1. The following are among the most important books of travel relating to this district; Pococke Description of the East and Some Other Countries, Vol. II, Part II, London 1745; Chandler Travels in Asia Minor etc., Oxford 1775; Leake Tour in Asia Minor, London 1824; Arundell Discoveries in Asia Minor, London 1834; Hamilton Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia, London 1842; Fellows Asia Minor, London 1839, Discoveries in Lycia, London 1840; de Tchihatcheff Asie Mineure, Description Physique, Statistique et Archéologique, Paris 1853 etc., with the accompanying Atlas (1860); de Laborde Voyage de l’Asie Mineure (the expedition itself took place in 1826, but the date on the title-page is 1838, and the introduction was written in 1861); Le Bas Voyage Archéologique en Grèce et en Asie Mineure, continued by Waddington and not yet completed; Texier Description de l’Asie Mineure, Vol. I (1839). It is hardly necessary to add the smaller works of Texier and Le Bas on Asie Mineure (Paris 1862, 1863) in Didot’s series L’Univers, as these have only a secondary value. Of the books enumerated, Hamilton’s work is the most important for the topography, etc.; Tchihatcheff’s for the physical features; and Le Bas and Waddington’s for the inscriptions, etc. The best maps are those of Hamilton and Tchihatcheff; to which should be added the Karte von Klein-Asien by v. Vincke and others, published by Schropp, Berlin 1844.
Besides books on Asia Minor generally, some works relating especially to the Seven Churches may be mentioned. Smith’s Survey of the Seven Churches of Asia (1678) is a work of great merit for the time, and contains the earliest description of the sites of these Phrygian cities. It was published in Latin first, and translated by its author afterwards. Arundell’s Seven Churches (1828) is a well-known book. Allom and Walsh’s Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor illustrated (1850) gives some views of this district. Svoboda’s Seven Churches of Asia (1869) contains 20 photographs and an introduction by the Rev. H. B. Tristram. This is a selection from a larger series of Svoboda’s photographs, published separately.
2. The maps differ very considerably in this respect, nor do the statements of travellers always agree. The direction of the river, as given in the text, accords with the maps of Hamilton and Tchihatcheff, and with the accounts of the most accurate writers.
3. Anton. Itin. p. 337 (Wesseling) gives the distance as 6 miles. See also Fellows Asia Minor p. 283, Hamilton I. p. 514. The relative position of the two cities appears in Laborde’s view, pl. xxxix.
4. I do not find any distinct notice of the distance; but, to judge from the maps and itineraries of modern travellers, this estimate will probably be found not very far wrong.
5. See especially Strabo xii. 8. 16 (p. 578) τὸ πολύτρητον τῆς χώρας καὶ τὸ εὔσειστον · εἰ γάρ τις ἄλλη, καὶ ἡ Λαοδίκεια εὔσειστος, καὶ τῆς πλησιοχώρου δὲ Κάρουρα.
6. Thus Pococke (p. 71) in 1745 writes of Denizli, which is close to Laodicea, ‘The old town was destroyed about 25 years past by an earthquake, in which 12,000 people perished.’
8. Tchihatcheff P. I. Geogr. Phys. Comp. p. 344 sq., esp. p. 353. See the references below, pp. 9 sq., 15.
9. Fellows Asia Minor p. 283.
11. Boeckh Corp. Inscr. no. 3924 (at Hierapolis) τοῦτο τὸ ἡρῷον στεφανοῖ ἡ ἐργασία τῶν βαφεών . See Laborde’s view, pl. xxxv. In another inscription too (Le Bas and Waddington, no. 1687) there is mention of the purple-dyers, πορφυραβαφεῖς.
12. Strabo xiii. 4. 14 (p. 630) ἔστι δὲ καὶ πρὸς βαφὴν ἐρίων θαυμαστῶς σύμμετρον τὸ κατὰ τὴν Ἱερὰν πόλιν ὕδωρ, ὤστε τὰ ἐκ τῶν ῥιζῶν βαπτόμενα ἐνάμιλλα εἴναι τοῖς ἐκ τῆς κόκκου καὶ τοῖς ἁλουργέσιν.
13. Strabo xii. 8. 16 (p. 578) φέρει δ’ ὁ περὶ τὴν Λαοδίκειαν τόπος προβάτων ἀρετὰς οὐκ εἰς μαλακότητα μόνον τῶν ἐρίων, ᾖ καὶ τῶν Μιλησίων διαφέρει, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὴν κοραξὴν χρόαν, ὥστε καὶ προσοδεύονται λαμπρῶς ἀπ’ αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ Κολοσσηνοὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁμωνύμου χρώματος, πλησίον οἰκοῦντες. For this strange adjective κοραξός (which seems to be derived from κόραξ and to mean ‘raven-black’) see the passages in Hase and Dindorf’s Steph. Thes. In Latin we find the form coracinus, Vitruv. viii. 3 § 14 ‘Aliis coracino colore,’ Laodicea being mentioned in the context. Vitruvius represents this as the natural colour of the fleeces, and attributes it to the water drunk by the sheep. See also Plin. N. H. viii. 48 § 73. So too Hieron. adv. Jovin. ii. 21 (II. p. 358) ‘Laodiceæ indumentis ornatus incedis.’ The ancient accounts of the natural colour of the fleeces in this neighbourhood are partially confirmed by modern travellers; e.g. Pococke p. 74, Chandler p. 228.
14. Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 3938 [ἡ ἐργασία] τῶν γναφέ[ων καὶ βαφέων τῶν] (αλουργ[ῶ]ν.
15. See the passage of Strabo quoted p. 4, note 13. The place gives its name to the colour, and not conversely, as stated in Blakesley’s Herod. vii. 113. See also Plin. N. H. xxi. 9 § 27, ‘In vepribus nascitur cyclaminum ... flos ejus colossinus in coronas admittitur,’ a passage which assists in determining the colour.
16. ἐπὶ Λύκῳ, Boeckh Corp. Inscr. no. 3938, Ptol. Geogr. v. 2, Tab. Peut. ‘laudicium pilycum’; πρὸς [τῷ] Λύκῳ, Eckhel Num. Vet. III. p. 166, Strabo l.c., Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 5881, 5893; πρὸς Λύκον, Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 6478. A citizen was styled Λαοδικεὺς ἀπὸ Λύκου, Diog. Laert. ix. 12 § 116.
17. Plin. N. H. v. 29.
18. Steph. Byz. s.v., who quotes the oracle in obedience to which (ὡς ἐκέλευσε Ζεὺς ὑψιβρεμέτης) it was founded.
19. For descriptions of Laodicea see Smith p. 250 sq., Pococke p. 71 sq., Chandler p. 224 sq., Arundell Seven Churches p. 84 sq., Asia Minor II. p. 180 sq., Fellows Asia Minor 280 sq., Hamilton I. p. 514 sq., Tchihatcheff P. I. p. 252 sq., 258 sq. See also the views in Laborde, pl. xxxix, Allom and Walsh II. p. 86, and Svoboda phot. 36–38.
The modern Turkish name is Eskihissar, ‘the Old Castle,’ corresponding to the modern Greek, Paleókastro, a common name for the sites of ancient cities; Leake p. 251. On the ancient site itself there is no town or village; the modern city Denizli is a few miles off.
20. The position of Laodicea with respect to the neighbouring streams is accurately described by Pliny N.H. v. 29 ‘Imposita est Lyco flumini, latera affluentibus Asopo et Capro’; see Tchihatcheff P. I. p. 258. Strabo xii. (l.c.) is more careless in his description (for it can hardly be, as Tchihatcheff assumes, that he has mistaken one of these two tributaries for the Lycus itself), ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ὁ Κάπρος καὶ ὁ Λύκος συμβάλλε τῷ Μαιάνδρῳ ποταμῷ ποταμὸς εὐμεγέθης, where ἐνταῦθα refers to ὁ περὶ τὴν Λαοδίκειαν τόπος, and where by the junction of the stream with the Mæander must be intended the junction of the combined stream of the Lycus and Caprus. On the coins of Laodicea (Eckhel III. p. 166, Mionnet IV. p. 330, ib. Suppl. VII. p. 587, 589) the Lycus and Caprus appear together, being sometimes represented as a wolf and a wild-boar. The Asopus is omitted, either as being a less important stream or as being less capable of symbolical representation. Of modern travellers, Smith (p. 250), and after him Pococke (p. 72), have correctly described the position of the streams. Chandler (p. 227), misled by Strabo, mistakes the Caprus for the Lycus and the Lycus for the Mæander. The modern name of the Lycus is Tchoruk Sú.
21. The modern name of Cadmus is Baba-Dagh, ‘The father of mountains.’
22. Strabo xii. l.c. ἡ δὲ Λαοδίκεια μικρὰ πρότερον ὀῦσα ἀύξησιν ἔλαβεν ἐφ’ ἡμῶν καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων πατέρων, καίτοι κακωθεῖσα ἐκ πολιορκίας ἐπὶ Μιθριδάτου τοῦ Ἐυπάτορος. Strabo flourished in the time of Augustus and the earlier years of Tiberius. The growing importance of Laodicea dates from before the age of Cicero: see p. 7.
23. Strabo l.c.; Diog. Laert. ix. 11 § 106, 12 § 116; Philostr. Vit. Soph. i. 25; Eckhel Doctr. Num. Vet. III. p. 162, 163 sq.
25. Strabo l.c.
26. The ruins of Laodicea have formed the quarry out of which the modern town of Denizli is built. Yet notwithstanding these depredations they are still very extensive, comprising an amphitheatre, two or three theatres, an aqueduct, etc. The amphitheatre was built by the munificence of a citizen of Laodicea only a few years after St Paul wrote, as the inscription testifies; Boeckh Corp. Inscr. no. 3935. See especially Hamilton I. p. 515 sq., who describes these ruins as ‘bearing the stamp of Roman extravagance and luxury, rather than of the stern and massive solidity of the Greeks.’
27. See Becker and Marquardt Röm. Alterth. III. 1. p. 136 sq.
28. See Cic. ad Att. v. 21,‘Idibus Februariis ... forum institueram agere Laodiceæ Cibyraticum,’with the references in the next note: comp. also Plin. N.H. v. 29 ‘Una (jurisdictio) appellatur Cibyratica. Ipsum (i.e. Cibyra) oppidum Phrygiæ est. Conveniunt eo xxv civitates, celeberrima urbe Laodicea.’
Besides these passages, testimony is borne to the importance of the Cibyratic ‘conventus’ by Strabo, xiii. 4 § 17 (p. 631), ἐν ταῖς μεγίσταις ἐξετάζεται διοικήσεσι τῆς Ἀσίας ἡ Κιβυρατική. It will be remembered also that Horace singles out the Cibyratica negotia (Epist. i. 6. 33) to represent Oriental trade generally. The importance of Laodicea may be inferred from the fact that, though the union was named after Cibyra, its head-quarters were from the first fixed at or soon afterwards transferred to Laodicea.
29. See ad Fam. ii. 17, iii. 5, 7, 8, ix. 25, xiii. 54, 67, xv. 4; ad Att. v. 16, 17, 20, 21, vi. 1, 2, 3, 7. He visited Laodicea on several occasions, sometimes making a long stay there, and not a few of his letters are written thence. See especially his account of his work there, ad Att. vi. 2, ‘Hoc foro quod egi ex Idibus Februariis Laodiceæ ad Kalendas Maias omnium dioecesium, præter Ciliciæ, mirabilia quædam efficimus; ita multæ civitates, etc.’ Altogether Laodicea seems to have been second in importance to none of the cities in his province, except perhaps Tarsus. See also the notice, in Verr. Act. ii. I. c. 30.
30. The description which Dion Chrysostom gives in his eulogy of Celænæ (Apamea Cibotus), the metropolis of a neighbouring ‘dioecesis,’ enables us to realise the concourse which gathered together on these occasions: Orat. XXXV (II. p. 69) ξυνάγεται πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων δικαζομένων, δικαζόντων, ἡγεμόνων, ὑπηρετῶν, οἰκετῶν, κ.τ.λ.
31. On this word see Becker and Marquardt l.c. p. 138 sq. It had lost its original sense, as the mother city of a colony. Laodicea is styled ‘metropolis’ on the coins, Mionnet IV. p. 321.
32. Col. iv. 16 with the notes. See also below p. 37, and the introduction to the Epistle to the Ephesians.
33. Rev. iii. 14.
34. See Eckhel III. p. 159 sq. (passim), Mionnet IV. p. 315 sq., ib. Suppl. VII. p. 578 sq. (passim). In the coins commemorating an alliance with some other city Laodicea is represented by Zeus; e.g. Mionnet IV. pp. 320, 324, 331 sq., Suppl. VII. pp. 586, 589.
35. αϲειϲ or αϲειϲ λαοδικεων. See Waddington Voyage en Asie Mineure au point de vue Numismatique (Paris 1853) pp. 25, 26 sq. Mr Waddington adopts a suggestion communicated to him by M. de Longpérier that this word represents the Aramaic עזיזא ‘the strong, mighty,’ which appears also in the Arabic ‘Aziz.’ This view gains some confirmation from the fact, not mentioned by Mr Waddington, that Ἄζιζος was an epithet of the Ares of Edessa: Julian Orat. iv; comp. Cureton Spic. Syr. p. 80, and see de Lagarde Gesamm. Abhandl. p. 16. On the other hand this Shemitic word elsewhere, when adopted into Greek or Latin, is written Ἄζιζος or Azizus: see Garrucci in the Archæologia XLIII. p. 45 ‘Tyrio Septimio Azizo,’ and Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 9893 Ἄζιζος Ἀγρίπα Σύρος. M. de Longpérier offers the alternative that ασειϲ, i.e. Ἀσίς, is equivalent to Ἀσιατικός. An objection to this view, stronger than those urged by Mr Waddington, is the fact that Ἀσίς seems only to be used as a feminine adjective. M. Renan points to the fact that this ζευς ασεις is represented with his hand on the horns of a goat, and on the strength of this coincidence would identify him with ‘the Azazel of the Semites’ (Saint Paul, p. 359), though tradition and orthography alike point to some other derivation of Azazel (עזאזל).
36. For descriptions of Hierapolis, see Smith p. 245 sq., Pococke p. 75 sq., Chandler 229 sq., Arundell Seven Churches p. 79 sq., Hamilton p. 517 sq., Fellows Asia Minor p. 283 sq. For the travertine deposits see especially the description and plates in Tchihatcheff P. I. p. 345, together with the views in Laborde (pl. xxxii-xxxviii), and Svoboda (photogr. 41–47). Tchihatcheff repeatedly calls the place Hieropolis; but this form, though commonly used of other towns (see Steph. Byz. s.v. Ἱεραπόλις, Leake Num. Hell. p. 67), appears not to occur as a designation of the Phrygian city, which seems always to be written Hierapolis. The citizens however are sometimes called Ἱεροπολῖται on the coins.
The modern name is given differently by travellers. It is generally called Pambouk-Kalessi, i.e. ‘cotton-castle,’ supposed to allude to the appearance of the petrifactions, though cotton is grown in the neighbourhood (Hamilton I. p. 517). So Smith, Pococke, Chandler, Arundell, Tchihatcheff, Waddington, and others. M. Renan says ‘Tambouk, et non Pambouk, Kalessi’ (S. Paul p. 357). Laborde gives the word Tambouk in some places and Pambouk in others; and Leake says ‘Hierapolis, now called Tabúk-Kale or Pambuk-Kale’ (p. 252).
37. Strabo xiii. 4. 14 (p. 629) says ὑπερβαλοῦσι δὲ τὴν Μεσωγίδα ... πόλεις εἰσὶ πρὸς μὲν τῇ Μεσωγὶδι καταντικρὺ Λαοδικείας Ἱερὰ πόλις, κ.τ.λ. He cannot mean that Hierapolis was situated immediately in or by the Mesogis (for the name does not seem ever to be applied to the mountains between the Lycus and Mæander), but that with respect to Laodicea it stood over against the Mesogis, as I have explained it in the text. The view in Laborde (pl. xxxix) shows the appearance of Hierapolis from Laodicea. Strabo had himself visited the place and must have known how it was situated. Some modern travellers however (e.g. Chandler and Arundell) speak of the plateau of Hierapolis as part of the Mesogis. Steiger (Kolosser p. 33) gets over the difficulty by translating Strabo’s words, ‘near the Mesogis but on the opposite side (i.e. of the Mæander) is the Laodicean Hierapolis’ (to distinguish it from others of the name); but καταντικρὺ cannot be separated from Λαοδικείας without violence.
39. Strabo l.c. οὕτω δ’ ἐστὶν ἄφθονον τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ ὕδατος ὥστε ἡ πόλις μεστὴ τῶν αὐτομάτων βαλανείων ἐστί.
40. Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 3909, Ἀσίδος εὐρείης προφερέστατον οὖδας ἁπάντων, χαίροις, χρυσόπολι Ἱεράπολι, πότνια Νυμφῶν, νάμασιν, ἀγλαΐῃσι, κεκασμένη.
41. Mionnet IV. p. 297, 306, 307, ib. Suppl. VII. p. 567; Waddington Voyage etc. p. 24.
42. Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 3905, 3906; Mionnet iv. pp. 297, 301, 307, ib. Suppl. vii. p. 568, 569, 570. In coins struck to commemorate alliances with other cities, Hierapolis is represented by Apollo Archegetes: Mionnet IV. p. 303, ib. Suppl. VII. 572, 573, 574; Waddington Voyage etc. p. 25; and see Eckhel III. p. 156. On the meaning of Archegetes, under which name Apollo was worshipped by other cities also, who regarded him as their founder, see Spanheim on Callim. Hymn. Apoll. 57.
43. Strabo l.c. He himself had seen the phenomenon and was doubtful how to account for the immunity of these priests, εἴτε θείᾳ προνοίᾳ ... εἴτε ἀντιδότοις τισὶ δυνάμεσι τούτου συμβαίνοντος. See also Plin. N. H. ii. 93 § 95 ‘locum ... matris tantum magnæ sacerdoti innoxium.’ Dion Cass. (Xiphil.) lxviii. 27, who also witnessed the phenomenon, adds οὐ μὴν καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν αὐτοῦ συννοῆσαι ἔχω, λέγω δὲ ἅ τε εἶδον ὡς εἶδον καὶ ἃ ἤκουσα ὡς ἤκουσα. Ammian. Marc. xxiii. 6. 18 also mentions this marvel, but speaks cautiously, ‘ut asserunt quidam,’ and adds ‘quod qua causa eveniat, rationibus physicis permittatur.’ Comp. Anthol. VII. p. 190 Εἴ τις ἀπάγξασθαι μὲν ὀκνεῖ θανάτου δ’ ἐπιθυμεῖ, ἐξ Ἱερᾶς πόλεως ψυχρὸν ὕδωρ πιέτω; Stobæus Ecl. i. 34, p. 680. Laborde states (p. 83) that he discovered by experiment that the waters are sometimes fatal to animal life and sometimes perfectly harmless; and if this be substantiated, we have a solution of the marvel. Other modern travellers, who have visited the Plutonium, are Cockerell (Leake p. 342), and Svoboda. In Svoboda’s work a chemical analysis of the waters is given.
44. On a coin of Hierapolis, Pluto-Serapis appears seated, while before him stands Isis with a sistrum in her hand; Waddington Voyage etc. p. 24. See also Mionnet IV. pp. 296, 305; Leake Num. Hell. p. 66.
The worship of Serapis appears elsewhere in this neighbourhood. At Chonæ (Colossæ) is an inscription recording a vow to this deity; Le Bas Asie Mineure inscr. 1693 b.
45. Steph. Byz. s.v. ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱερὰ πολλὰ ἔχειν.
46. See Philippians, pp. 312, 313.
47. See however a mutilated inscription (Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 3956) with the letters ...ηνων, found near Chonæ.
48. Herod. vii. 30 ἀπίκετο ἐς Κολοσσάς, πόλιν μεγάλην Φρυγίης, ἐν τῇ Λύκος ποταμὸς ἐς χάσμα γῆς ἐσβάλλων ἀφανίζεται, ἔπειτα διὰ σταδίων ὡς πέντε μάλιστά κῃ ἀναφαινόμενος ἐκδιδοῖ καὶ οὖτος ἐς τὸν Μαίανδρον.
49. This is the explanation of Hamilton (I. p. 509 sq.), who (with the doubtful exception of Laborde) has the merit of having first identified and described the site of Colossæ. It stands on the Tchoruk Sú (Lycus) at the point where it is joined by two other streams, the Bounar Bashi Sú and the Ak-Sú. In confirmation of his opinion, Hamilton found a tradition in the neighbourhood that the river had once been covered over at this spot (p. 522). He followed the course of the Lycus for some distance without finding any subterranean channel (p. 521 sq.).
It is difficult to say whether the following account in Strabo xii. 8 § 16 (p. 578) refers to the Lycus or not; ὄρος Κάδμος ἐξ οὓ καὶ ὁ Λύκος ῥεῖ καὶ ἄλλος ὁμώνυμος τῷ ὄρει· τὸ πλέον δ’ οὗτος ὑπὸ γῆς ῥυὲις εἶτ’ ἀνακύψας συνέπεσεν εἰς ταὐτὸ τοῖς ἄλλοις ποταμοῖς, ἐμφαίνων ἅμα καὶ τὸ πολύτρητον τῆς χώρας καὶ τὸ εὔσειστον. If the Lycus is meant, may not συνέπεσεν imply that this remarkable feature had changed before Strabo wrote?
Laborde (p. 103), who visited the place before Hamilton, though his account was apparently not published till later, fixes on the same site for Colossæ, but thinks that he has discovered the subterranean course of the Lycus, to which Herodotus refers, much higher up a stream, close to its source (‘à dix pas de cette source’), which he describes as ‘à deux lieues au nord de Colossæ.’ Yet in the same paragraph he says ‘Or il [Hérodote, exact cicerone] savait que le Lycus disparaît près de Colossæ, ville considérable de la Phrygie’ (the italics are his own). He apparently does not see the vast difference between his près de Colossæ thus widely interpreted and the precise ἐν τῇ of Herodotus himself. Obviously no great reliance can be placed on the accuracy of a writer, who treats his authorities thus. The subterranean stream which Laborde saw, and of which he gives a view (pl. xl), may possibly be the phenomenon to which Herodotus alludes; but if so, Herodotus has expressed himself very carelessly. On the whole Hamilton’s solution seems much more probable.
Arundell’s account (Seven Churches p. 98 sq., Asia Minor p. 160 sq.) is very confused, and it is not clear whether he has fixed on the right site for Colossæ; but it bears testimony to the existence of two subterranean courses of rivers, though neither of them is close enough to the city to satisfy Herodotus’ description.
50. Plin. N.H. xxxi. 2 § 20. This is the Ak-Sú, which has strongly petrifying qualities.
52. Xen. Anab. i. 2. 6 ἐξελαύνει διὰ Φρυγίας ... εἰς Κολοσσάς, πόλιν οἰκουμένην, εὐδαίμονα καὶ μεγάλην.
53. πόλισμα, Strabo xii. 8. 13 (p. 576). Plin. N. H. v. 32 § 41 writes ‘Phrygia ... oppida ibi celeberrima præter jam dicta, Ancyra, Andria, Celænæ, Colossæ,’ etc. The commentators, referring to this passage, overlook the words ’præter jam dicta,’ and represent Pliny as calling Colossæ ‘oppidum celeberrimum.’ Not unnaturally they find it difficult to reconcile this expression with Strabo’s statement. But in fact Pliny has already exhausted all the considerable towns, Hierapolis, Laodicea, Apamea, etc., and even much less important places than these (see v. 28, 29 § 29), so that only decayed and third-rate towns remain. The Ancyra here mentioned is not the capital of Galatia, but a much smaller Phrygian town.
54. Laborde p. 102 ‘De cette grande célébrité de Colossæ il ne reste presque rien: ce sont des substructions sans suite, des fragments sans grandeur; les restes d’un théâtre de médiocre dimension, une acropole sans hardiesse,’ etc.
55. Geogr. v. 2.
56. All Greek writers till some centuries after the Christian era write it Κολοσσαί: so Herod. vii. 30, Xen. Anab. i. 2. 6, Strabo xii. 8. 13, Diod. xiv. 80, Polyæn. Strat. vii. 16. 1; though in one or more MSS of some of these authors it is written Κολασσαί, showing the tendency of later scribes. Colossæ is also the universal form in Latin writers. The coins moreover, even as late as the reign of Gordian (A.D. 238–244) when they ceased to be struck, universally have κολοϲϲηνοι (or κολοϲηνοι); Mionnet IV. p. 267 sq.: see Babington Numismatic Chronicle New series III. p. 1 sq., 6. In Hierocles (Synecd. p. 666, Wessel.) and in the Apostolic Constitutions (vii. 46) Κολασσαί seems to be the original reading of the text, and in later Byzantine writers this form is common. If Prof. Babington (p. 3) were right in supposing that it is connected with κολοσσός, the question of the correct spelling might be regarded as settled; but in a Phrygian city over which so many Eastern nations swept in succession, who shall say to what language the name belonged, or what are its affinities?
Thus, judging from classical usage, we should say that Κολοσσαί was the old form and that Κολασσαί did not supplant it till some time after St Paul’s age. This view is confirmed by a review of the authorities for the different readings in the New Testament.
In the opening of the epistle (i. 1) the authorities for ἐν Κολοσσαῖς are overwhelming. It is read by אBDFGL (A is obliterated here and C is wanting); and in the Old Latin, Vulgate, and Armenian Versions. On the other hand ἐν Κολασσαῖς is read by KP. 17. 37. 47, and among the versions by the Memphitic and the Philoxenian Syriac (ܩܘܠܐܣܘܤkolasos, though the marg. gives κολϲϲαιϲ). In the Peshito also the present reading represents Κολασσαῖς, but as the vowel was not expressed originally and depends on the later pointing, its authority can hardly be quoted. The Thebaic is wanting here.
In the heading of the epistle however there is considerably more authority for the form in α. Κολασσαεις is the reading of AB* KP. 37 (Κολασαεις). 47. C is wanting here, but has Κολασσαεις in the subscription. On the other hand Κολοσσαεις (or Κολοσσαις) appears in אB1 (according to Tregelles, but B3 Tisch.; see his introd. p. xxxxviii) DFG (but G has left Κολασσαεις in the heading of one page, and Κολαοσαεις in another) L. 17 (Κολοσαεις), in the Latin Version, and in the margin of the Philoxenian Syriac. The readings of both Peshito and Philoxenian (text) here depend on the vocalisation; and those of other versions are not recorded. In the subscription the preponderance of authority is even more favourable to Κολασσαεις.
Taking into account the obvious tendency which there would be in scribes to make the title πρὸς Κολοσσαεῖς or πρὸς Κολασσαεῖς conform to the opening ἐν Κολοσσαῖς or ἐν Κολασσαῖς, as shown in G, we seem to arrive at the conclusion that, while ἐν Κολοσσαῖς was indisputably the original reading in the opening, πρὸς Κολασσαεῖς was probably the earlier reading in the title. If so, the title must have been added at a somewhat later date; which is not improbable.
Connected with this question is the variation in the adjectival form, -ηνός or -αεύς. Parallels to this double termination occur in other words; e.g. Δοκιμηνός, Δοκιμεύς; Λαοδικηνός, Λαοδικεύς; Νικαηνός, Νικαεύς; Σαγαλασσηνός, Σαγαλασσεύς, etc. The coins, while they universally exhibit the form in ο, are equally persistent in the termination -ηνός, κολοϲϲηνων; and it is curious that to the form Κολοσσηνοί in Strabo xii. 8 § 16 (p. 578) there is a various reading Κολασσαεῖς. Thus, though there is no necessary connexion between the two, the termination -ηνός seems to go with the ο form, and the termination -αεύς with the α form.
For the above reasons I have written confidently ἐν Κολοσσαῖς in the text, and with more hesitation πρὸς Κολασσαεῖς in the superscription.
57. Strabo, xiii. 4. 12 (p. 628) τὰ δ’ ἑξῆς ἐπὶ τὰ νότια μέρη τοῖς τόποις τούτοις ἐμπλοκὰς ἔχει μέχρι πρὸς τὸν Ταῦρον, ὥστε καὶ τὰ Φρύγια καὶ τὰ Καρικὰ καὶ τὰ Λύδια καὶ ἔτι τὰ τῶν Μυσῶν δυσδιάκριτα εἶναι παραπίπτοντα εἰς ἄλληλα· εἰς δὲ τὴν σύγχυσιν ταύτην οὐ μικρὰ συλλαμβάνει τὸ τοὺς Ῥωμαίους μὴ κατὰ φῦλα διελεῖν αὐτούς κ.τ.λ.
58. To Phrygia, Strabo xii. 8. 13 (p. 576), Polyb. v. 57, and so generally; to Caria, Orac. Sibyll. iii. 472 Καρῶν ἀγλαὸν ἄστυ, Ptol. v. 2, Philostr. Vit. Soph. i. 25 (though in the context Philostratus adds that at one time τῇ Φρυγίᾳ ξυνετάττετο); to Lydia, Steph. Byz. s.v. On the coins the city is sometimes represented as seated between two female figures φρυγια and καρια; Eckhel III. p. 160, comp. Mionnet IV. p. 329. From its situation on the confines of the three countries Laodicea seems to have obtained the surname Trimitaria or Trimetaria, by which it is sometimes designated in later times: see below, p. 65, note 205, and comp. Wesseling, Itin. p. 665.
59. Steph. Byz. s.v. says μεταξὺ Φρυγίας καὶ Λυδίας πόλις. But generally Hierapolis is assigned to Phrygia: e.g. Ptol. v. 2, Vitruv. viii. 3 § 10.
60. Colossæ is assigned to Phrygia in Herod. vii. 30, Xen. Anab. i. 2. 6, Strabo xii. 8. 13, Diod. xiv. 80, Plin. N. H. v. 32 § 41, Polyæn. Strat. vii. 16. 1.
61. After the year B.C. 49 they seem to have been permanently attached to ‘Asia’: before that time they are bandied about between Asia and Cilicia. These alternations are traced by Bergmann de Asia provincia (Berlin, 1846) and in Philologus II. 4 (1847) p. 641 sq. See Becker and Marquardt Röm. Alterth. III. I. p. 130 sq. Laodicea is assigned to ‘Asia’ in Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 6512, 6541, 6626.
The name ‘Asia’ will be used throughout this chapter in its political sense, as applying to the Roman province.
62. Cic. ad Fam. xiii. 67 ‘ex provincia mea Ciliciensi, cui scis τρεῖς διοικήσεις Asiaticas [i.e. Cibyraticam, Apamensem, Synnadensem] attributas fuisse’; ad Att. v. 21 ‘mea expectatio Asiæ nostrarum diœcesium’ and ‘in hac mea Asia.’ See also above p. 7, notes 2, 3.
63. 3 Hierocles Synecd. p. 664 sq. (Wessel.): see below p. 69.