LAODICEA AD LYCUMM (mod.

See also:

• DENIZLI (anc. Laodicea (q.v.)

Denizli, q.v.)  was founded probably by Antiochus II . Theos (261–46 B.C.), and named after his wife Laodice . Its site is close to the station of Gonjeli on the Anatolian railway . Here was one of the oldest homes of Christianity and the seat of one of the seven churches of the Apocalypse . Pliny states (v . 29) that the town was called in older times Diospolis and Rhoas; but at an early period Colossae, a few miles to the east, and Hierapolis, 6 m. to the north, were the great cities of the neighbourhood, and Laodicea was of no importance till the Seleucid foundation (Strabo, p . 578) . A favourable site was found on some low hills of alluvial formation, about 2 M . S. of the river Lycus (Churuk Su) and 9 m . E. of the confluence of the Lycus and Maeander . The great trade route from the Euphrates and the interior passed to it through Apamea . There it forked, one branch going down the Maeander valley to Magnesia and thence north to Ephesus, a distance of about 90 m., and the other branch crossing the mountains by an easy pass to Philadelphia and the Hermus valley, Sardis, Thyatira and at last Pergamum .

St

Paul (Col. iv . 15) alludes to the situation of Laodicea beside Colossae and Hierapolis; and the order in which the last five churches of the Apocalypse are enumerated (Rev. i. ii) is explained by their position on the road just described . Placed in this situation, in the centre of a very fertile district, Laodicea became a rich city . It was famous for its money transactions (Cie . Ad Fam. ii . 17, iii . 5), and for the beautiful soft wool grown by the sheep of the country (Strabo 578) . Both points are referred to in the message to the church (Rev. iii . 17, 18) . Little is known of the history of the town . It suffered greatly from a siege in the Mithradatic war, but soon recovered its prosperity under the Roman empire . The Zeus of Laodicea, with the curious epithet Azeus or Azeis, is a frequent symbol on the city coins .

He is represented

standing, holding in the extended right hand an eagle, in the left a spear, the hasta pura . Not far from the city was the temple of Men Karou, withA a great medical school; while Laodicea itself produced some famous Sceptic philosophers, and gave origin to the royal family of Polemon and Zenon, whose curious history has been illustrated in recent times (W . H . Waddington, Melanges de Numism. ser. ii.; Th . Mommsen, Ephem . Epigraph. i. and ii.; M . G . Rayet, Milet et le Golfe Latmique, chap. v.) . The city fell finally into decay in the frontier wars with the Turkish invaders . Its ruins are of wide extent, but not of great beauty or interest; there is no doubt, however, that much has been buried beneath the surface by the frequent earthquakes to which the district is exposed (Strabo 58o; Tac . Ann. xiv . 27) .

See W . M .

Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i.-ii . (1895) ; Letters to the Seven Churches (1904); and the beautiful drawings of Cockerell in the Antiquities of Ionia, vol. iii. pl.47-51 . (A . H .