CLASSICAL ARCHEOLOGY 221 



bound by his duties at Cornell University that he could not be ex- 

 pected to retain the conduct of such an expedition for two or three 

 years, but he might be willing to take the leadership for a year, 

 until his associates were thoroughly trained to the work. This work 

 of exploration at present seems to me on the whole more important 

 than the excavation of any known site in Asia Minor, although I 

 shall go on to mention two attractive sites for excavation. 



Excavations in Asia Minor have been chiefly of Hellenistic rather 

 than Hellenic sites, and little of an early time has been brought to 

 light. The American work at Assos, next to the great work at 

 Troy, is the chief exception. On the other great sites of excava- 

 tion little has been found of the best Greek period, to say nothing 

 of the oldest Greek period of colonization. Apparently the earliest 

 sites of some of these towns have not as yet been found, while Per- 

 gamon and Priene, of course, had all their glory in the later period. 

 These explorations, then, have been disappointing in their results 

 as regards the art and history of Greece at the time of its greatness, 

 but they have rendered an important service in throwing unexpected 

 light on the relations between late Greek and early Roman culture. 

 Much that had been supposed to be of Roman development is now 

 found to be of Greek origin in art, and particularly in architecture. 



Of unexcavated sites in western Asia Minor, two seem easily pre- 

 eminent — Hierapolis and Laodicea. These lie near together, about 

 ICO miles from Smyrna, but on the Ottoman railway, so as to be 

 easy of access. Both are superbly situated. Each is virtually de- 

 serted, Laodicea having no inhabitants, but bearing a modest crop 

 of grain, and Hierapolis being haunted rather than occupied by a 

 small band of gipsies. Each has remains of two theaters, baths, 

 aqueducts, early Christian churches, and the like. It will be re- 

 membered that St. Paul in his letter (IV, 3) to the Church of 

 Colossae, which is only 9 miles from Eaodicea, refers to the work of 

 Epaphras also at Hierapolis and Laodicea, which proves that these 

 were early homes of Christian churches. Hierapolis was founded 

 about 200 B. C, on a high bluff which commands the plain between 

 the Lycus and the Maeander and the great road from Sardis to the 

 Bast — the road along which Xerxes led his forces in 481 B. C. and 

 by which the younger Cyrus ' ' went up ' ' against his brother, ac- 

 cording to the narrative of Xenophon, at the close of the same cen- 

 tury. It was the birthplace of the philosopher Epictetus. The 

 Apostle Philip and his daughter died there. Papias was bishop 

 there in the second century of our era. It was the rival of Laodicea, 



