Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
History and Religion
Into Turkey– Part Eighteen

Into Turkey– Part Eighteen

Last updated on: December 4, 2022 at 1:25 am by Ben Witherington

Into Turkey– Part Eighteen 2022-09-09T13:54:27-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Meanwhile back on the ground, let’s see the ancient city of Hierapolis, which according to tradition a Philip settled here, most likely the one who had the prophesying daughters in Acts, not the apostle, bearing in mind how all those persons got blended together in the second and later centuries.

As you can see from the map this is a long linear site and at the far left end of the map is the necropolis, or the city of the dead, and on the right the city of the living including the temples, stadiums theaters, and even a church of St. Philip up on the hills. We will concentrate on the remarkable necropolis, which is one of the most elaborate and interesting ones in Turkey. There is considerable irony in this place, because even in antiquity people came here to get well by soaking themselves in the hot springs and being ministered to by the priests, and maybe even by getting a hopeful oracle at the Plutonium, the religious cave of fumes that caused the priests to prophesy. And the unwell died here by the droves. There is in addition today a small museum with numerous interesting statues and grave markers. We will start at the back end of the site on the far right and then stop at the museum.

First we notice at the edge of town, local stone needed to be carved out for all these tombs and sarcophagi, and you can see where this happened…

Here is a very significant tombstone at the museum… which mentions a Papias from Laodicea, who is called a ‘shepherd’ and bids passersby greetings, and clear the stone announces someone of importance. It is my view this could be the famous Papias who tells us towards the end of the first century about the composition of the Gospels, as recorded in Eusebius’ church history. Ordinary shepherds do not get tombstones like this very often, and clearly Papias was an early church leader who even tells us he met with John the elder and whatever eyewitnesses he could encounter. He may well have ended up in Laodicea and Hierapolis as a church leader, in fact a bishop of Hierapolis. He lived between about 60 and 120 A.D. and is an important bridge figure between the apostolic and post-apostolic eras. See Richard Bauckham’s excellent book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses and you might also enjoy my novel Papias and the Mysterious Menorah.

Here is the tombstone of a gladiator…not as big or noticeable as that of Papias’…

Here’s tombstone that depicts a funerary banquet, on the tomb of the deceased. This was a normal practice…

This is a tombstone of a wife, depicted as usual with her husband who likely erected the stone in her memory.

This last honorific column is important, as it shows the sacrificial animal used for the biggest celebratory occasions— namely the bull. This helps us understand the story in Acts 14.8-20 where when the town thought that Paul and Barnabas were Hermes and Zeus they were prepared to sacrifice the biggest beast they had.

As we enter into the site proper, almost immediately we are in sight of the large theater… I love this winter shot of it, followed by some summer shots of it.

This is just across the road from the theater, where we find other public buildings and at the very top of that hill the church of Philip. But just below the theater we see numerous columns and a newly reconstructed and opened plutonium….

Yes that’s the old boy himself, the god of the underworld….there was a pool next to the entrance into the cave where one inhaled the fumes…

Here’s the new stairway into the entrance to the underworld…..

It’s pretty long walk from here to the nekropolis, or the city of the dead, so we need to head in that direction…

History and Religion

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 3, 2022

Into Turkey-- Part Seventeen

Next Post

December 5, 2022 Into Turkey--- Part Nineteen

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz