To distinguish this city from the many others called Apamea,[1][2][3] the name Apamea Myrlea used here adds to the name (Apamea) it was given when rebuilt as an important city the name (Myrlea) it previously bore as a smaller town.[4] It was also referred to as Apamea Myrlēon (Apamea of Myrlea).[5]
The town was founded as a colony of the Colophonians and was called Μύρλεια (Myrleia or Myrlea). Philip V of Macedon took the town, as it appears, during his war against the king of Pergamon, and gave it to his ally, King Prusias I of Bithynia, who fortified and enlarged it – indeed almost rebuilt it[6] – around 202 BC, renaming it Ἀπάμεια (transcribed as Apameia, Apamea, or Apamia), after his wife, Apama III.[2]
The place was on the west coast of the Gulf of Gemlik, and northwest of Bursa, then called Prusa, for which it served as a port.[1]
The Romans made Apamea a colonia, apparently in the time of Augustus, or perhaps Julius Caesar, in view of the adjective "Iulia" that appear on its coins under Roman rule.[2] Its earlier coins were stamped Ἀπαμέων Μυρλεάνων, but in Roman times they bore the label C.I.C.A. (= Colonia Iulia Concordia Apamea).[7]
No longer a residential bishopric, Apamea in Bithynia is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see,[10] of the intermediary Archiepiscopal rank.
Since the Latin Catholic archdiocese was thus nominally restored (in ?1633), it has had the following archiepiscopal incumbents, but is vacant since decades :
Nicola Maria Tedeschi, Benedictines (O.S.B.) (1722.03.02 – death 1741.09.29), eemritate as former Bishop of Lipari (Italy) (1710.03.10 – 1722.02.28)
Stefano Evodio Assemani (1736 – death 1782.11.24), no actual office recorded
