AECAE, DIOCESE OF. — This centre stood in the territory of the Dauni, in Capitanata, on the Via Traiana which, branching off from Benevento, joined A. with the Via Egnazia. It was of great importance during the Second Punic War; it fell into Hannibal’s hands and was retaken by Fabius in 214 B.C. It is mentioned by Pliny. It became a Roman colony under Septimius Severus. Its development was due to its geographical position with respect to the underlying Tavoliere and the roads leading to II. It rapidly declined 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.
Scant are the notices about the diocese, which was included in Region II. The bishops whose names have come down to us are: 1) Dynamius, whose existence is problematic; 2) St Eleutherius: this saint, recorded in a Greek text (BHG, 568-70) as an Illyrian bishop, martyred 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 sought 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 “Aceanza urbis episcopus”; he would 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 also had ancient cult in Benevento and elsewhere; 4) Secundinus. While on the ruins of destroyed A. Troia was being built, in the cemetery and church of St Mark the mausoleum of a bishop of this name was found. The sepulchral inscription recalled how he had restored a church, perhaps that of SS. Donatus and Felix; 5) Marcianus or Marzian of 501-502.