia, owed its celebrity to its port, whence Alexander visited the oracle of Amun (Ammon). Mark Antony stopped there before Actium. Justinian fortified it to protect Egypt on the west. It has since disappeared and the port is partially covered with sand; the site, long called by the Arabs, Baretoun, today bears the name Mirsa Berek, in the vilayet of Benghazi (Tripolitana). Mention is made of three bishops: Titus, present at the Council of Nicæa, 325; Siras, an Arian; and his successor Gaius, who assisted at the Council of Alexandria, 362 (Le Quien, “Oriens christ.” II, 631).
Sources
Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geog., s.v.; Pacho, Voyage dans la Marmarique (Paris, 1829), 28.
Source Record
- Author
- Pétridès, Sophrone
- Publication
- The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1911.
- Nihil Obstat
- Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
- Imprimatur
- Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.