Hierapolis & Pamukkale, Turkey, 14 May 2024 I Stunning ruins and an unreal landscape!
This ancient spa city’s location atop Pamukkale’s tourist-magnet travertines is quite spectacular. Hierapolis was founded by the Seleucids in the time of Antiochus I Soter (281-261 BC).The city prospered under the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine rule.
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Hierapolis was first settled during the Iron Age, and then by the Phrygians who built a temple dedicated to the mother goddess Cybele on the site in the first half of the 7th century BC. This temple, originally used by the indigenous communities later form the center of Hierapolis. When the Greek colonists arrived and built the city on the pre-existing pattern of settlement, the ancient cult of Cybele was gradually assimilated into the Greek religion.
From well before the time of the Greek colonization, the area was seen as a gateway to the underworld and a place of communication with the underworld deities because of the toxic gasses that emerge from a hot spring inside the cave. The temple built on top of the cave was linked to the mother goddess Cybele. After the process of assimilation into Greek culture, it was associated with Hades (Pluton) and Persephone instead of Cybele and the temple was named Plutonium.
Hierapolis was founded by the Seleucids in the time of Antiochus I Soter (281-261 BC) and received polis status by Eumenes of Pergamon (197-160 BC). The city was famous for its high quality woolen fabrics and dye products. While the Phrygian inhabitants of the valley were gradually Hellenized, Hierapolis was a Greek foundation from the start. The hot springs were already a major draw to city by this time, as doctors used the thermal springs as a treatment for their patients.
In 133 BC Hierapolis became part of the Roman province of Asia. Unlike other cities in the region, it was never reconstituted as a Roman colony, though some Romanization took place. In the year 17 AD, during the rule of the emperor Tiberius, a major earthquake destroyed the city. In the year 60 AD, during the rule of Nero, an even more severe earthquake left the city completely in ruins. Afterwards, the city was rebuilt in the Roman style with imperial financial support. It was during this period that the city attained its present form. The theatre was built in 129 AD for a visit by the Roman emperor Hadrian, and it was renovated under Septimius Severus (193–211 AD).
When Caracalla visited the town in 215 AD, he bestowed the much-coveted title of neocoros upon Hierapolis, according the city certain privileges and the right of sanctuary. This was the golden age of Hierapolis. New building projects were started: two Roman baths, a gymnasium, several temples, a main street with a colonnade, and a fountain at the hot spring. Hierapolis became one of the most prominent cities in the Roman Empire in the fields of the arts, philosophy, and trade. The town grew to 100,000 inhabitants and became wealthy. During his campaign against the Sassanid Shapur II in 370, the Roman emperor Valens made the last-ever imperial visit to the city.
During the 4th century, the Christians filled Pluto’s Gate with stones, suggesting that Christianity had become the dominant religion and begun displacing other faiths in the area. Originally a see of Phrygia Pacatiana, the Byzantine emperor Justinian raised the bishop of Hierapolis to the rank of metropolitan in 531. The Roman baths were transformed to a Christian basilica. During the Byzantine period, the city continued to flourish and also remained an important centre for Christianity.
In the early 7th century, the town was devastated first by Persian armies and then by another destructive earthquake. In the 12th century, the area came under the control of the Seljuk sultanate of Konya before falling to crusaders under Frederick Barbarossa and their Byzantine allies in 1190. About thirty years later, the town was abandoned before the Seljuks built a castle in the 13th century. The new settlement was abandoned in the late 14th century. In 1354, the great Thracian earthquake toppled the remains of the ancient city.
Hierapolis and Pamukkale information: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/485/
Music: Jean Dar – Ad Astra
Album: Rays of Light
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