Laodicea is situated on a hill between fertile valleys irrigated by the waters of Asopus (Gümüşçay) and Kapros (Başlıçay) streams at the crossroads of important trade routes. According to other ancient sources, the city was founded by Antiochus II (r. 261-246) and named after Antiochus' wife, Laodike. According to Plinius, Laodicea was built on the ruins of a village called Diospolis "the city of Zeus" and later Rhoas1. The name Diospolis pointed the importance given to the cult of Zeus here. The site was settled uninterruptedly from the Early Chalcolithic Period (5500 BC) through the reign of Emperor Focas (AD 602-610), when an earthquake left the town in ruins.The city was laid out on a hippodamic plan. There were two theaters, four gigantic bath complexes, five agoras, five monumental fountains, four city gates, bouleuterion, temples, churches and monumental streets. Around the city are necropoleis.
Sources:
- Ekrem Akurgal, Ancient Civilisations and Ruins of Turkey: From Prehistoric Times Until the End of the Roman Empir, II ed., Istanbul 1970, pp. 236-237
- https://www.academia.edu/42059025/Y%C4%B1lmaz_Kolanc%C4%B1_B_2018_Laodikeia_Mimari_Bloklar%C4%B1ndaki_Bitkisel_ve_Fig%C3%BCratif_Kabartmalar_Pamukkale_%C3%9Cniversitesi_Arkeoloji_Enstit%C3%BCs%C3%BC_Yay%C4%B1mlanmam%C4%B1%C5%9F_Doktora_Tezi_Denizli
- PLINY THE ELDER, Natural HistoryV.45
- 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, p. 14-16
- Celal Şimşek, Fahriye Bayram, Laodikeia Merkezi Kilise ve cevresindeki, in: Celal Şimşek, 10. YILINDA LAODIKEIA (2003-2013 Yılları), Ege Yayınlar 2014, pp. 283-301
- idem: "Urban Planning of Laodikeia on the Lykos in the Light of New Evidence", Landscape and History in the Lykos Valley: Laodikeia and Hierapolis in Phrygia (Ed. C. Şimşek, F. D'Andria), Cambridge, 2017, 1-52.
Referenzen
- ↑appellata primo Diospolis, dein Rhoas. reliqui in eo conventu quos nominare non pigeat Hydrelitae, Themisones, Hierapolitae. alter conventus a Synnade accepit nomen; conveniunt ...
