Laodicea on the Lycus

(Ad Lycum), Laodikeia (Eski Hisar, near Denizli)

In southwestern Phrygia (Asia Minor), near its borders with Lydia and Caria. Situated on a low flat-topped hill bounded by two streams, the Kapros and Asopos, Laodicea occupied the site of an older settlement (named Rhoas or Diospolis, according to Pliny the Elder: the latter designation corresponding with the position of Zeus [genitive: Dios] as the chief local deity), dominating the valley of the Lycus (Çürüksu Çayı) a few miles east of its junction with the Maeander (Büyük Menderes), beside an important trade route. The story, recorded by Stephanus of Byzantium, that the town was founded by the Seleucid Antiochus I Soter (281–261 BC) in response to a dream, and named after his sister Laodice, appears to be erroneous. Instead, the foundation, perhaps accompanied by an influx of colonists, was apparently the work of Antiochus II Theos in honor of another Laodice who was his cousin and wife, between 261 and 253. Laodicea became famous for the softness and raven-black color of its wool, and, according to Strabo, owed its distinction to the fertility of its territory and the wealth of some of its citizens. When Achaeus, a general of Antiochus III the Great, proclaimed his independence (220), it was at Laodicea that he was crowned; later the city served as a mint for the Attalid kings of Pergamum.

After its inclusion in the Roman province of Asia, it became a center where the proconsul held his assize courts. It opposed Mithridates VI of Pontus in Rome's First Mithridatic War (88–85) and was defended against the king's besieging army by Quintus Oppius, reckoning a new era from 84. From 56 to 50 Laodicea was temporarily detached to form part of the military province of Cilicia. In 40, under the leadership of Zeno, one of its prominent citizens, its people resisted the Parthians and their ally the Roman renegade Labienus. Laodicea suffered severe damage from earthquakes under Augustus (c 20 BC), Tiberius (AD 17) and Nero (60), but was given financial assistance to assist its recovery. A new era was dated either from 123 or 130, both years in which Hadrian visited the city. The status of neokoros (a privilege mainly related to the imperial cult) was granted by Commodus, withdrawn after his death (192), but restored by Caracalla (211–17). In the later empire Laodicea was the capital of the province of Phrygia Pacatiana. Christianity had been introduced by Epaphras, a companion of St. Paul, though in Revelations the Laodiceans were upbraided for their lukewarmness, for which they became a byword. Nevertheless, theirs was one of the `Seven Churches of the Apocalypse.’

Remains of two theaters, a stadium that also served as an amphitheater (dedicated to Vespasian in AD 79), and a small council chamber (?) are to be seen; also a bath building (?) flanked by a tower serving as the terminal of an aqueduct from a spring in Denizli, and a nymphaeum (fountain building), which has been recently excavated. The abundant local monetary issues of Laodicea unusually include portraits of two local dignitaries of early imperial times, Sitalcas and Pytheas. Several other city officials who are named on the coinage belonged to the prominent local family of the Zenonidae, descended from Zeno who had resisted the Parthians in 40 BC; they include Claudia Zenonis and Julia Zenonis, high priestesses in the time of Domitian (AD 81–96), Publius Claudius Attalus, who sponsored coinages under Antoninus Pius (138–61) and Marcus Aurelius (161–80) in his capacity as high priest. Uncommon reverse types on these issues include the city-goddess standing between wolf and boar (representing the river-gods Lycus and Kapros) and seated between standing figures of Phrygia and Caria. The emperor Caracalla (211–17) is also depicted sacrificing in front of a temple, and standing before a shrine beside an agora crowded with people.