AECHAE, Diocese of. - This center arose in the land of the Daunians, in Capitanata, on the Via Traiana which, branching off from Benevento, joined the Via Egnatia at A. It was of great importance in the Second Punic War; it fell into the hands of Hannibal and was retaken by Fabius in 214 B.C. It is mentioned by Pliny. It was a Roman colony under Septimius Severus. Its development was due to its geographical position with respect to the Tavoliere below and to the roads leading there. It declined rapidly and was destroyed, it seems, in the 7th century. It regained fame and took its present name of Troia in 1017, through the work of the Byzantines.
Information about the diocese, which was included in Region II, is scanty. The bishops whose names have been handed down to us are: 1) Dynamius, whose existence is problematic; 2) St. Eleutherius: this saint, mentioned in a Greek text (BHG, 568-70) as an Illyrian bishop, a martyr in Rome with his mother Anthia under Hadrian, becomes in the Latin translation (BHL, 2451) bishop of A. It is doubtful whether the Greek martyrdom was adapted to a St. Eleutherius venerated in A. or whether it was intended to explain the presence of his relics in A. by creating him bishop of the city; 3) St. Mark, probably of the 4th century: the legend (BHL, 2297) speaks of a Mark "Aecanae urbis episcopus"; he is said to have been one of the 12 African bishops expelled by the Vandals and landed on the Campanian shore. It is more likely that his remains were brought there after the destruction of A. St. Mark had an ancient cult also in Benevento and elsewhere; 4) Secondinus. While Troia was being built on the ruins of the destroyed A., the mausoleum of a bishop of this name was found in the cemetery and church of St. Mark. The sepulchral inscription recalled how he had restored a church, perhaps that of Sts. Donatus and Felix; 5) Marcianus or Martian, of 501-502.