Akşehir

History

Philomelion () was probably a Pergamene foundation on the great Graeco-Roman Highway from Ephesus to the east and Cicero, on his way to Cilicia, dated some of his extant correspondence there. St Paul passed the city on his second and third missionary journey in the first century and his impact can be traced by numerous Christian inscriptions in the region. The Smyrniotes wrote the letter that describes the martyrdom of Polycarp to the townspeople of Philomelion. The town became at some point a bishopric and remains a titular see of the Catholic Church. At some point after 1071, the city fell to the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. It was retaken by forces of the First Crusade and in 1098 Stephen of Blois met emperor Alexios I Komnenos here, persuading him to not continue his march to Antioch. Alexios returned in one of his final campaigns in 1116 to Philomelion which he conquered and returned with many Greek refugees to Byzantine lands. In 1146, the town was taken by emperor Manuel I Komnenos after defeating forces of the Sultanate of Rum at Akroinon. Manuel burned the town, released several prisoners who had been detained there, and transported the population to Pylae. The town was taken a final time by German members of the Third Crusade in 1190 but rebuilt in 1196 by Kaykhusraw I and resettled with Greek captives taken on a raid from Caria.