Francesco Zabarella

 Zabulon

 Diocese of Zacatecas

 Francesco Antonio Zaccaria

 Ludovico Zacconi

 Zacharias

 Zacharias Chrysopolitanus

 Pope St. Zachary

 János Zádori

 Zahle and Forzol

 Zakho

 Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn

 Gregor Zallwein

 José Maria de Zalvidea

 Zama

 Prefecture Apostolic of the Zambesi Mission

 Diocese of Zamboanga

 Giuseppe Zamboni

 Diocese of Zamora (1)

 Diocese of Zamora (2)

 Vicariate Apostolic of Zamora

 Roman Sebastian Zängerle

 Diocese of Zante

 Francesco Zantedeschi

 Zanzibar

 Zapoteca Indians

 Archdiocese of Zara

 Zarai

 Gioseffe Zarlino

 Ulric Zasius

 Zeal

 Nicholas Tacitus Zegers

 Zela

 Karl Zell

 Ulrich Zell

 Diocese of Zengg-Modrus

 St. Zeno

 St. Zenobius

 Zenonopolis

 Zeno of Elea

 Pope St. Zephyrinus

 Zephyrium

 Zeugma

 Johann Kaspar Zeuss

 Magnoald Ziegelbauer

 Gregorius Thomas Ziegler

 Cornelius van Zierikzee

 Tommaso Maria Zigliara

 Patrick Benedict Zimmer

 Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli

 Pius Zingerle

 Zionists

 Zionites

 Diocese of Zips

 Zircz

 St. Zita

 St. Zita's Home for Friendless Women

 Zoara

 Jörgen Zoega

 Stanislaus Zolkiewski

 John Zonaras

 Zoque Indians

 Pope St. Zosimus

 Zosimus

 Zucchetto

 Diocese of Zulia

 Zululand

 Juan de Zumárraga

 Zuñi Indians

 Francisco Zurbaran

 Zurich

 Giacinto Placido Zurla

 Cistercian Abbey of Zwettl

 Ulrich Zwingli

 Ernst Friedrich Zwirner

Zela


Titular see of Asia Minor, suffragan of Amasea in the Helenopontus. In pagan times the city, which was situated on the Seylax, belonged to priests, equal in dignity to the princes of Pontus, lords of the territory. On the eminence which rises in the middle of the city stood a famous temple, consecrated by the Persian kings to their national divinities, Anahita, Vohu-Mano, and Anadates. Zela is famous for the victory of Mithridates Eupator over Valerius Trianus, lieutenant of Lucullus (67 B.C.), also for that of Caesar over Pharnaces (47 B.C.), after which he wrote his famous letter, "Veni, Vidi, Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered). At first a mere hamlet, Zela obtained from Pompeii the title of city, and became the capital of a district allotted to Queen Pythadoris (Strabo, XI, viii, 4; XII, iii, 37; Pliny, "Hist. Nat.", VI, 8). It was finally ceded to Nero, with all Pontus Polemoniacus, by its last king, and remained part of the Greco-Roman empire until 1397, when the Turks seized it. According to a letter (72) of St. Basil, a council was held there by the Arians in the fourth century. Le Quien (Oriens christ., I, 541) mentions several bishops: Heraclius, at Nice (325); Atticus, at Chalcedon (451); Hyperechius (458), Georgius (692); Constantine (787); Paul (879). According to the "Acta Patriarchatus Constantinopolitani" of Miklosich and Muller (I, 69), there was a bishop at Zela in 1315; he was then named Metropolitan of Amasea; later the see was suppressed. Zela (now Zilch) is caza in the sandjak of Tokat and the vilayet of Silvas; the city numbers 20,000 inhabitants, 5000 of whom are Christians, the rest being nearly all schismatic Armenians.

SMITH, Dict, Greek and Roman Geog., s.v.; TEXIER, Asie-Mineure (Paris, 1862), 602; CUINET, La Turquie d'Asie, I, 729-32; BABELEON AND REINACH, Monnaires d'Asie-Mineure, I, 117; CUMONT, Studia pontica (Brussels, 1906), 188-94; PERROT, Exploration archeologique de la Galatie et de la Bithynie (Paris, 1872), 377-80.

S. VAILHÉ