At the beginning Thecla's cave was a secret pilgrimage center of the cult of the thalamos (tomb) of St Thecla till the Edict of Milan in 313. Egeria, on her way to the Holy Land visited Agia Thecla. The church was built in 460-470 AD by the Byzantine emperor Zeno and the church was devoted to St. Tecla.
See:
- Umut ALMAÇ – Ayşın ÖZÜGÜL – Nisa SEMİZ, Hagia Thekla (Meryemlik) Archaeological Site Survey, 2018Ayatekla (Meryemlik) Ören Yeri Yüzey Araştırması 2018, ANMED 17 2019, 10-15 https://www.academia.edu/41680532/Hagia_Thekla_Meryemlik_Archaeological_Site_Survey_2018_Ayatekla_Meryemlik_%C3%96ren_Yeri_Y%C3%BCzey_Ara%C5%9Ft%C4%B1rmas%C4%B1_2018
- Francesco D´Andria, The Sanctuary of St Philip in Hierapolis and the tombs of saints in Anatolian cities, in J.R. BRANDT, E. HAGELBERG, G. BIØRNSTAD, S. AHRENS, Lıfe and Death in Asia Minor in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Times. Studies in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology, Oxford and Philadelphia, 2016
