Laodicea on the Lycus
Encyclopedia
Laodicea on the Lycus was the ancient metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana (also attributed to Caria
and Lydia
), built on the river Lycus
(Çürüksu), in Anatolia
near the modern village of Eskihisar
(Eski Hissar), Denizli Province
, Turkey
.
and Caprus, which discharge their waters into the Lycus. The town was originally called Diospolis, "City of Zeus
", and afterwards Rhoas, and Laodicea, the building of which is ascribed to Antiochus II Theos
, in 261-253 BC, in honor of his wife Laodice
, was probably founded on the site of the older town. It was approximately 17 km west of Colossae
, and 10 km south of Hierapolis
. It was approximately 160 km east of Ephesus
and, according to Strabo, it was on a major road. It was in Phrygia
, although some ancient authors place Laodicea in differing provincial territories – not surprising because the precise limits of these territories were both ill-defined and inconstant – e.g. Ptolemy
and Philostratus
) call it a town of Caria, while Stephanus of Byzantium
(s. v.) describes it as belonging to Lydia.
At first Laodicea was not a place of much importance, but it soon acquired a high degree of prosperity. In 220 BC, Achaeus
was its king. In 188 BC, the city had passed to the Kingdom of Pergamon
, and after 133 BC fell under Roman control. It suffered greatly during the Mithridatic Wars
, but quickly recovered under the dominion of Rome; and towards the end of the Roman Republic
and under the first emperors, Laodicea, benefiting from its advantageous position on a trade route, became one of the most important and flourishing commercial cities of Asia Minor, in which large money transactions and an extensive trade in black wool were carried on.
The place often suffered from earthquakes, especially from the great shock in the reign of Nero
(60 AD), in which it was completely destroyed. But the inhabitants declined imperial assistance to rebuild the city and restored it from their own means. The wealth of its inhabitants created among them a taste for the arts of the Greeks, as is manifest from its ruins; and that it did not remain behind in science and literature is attested by the names of the sceptics Antiochus and Theiodas, the successors of Aenesidemus
and by the existence of a great medical school. Its wealthy citizens embellished Laodicea with beautiful monuments. One of the chief of them, Polemon
, became King of Armenian Pontus – called after him "Polemoniacus" – and of the coast round Trebizond. The city minted its own coins, the inscriptions of which show evidence of the worship of Zeus
, Æsculapius, Apollo
, and the emperors.
It received from Rome the title of free city. During the Roman period Laodicea was the chief city of a Roman conventus, which comprised twenty-four cities besides itself; Cicero records holding assizes there ca. 50 BC.
Antiochus the Great transported 2,000 Jewish families to Phrygia from Babylonia
. Many of Laodicea's inhabitants were Jews, and Cicero records that Flaccus
confiscated the considerable sum of 9 kg of gold which was being sent annually to Jerusalem for the Temple
(Pro Flacco 28-68).
The Byzantine
writers often mention it, especially in the time of the Comneni. In 1119, Emperor John the Beautiful and his lead military aid John Axuch
captured Laodicea from the Seljuk
Turks in the first major military victory of his reign.
It was fortified by the emperor Manuel Comnenus. The city was destroyed during the invasions of the Turks
and Mongols
.
, and the see
of a bishop. Laodicea receives passing mention in the epistle to the Colossians
and is one of the Seven churches of Asia
mentioned in the Book of Revelation
. The Laodicean Church
had probably been founded by the Colossian
Epaphras
, who shared the care of it with Nymphas
, in whose house the faithful used to assemble. Paul asks the Colossians to communicate to the Church of Laodicea the letter which he sends to them, and to read publicly that which should come to them from Laodicea, that is, no doubt, a letter which he had written, or was to write, to the Laodiceans. An apocrypha
l epistle purporting to be from Paul to the Laodiceans is extant in Latin and Arabic (see Epistle to the Laodiceans
). Some of the Greek manuscripts end the First Epistle to Timothy
with these words: "Written at Laodicea, metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana".
The first bishops attributed to the See of Laodicea are very uncertain: St. Archippus (Colossians 4:17); St. Nymphas; Diotrephes
(III John, 9). Next comes St. Sagaris, martyr (c. 166). Sisinnius is mentioned in the Acts of the martyr St. Artemon, a priest of his Church. Nunechius assisted at the Council of Nicaea
(325). Eugenius, known by an inscription, was probably his successor. The Arian Cecropius was transferred by Constantius to the See of Nicomedia. When Phrygia was divided into two parts, Laodicea became the metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana: it figures under this title in all the Notitiae Episcopatuum
. Some twenty incumbents are known besides those already enumerated; the last occupied the see in 1450. The city remains a titular see
of the Roman Catholic Church
, Laodicensis in Phrygia; the seat has been vacant since 1968.
There are extant, in Greek, sixty canons of a Council of Laodicea
. That this assembly was actually held, we have the testimony of Theodoret
. There has been much discussion as to the date: some have even thought that the council must have preceded that of Nicaea (325), or at least that of Constantinople
(381). It seems safer to consider it as subsequent to the latter. The canons are, undoubtedly, only a resume of an older text, and indeed appear to be derived from two distinct collections. They are of great importance in the history of discipline and liturgy; some Protestants have invoked one of them in opposition to the veneration of angels.
(Denisli) are relatively well preserved. Its stadium
, gymnasium, and theatres (one of which is in a state of great preservation, with its seats still perfectly horizontal, though merely laid upon the gravel), are well deserving of notice. Other buildings, also, on the top of the hill, are full of interest; and on the east the line of the ancient wall may be distinctly traced, with the remains of a gateway; there is also a street within and without the town, flanked by the ruins of a colonnade and numerous pedestals, leading to a confused heap of fallen ruins on the brow of the hill, about 200 meters outside the walls. North of the town, towards the Lycus, are many sarcophagi
, with their covers lying near them, partly imbedded in the ground, and all having been long since rifled. Amongst other interesting objects are the remains of an aqueduct
, commencing near the summit of a low hill to the south, whence it is carried on arches of small square stones to the edge of the hill. The water must have been much charged with calcareous matter, as several of the arches are covered with a thick incrustation. From this hill the aqueduct crossed a valley before it reached the town, but, instead of being carried over it on lofty arches, as was the usual practice of the Romans, the water was conveyed down the hill in stone barrel-pipes; some of these also are much incrusted, and some completely choked up. It traversed the plain in pipes of the same kind. The aqueduct appears to have been destroyed by an earthquake
, as the remaining arches lean bodily on one side, without being much broken.
The stadium, which is in a good state of preservation, is near the southern extremity of the city. The seats, almost perfect, are arranged along two sides of a narrow valley, which appears to have been taken advantage of for this purpose, and to have been closed up at both ends. Towards the west are considerable remains of a subterranean passage, by which chariots and horses were admitted into the arena, with a long inscription over the entrance. The whole area of the ancient city is covered with ruined buildings, and one could distinguish the sites of several temples, with the bases of the columns still in situ. The ruins bear the stamp of Roman extravagance and luxury, rather than of the stern and massive solidity of the Greeks. Strabo attributes the celebrity of the place to the fertility of the soil and the wealth of some of its inhabitants: amongst whom Hiero, having adorned the city with many beautiful buildings, bequeathed to it more than 2000 talents
at his death.
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
and Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
), built on the river Lycus
Lycus (river of Phrygia)
Lycus or Lykos was the name of a river in ancient Phrygia, a tributary of the Maeander, which it joins a few km south of Tripolis. It had its sources in the eastern parts of Mount Cadmus Lycus or Lykos was the name of a river in ancient Phrygia, a tributary of the Maeander, which it joins a few...
(Çürüksu), in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
near the modern village of Eskihisar
Eskihisar, Denizli
Eskihisar is a village in Denizli Province, Turkey. The population of the village was 2,063 in the year 2000. The village is 5 kilometers from the city of Denizli. Near the village are the ruins of the ancient city of Laodicea, one of the Seven Churches of Revelation. The name eski hisar means "old...
(Eski Hissar), Denizli Province
Denizli Province
Denizli Province is a province of Turkey in Western Anatolia, on high ground above the Aegean coast. Neighbouring provinces are Uşak to the north, Burdur, Isparta, Afyon to the east, Aydın, Manisa to the west and Muğla to the south. It is located between the coordinates 28° 30’ and 29° 30’ E and...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
History
Laodicea is situated on the long spur of a hill between the narrow valleys of the small rivers AsopusAsopus
Asopus or Asôpos is the name of four different rivers in Greece and one in Turkey. In Greek mythology, it was the name of the gods of those rivers.-The rivers in Greece:...
and Caprus, which discharge their waters into the Lycus. The town was originally called Diospolis, "City of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
", and afterwards Rhoas, and Laodicea, the building of which is ascribed to Antiochus II Theos
Antiochus II Theos
Antiochus II Theos was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom who reigned 261 BC – 246 BC). He succeeded his father Antiochus I Soter in the winter of 262–61 BC...
, in 261-253 BC, in honor of his wife Laodice
Laodice I
Laodice I was an Anatolian noblewoman who was a close relative of the early Seleucid Dynasty and was the first wife of the Seleucid Greek King Antiochus II Theos. -Family Background:...
, was probably founded on the site of the older town. It was approximately 17 km west of Colossae
Colossae
Colossae or Colosse , was an ancient city of Phrygia, on the Lycus, which is a tributary of the Maeander River. It was situated about 12 miles South East of Laodicea, and near the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates...
, and 10 km south of Hierapolis
Hierapolis
Hierapolis was the ancient Greco-Roman city which sat on top of hot springs located in south western Turkey near Denizli....
. It was approximately 160 km east of Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
and, according to Strabo, it was on a major road. It was in Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
, although some ancient authors place Laodicea in differing provincial territories – not surprising because the precise limits of these territories were both ill-defined and inconstant – e.g. Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
and Philostratus
Philostratus
Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus , , called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He was born probably around 172, and is said by the Suda to have been living in the reign of emperor Philip the Arab . His death...
) call it a town of Caria, while Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus , was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica...
(s. v.) describes it as belonging to Lydia.
At first Laodicea was not a place of much importance, but it soon acquired a high degree of prosperity. In 220 BC, Achaeus
Achaeus (general)
Achaeus was a general and later a separatist ruler of part of the Greek Seleucid kingdom. He was the son of Andromachus, whose sister Laodice II, married Seleucus Callinicus, the father of Antiochus III the Great. Achaeus himself married Laodice of Pontus, one of the daughters to Laodice and...
was its king. In 188 BC, the city had passed to the Kingdom of Pergamon
Pergamon
Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC...
, and after 133 BC fell under Roman control. It suffered greatly during the Mithridatic Wars
Mithridatic Wars
There were three Mithridatic Wars between Rome and the Kingdom of Pontus in the 1st century BC. They are named for Mithridates VI who was King of Pontus at the time....
, but quickly recovered under the dominion of Rome; and towards the end of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
and under the first emperors, Laodicea, benefiting from its advantageous position on a trade route, became one of the most important and flourishing commercial cities of Asia Minor, in which large money transactions and an extensive trade in black wool were carried on.
The place often suffered from earthquakes, especially from the great shock in the reign of Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
(60 AD), in which it was completely destroyed. But the inhabitants declined imperial assistance to rebuild the city and restored it from their own means. The wealth of its inhabitants created among them a taste for the arts of the Greeks, as is manifest from its ruins; and that it did not remain behind in science and literature is attested by the names of the sceptics Antiochus and Theiodas, the successors of Aenesidemus
Aenesidemus
Aenesidemus was a Greek sceptical philosopher, born in Knossos on the island of Crete. He lived in the 1st century BC, taught in Alexandria and flourished shortly after the life of Cicero...
and by the existence of a great medical school. Its wealthy citizens embellished Laodicea with beautiful monuments. One of the chief of them, Polemon
Polemon
-Philosophers:*Polemon , the head of the Platonic Academy from 314-269 BC*Polemon of Athens, a 2nd century BC Stoic philosopher, also referred to as Polemon of Ilium*Polemon of Laodiceia, a 2nd century sophist-Kings:...
, became King of Armenian Pontus – called after him "Polemoniacus" – and of the coast round Trebizond. The city minted its own coins, the inscriptions of which show evidence of the worship of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
, Æsculapius, Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, and the emperors.
It received from Rome the title of free city. During the Roman period Laodicea was the chief city of a Roman conventus, which comprised twenty-four cities besides itself; Cicero records holding assizes there ca. 50 BC.
Antiochus the Great transported 2,000 Jewish families to Phrygia from Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
. Many of Laodicea's inhabitants were Jews, and Cicero records that Flaccus
Flaccus
Flaccus was a cognomen of the ancient Roman plebeian family Fulvius, considered one of the most illustrious gentes of the city. Cicero and Pliny the Elder state that the family was originally from Tusculum, and that members still lived there in the 1st century.As usual for cognomina, "Flaccus" was...
confiscated the considerable sum of 9 kg of gold which was being sent annually to Jerusalem for the Temple
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
(Pro Flacco 28-68).
The Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
writers often mention it, especially in the time of the Comneni. In 1119, Emperor John the Beautiful and his lead military aid John Axuch
John Axuch
John Axouch or Axouchos, also transliterated as Axuch was the commander-in-chief of the Byzantine Army during the reign of Emperor John II Komnenos, and the early part of the reign of his son Manuel I Komnenos.- Life :...
captured Laodicea from the Seljuk
Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...
Turks in the first major military victory of his reign.
It was fortified by the emperor Manuel Comnenus. The city was destroyed during the invasions of the Turks
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
and Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
.
Christian Laodicea
It was probably owing to its large Jewish community, that at a very early period it became one of the chief seats of ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and the see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of a bishop. Laodicea receives passing mention in the epistle to the Colossians
Epistle to the Colossians
The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, usually referred to simply as Colossians, is the 12th book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle to the Church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately 100 miles from Ephesus in Asia...
and is one of the Seven churches of Asia
Seven churches of Asia
The Seven Churches of Revelation, also known as The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse and The Seven Churches of Asia , are seven major churches of Early Christianity, as mentioned in the New Testament Book of Revelation and written to by Ignatius of Antioch...
mentioned in the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
. The Laodicean Church
Laodicean Church
The Laodicean Church was a Christian community established in the ancient city of Laodicea . The church was established in the earliest period of Christianity, and is probably best known for being one of the seven churches addressed by name in the Book of Revelation The Laodicean Church was a...
had probably been founded by the Colossian
Colossae
Colossae or Colosse , was an ancient city of Phrygia, on the Lycus, which is a tributary of the Maeander River. It was situated about 12 miles South East of Laodicea, and near the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates...
Epaphras
Epaphras
Epaphras was a Christian preacher who spread the Gospel to his fellow Colossian citizens . When Paul was a prisoner in Rome, Epaphras came to him with a favourable account of the Church at Colossae. He remained with Paul in Rome and was, in a sense, his "fellow prisoner"...
, who shared the care of it with Nymphas
Nymphas
Nymphas meaning nymph. A man or a woman, depending on accenting of the Greek text, in the New Testament saluted by Paul of Tarsus in his Epistle to the Colossians as a member of the church of Laodicea . Possibly a contraction of Nymphodorus. The church met in his or her house....
, in whose house the faithful used to assemble. Paul asks the Colossians to communicate to the Church of Laodicea the letter which he sends to them, and to read publicly that which should come to them from Laodicea, that is, no doubt, a letter which he had written, or was to write, to the Laodiceans. An apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
l epistle purporting to be from Paul to the Laodiceans is extant in Latin and Arabic (see Epistle to the Laodiceans
Epistle to the Laodiceans
An Epistle to the Laodiceans, purportedly written by Paul of Tarsus to the Laodicean Church, is mentioned in the canonical Epistle to the Colossians...
). Some of the Greek manuscripts end the First Epistle to Timothy
First Epistle to Timothy
The First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, usually referred to simply as First Timothy and often written 1 Timothy, is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the Pastoral Epistles, the others being Second Timothy and Titus...
with these words: "Written at Laodicea, metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana".
The first bishops attributed to the See of Laodicea are very uncertain: St. Archippus (Colossians 4:17); St. Nymphas; Diotrephes
Diotrephes
Diotrephes was a man mentioned in the . His name means "nourished by Jupiter". As Raymond E. Brown comments, "Diotrephes is not a particularly common name."...
(III John, 9). Next comes St. Sagaris, martyr (c. 166). Sisinnius is mentioned in the Acts of the martyr St. Artemon, a priest of his Church. Nunechius assisted at the Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
(325). Eugenius, known by an inscription, was probably his successor. The Arian Cecropius was transferred by Constantius to the See of Nicomedia. When Phrygia was divided into two parts, Laodicea became the metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana: it figures under this title in all the Notitiae Episcopatuum
Notitiae Episcopatuum
The Notitiae Episcopatuum are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church....
. Some twenty incumbents are known besides those already enumerated; the last occupied the see in 1450. The city remains a titular see
Titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....
of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, Laodicensis in Phrygia; the seat has been vacant since 1968.
There are extant, in Greek, sixty canons of a Council of Laodicea
Council of Laodicea
The Council of Laodicea was a regional synod of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor that assembled about 363–364 AD in Laodicea, Phrygia Pacatiana.-Historical context:...
. That this assembly was actually held, we have the testimony of Theodoret
Theodoret
Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus was an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria . He played a pivotal role in many early Byzantine church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms...
. There has been much discussion as to the date: some have even thought that the council must have preceded that of Nicaea (325), or at least that of Constantinople
First Council of Constantinople
The First Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Second Ecumenical Council by the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox, the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was the first Ecumenical Council held in...
(381). It seems safer to consider it as subsequent to the latter. The canons are, undoubtedly, only a resume of an older text, and indeed appear to be derived from two distinct collections. They are of great importance in the history of discipline and liturgy; some Protestants have invoked one of them in opposition to the veneration of angels.
The ruins
The existing remains still attest its former greatness. The ruins near DenizliDenizli
Denizli is a growing industrial city in the Southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about a hundred meters. Denizli is located in southwestern Turkey, in the country's Aegean Region.The city...
(Denisli) are relatively well preserved. Its stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
, gymnasium, and theatres (one of which is in a state of great preservation, with its seats still perfectly horizontal, though merely laid upon the gravel), are well deserving of notice. Other buildings, also, on the top of the hill, are full of interest; and on the east the line of the ancient wall may be distinctly traced, with the remains of a gateway; there is also a street within and without the town, flanked by the ruins of a colonnade and numerous pedestals, leading to a confused heap of fallen ruins on the brow of the hill, about 200 meters outside the walls. North of the town, towards the Lycus, are many sarcophagi
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
, with their covers lying near them, partly imbedded in the ground, and all having been long since rifled. Amongst other interesting objects are the remains of an aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
, commencing near the summit of a low hill to the south, whence it is carried on arches of small square stones to the edge of the hill. The water must have been much charged with calcareous matter, as several of the arches are covered with a thick incrustation. From this hill the aqueduct crossed a valley before it reached the town, but, instead of being carried over it on lofty arches, as was the usual practice of the Romans, the water was conveyed down the hill in stone barrel-pipes; some of these also are much incrusted, and some completely choked up. It traversed the plain in pipes of the same kind. The aqueduct appears to have been destroyed by an earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
, as the remaining arches lean bodily on one side, without being much broken.
The stadium, which is in a good state of preservation, is near the southern extremity of the city. The seats, almost perfect, are arranged along two sides of a narrow valley, which appears to have been taken advantage of for this purpose, and to have been closed up at both ends. Towards the west are considerable remains of a subterranean passage, by which chariots and horses were admitted into the arena, with a long inscription over the entrance. The whole area of the ancient city is covered with ruined buildings, and one could distinguish the sites of several temples, with the bases of the columns still in situ. The ruins bear the stamp of Roman extravagance and luxury, rather than of the stern and massive solidity of the Greeks. Strabo attributes the celebrity of the place to the fertility of the soil and the wealth of some of its inhabitants: amongst whom Hiero, having adorned the city with many beautiful buildings, bequeathed to it more than 2000 talents
Talent (weight)
The "talent" was one of several ancient units of mass, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal. It was approximately the mass of water required to fill an amphora. A Greek, or Attic talent, was , a Roman talent was , an Egyptian talent was , and a...
at his death.
External links
- Hazlitt, Classical Gazetteer, "Laodicea"
- Smith, WilliamWilliam Smith (lexicographer)Sir William Smith Kt. was a noted English lexicographer.-Early life:Born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents, he was originally destined for a theological career, but instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught himself classics, and when he entered University College...
(editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman GeographyDictionary of Greek and Roman GeographyThe Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, first published in 1854, was the last of a series of classical dictionaries edited by the English scholar William Smith , which included as sister works A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and...
, "Laodiceia", LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, (1854) - Jewish Encyclopedia, "Laodicea"