A titular see of Caria, and suffragan of Aphrodisias. The city was founded by colonists from Argos at an unknown date, and was re-established after a war with the natives of Caria by the people of Miletus. It is situated at the inner end of a gulf, on an islet now connected with the continent by a narrow strip of land; according to Polybius its walls were ten stadia in circumference. Its fisheries (Strabo, XIX, ii, 21) are yet famous. During the Peloponnesian War Jassus was taken by the Lacedaemonians, and later it was captured by Philip of Macedon, who was compelled by the Romans to return it to King Ptolemy of Egypt. Numerous Greek inscriptions found among its ruins aid in the reconstruction of its domestic history. Four of its bishops are known: Themistius in 421, Flacillus in 451, David in 787, and Gregory in 878 ( Lequien, "Oriens Christianus", I, 913). The see is mentioned in the "Nova Tactica", tenth century (Gelzer, "Georgii Cyprii descriptio orbis romani", nos. 340, 1464), and more recently in the "Notitiae Espiscopatuum". It is now called Asin-Kaleh, and is a small town in the sanjak of Mentéché and the Turkish province of Smyrna. In 1835 Texier visited it and found it completely ruined and deserted, its walls of white marble, also theatres, several burial sites, and mausolea still standing; since then the Turks have carried away most of the material for building purposes.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online