LAODICEA AD LYCUM / DENIZLI
The ancient city of Laodicea Ad Lycum is located close to the village of Goncali, 6 kms/ 3.8 miles from Denizli, a city known for its textile industry (towels and bathrobes).
The Hellenistic city was established on the site of a former settlement (according to Pliny the younger originally called Diospolis and afterwards Rhoas) under the Seleucid dynasty in the mid 3rd century BC by Antiochos II in honor of his wife, Laodice. In order to distinguish Laodicea from several other cities bearing the same name and because it was located in the Lycos* (Çuruksu) river valley, "Ad Lycum" was added to its name. In 188 BC, the city passed to the Kingdom of Pergamon and subsequently fell under Roman control in 133 BC.
Laodicea was reputed for its sheeps whose wool was black and soft, and was a weaving center famous for both its wool and cotton fabrics. Due to the fertility of the region, its favorable climate, its flourishing trade and its privilegiate location on a trade route, Laodicea became one of the most important and prosperous cities in Asia Minor. During the Roman period, circa 60 AD, after the devastating earthquake that destroyed all the cities of the region, the wealthy Laodiceans promptly rebuilt their city and, thanks to their donations, kept embellishing it with various monuments. Laodicea, that minted its own coins, even called itself the “Metropolis of Asia”.
Unlike nearby Hierapolis and Colossae, Laodicea's major weakness was its lack of spring water and thus was dependent on external water supplies. Water was brought through a great system of aqueducts built from large, tightly cemented rectangular stones through which a circular central channel had been bored.
The fact that an important Jewish community lived in Laodicea contributed to the early christianization of the city which later became an episcopal seat. However, the spread of Christianity in Laodicea proved not to be so easy because of the wealth accumulated with textiles and trade. The Laodicean Church was probably founded by Epaphras of Colossae (see below). It appears from the Epistle to the Colossians that Paul of Tarsus never visited Laodicea, but hearing from Epaphras of certain doctrines spread in that city, he wrote to the Colossians, desiring that his epistle to that church should also be read in Laodicea.
Laodicea was one of the Seven Churches of Revelation. In the 4th century, a council condemning the worship of angels alluded to by St Paul, was held in Laodicea. The year is not known however it is believed to have preceded the council of Constantinople (381).
Laodicea suffered from an earthquake in the year 494 after which it never quite recovered. Finally the city was deserted after the conquest of the region by the Seljuk Turks who preferred to settle in the vicinity where there was a vast amount of water, in the present location of Kaleiçi in Denizli. The new settlement of Laodicea took the name "Ladik" but with the passing centuries was also referred to as “Donguzlu”, "Tonguzluk" and Dengizli. Subsequently the name was changed into Denizli which, in modern Turkish, means " a place with a large body of water".
During the Ottoman period, Denizli regained the position of Laodicea as a leading textile manufacturing center. Today, Denizli is the Aegean Region's largest manufacturing and tourism sector after Izmir.
Mount Honaz National Park (2,571 m/ 8,435 ft) located southeast of Denizli, is the highest mountain in Western Anatolia.
The remains of Laodicea consist of a Hellenistic theatre, a smaller Roman theatre, a rectangular council building, a water tower, a stadium, a gymnasium and baths, a nympheaum, a church, a necropolis.
* The Lycos river, named Çuruksu in Turkish, is a tributary of the Maeander (Büyük Menderes) River.
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Colossae is located 25 kms/ 15.5 miles east of Denizli, close to the town of Honaz, on the foothills of Mount Honaz (Mount Cadmos - 2,571 m/ 8,435 ft) by the Aksu river. Colossae was recorded as one of the most prosperous cities of Phrygia and was particularly famous for its wool which was dyed a purple colour called colossinus. However Colossae was gradually supplanted by Laodicea and finally lost its economical importance. Furthermore, the city suffered from the devastating earthquake circa 60 AD. Colossae was the seat of an early Christian church which seems to have been founded by Epaphras, a pupil and follower of Paul. The city's biblical significance lies in the fact that an epistle was adressed to the church here. The Epistle to the Colossians was purportedly written by Paul between 61-63 AD, during his first imprisonment in Rome, against the rise of a new heresy, namely religious syncretism and gnosticism.
In the 7th century, Colossae was completely deserted with the establishment of Chonae (or Chonas, present Honaz) where a church, dedicated to St Michael, was built thus reintroducing the worship of angels (cf Laodicea). Khonae was the birthplace of the Byzantine historian, Nicetas Choniates who gave an account of the sack of Constantinople (1204) and his brother Michael Choniates who became Archbishop of Athens.
The site of Colossae has not been excavated. Little remains to be seen.
The town of Buldan, located 40 kms/ 25 miles north of Denizli, is also well known for its natural fabric woven on hand looms. The traditional "Buldan fabric", made of pure cotton, is widely used in household linen and in traditional and modern home decoration.
