Drizipara

Drizipara (or Druzipara) was a city and a residential episcopal see in the Roman province of Europa in the civil diocese of Thrace. It is now a titular see of the Catholic Church.

History of the town

The city was situated, as mentioned by Ptolemy on the part of the Via Egnatia leading from Adrianople to Byzantium. It contained a basilica dedicated to a Saint Alexander who suffered martyrdom there under Maximian. In 591, the Khakan of the Avars captured the city. He burned the church and destroyed the relics of the martyr. in looting their silver casing. By the 9th century, the city was called Mesene.

Sultan Murad I conquered the city in the 11th century. The city was described in 1432 Bertrandon of Broquière and in 1453 the wife of Grand Duke Loukas Notaras died there, In the 16th century Sultan Bajazet II rebuilt a new city, Büyük Karistiran, a few kilometers to the west, which quickly supplanted Drizipara which dwindled.

The site is today occupied by a village called Misinli close to the town of Büyükkarıştıran.