Laodicea

History: Laodicea

Laodicea on the Lycus was a wealthy Roman city on the trade routes of Phrygia, near modern Denizli, about 17 kilometres west of Colossae and 10 kilometres south of Hierapolis. An earthquake destroyed it in AD 60, in Nero's reign, and its citizens rebuilt it with their own means, declining imperial help.

With a large Jewish community, it became an early centre of Christianity. The letter to the Colossians sends greetings from Epaphras, who worked for the believers of Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis, and asks that it be read at Laodicea and that a letter from Laodicea be read at Colossae (Colossians 4:13–16). The Book of Revelation addresses the church of Laodicea as the last of its seven churches. Pamukkale University has excavated and restored the site since 2002, and it was placed on Türkiye's tentative list for World Heritage in 2013.

An interesting detail

Laodicea's water came through an unusual Roman inverted siphon, a pressurised double pipeline carried down into a valley and back up to the city.