The ancient Greek-Roman city Hierapolis

By asad russel - 

Hierapolis, Turkey

People is attracts for Hierapolis because of its brilliant-white, hot springs of the Pamukkale cotton palace and terraced pools. This is a Greek-Roman city which is only half mile wide and 65 foot tall travertine which is the wonder of 190 B.C. This city is a ancient spa town which includes a well preserved theater, ruins of temples and a Sacred Pool, above the broken columns where tourists float. According to the Turkish Ministry of Tourism and Culture every year 1.6 million people visits this town.

 It is knows that this small city was founded by the King Eumenes II who was the king of Pergamum during the 197 to 159 B.C. The city was named from the mythical founder of Pergamum Telephus wife's name what was Hiera. Telephus was the son of Hercules and the grandson of Greek God Zeus. As the sacred city this city was also known because at the site there were temples located. In the Lycus River valley Hierapolis was became the tri-city areas part with the Colossae and Laodicea. From the other two cities Hierapolis was situated across the river. This city was famous for the textile especially for the wool and also for purple dye, from the madder root juice it was made.

There were healing properties in the hot spring and people believed that. In order to cure from various diseases people came here to bathe in this rich mineral water. To the God Apollo Lairbenos the city was dedicated who told to build this city. Still now there is a temple of Apollo in this city as the condition of ruins which built in the 3rd century A.D. The people of this city also worship the underworld God Pluto for the hot gases released from the earth. For the ancient people of this city the chief religious festival was Letoia which was held in the honor of Goddess Leto. Leto was a Greek form of Mother Goddess. In 133 B.C. along with the rest of Pergamene kingdom Hierapolis was ceded to the Rome and from then it was become the part of Roman Empire in the Asia province. In 60 A.D. the city was destroyed by a earthquake and it rebuilt again. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. the city reached to its peak.

Some great man were born in this city such as the Stoic philosopher Epictetus and Antipater who was a rhetorician and a philosopher too. Antipater was hired by the Emperor Septimus to teach his sons Geta and Caracalla, both of them became the Emperors. In ancient time there were many Jewish people lived in this city as the evidence elsewhere in the city visitors can see numerous inscriptions on the tombs. St. Philip was built in Hierapolis in the 5th century. In the 6th century the city was fell into the decline and finally after an earthquake in 1334 it was abandoned. In the 19th century to discover the ancient city Hierapolis the excavation began.

The Pamukkale Museum is small but it is the perfect place to start your visit. This museum is placed in a part of south Roman baths which is near the parking area. The Turkish and English signs are displayed in the museum and that includes jewelry, sarcophagi, among other items architectural fragments and coins, highlights of the reliefs and statues. Among the Hierapolis there are many things which you can visit after the museum. Today what we can see most of them were built in the period of Roman Empire because it was reconstructed by the Romans after two major earthquake in 17 A.D. and in 60 A.D. By Byzantine walls the place is surrounded and there is an extensive necropolis outside of that.

There is a complex near the museum which includes a colonnaded street, a basilica church and the Sacred Pool. By the hot spring the Sacred Pool is warmed. There are a temple of God Apollo and to swim with the antiquities this pool provides a rare opportunity to the visitors. Behind that pool there is the nymphaem. This is a monumental fountain and the water distributed from here to the whole city. The Temple of Apollo is next to the nymphaem. The foundations, entry steps and platform only remains today. The Plutonium is in the south of this temple. There is a cave which believed as the doorway of underworld. Towards the theater there are peristyle house ruins with lonic column east of the Apollo temple. The stage buildings in the theater of Hierapolis is well preserved and with relief beautifully decorated. Around 200 B.C. this theater was built and it had a capacity of 20,000 with only 30 rows.

 Plateia is a colonnaded and street and from the Arch of Domitian it ran to the south gate. Near the Agora across from the Martyrium there is a ruined church. On the site of Philip's martydom The Martyrium was built in the 5th century A.D. With an octagonal rotunda this is a square building which measures per side 65 feet. Over the arches Christian symbols and crosses can be seen. There are east necropolis and west necropolis to the south and west side of the martyrium. The north Roman baths is in the northwest of the theater which built in 2nd century A.D. and at the begining of 5th century it was used as the Christian basilica. Anatolia is the largest among the north necropolis and the main ruins and more than 1,200 tombs of various types it contains.

 

There are also more ruins in the city of Hierapolis which can amuse you. From Izmir to Denizi everyday three trains run and from Istanbul daily leaves the overnight train at local time 5.35 PM and the next morning about 9 to 10 AM arrives in Denizil. Hierapolis is a great ancient Greek-Roman city which can experience you the beauty of the ancient cities.

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Posted by : Unknown 11:01 PM Tags : Travel Destinations

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