The Ruined Cities of Asia Minor 



749 



the same condition and place of repose 

 as they occupied nearly 2,000 years ago. 

 There were two main entrances to the 

 city, and the chief street extended 

 through the center from gate to gate. 

 This street was once embellished with 

 some of the finest public buildings, and 

 after the introduction of Christianity it 

 was graced by two large churches. The 

 early Christians were not, however, per- 

 mitted to erect their first church within 

 the city limits, but were compelled to 

 build it outside the walls. This church 

 was built upon the spot where the Apos- 

 tle Philip was martyred, and the ruins 

 today are in a very good state of preser- 

 vation. 



The ruined city of Hierapolis may be 

 reached from Laodicea after about five 

 hours' horseback ride. In ancient times 

 a splendid roadway connected the two 

 cities, the only traces, however, now ex- 

 tant being the buttresses of a bridge 

 which once spanned the Lycus. During 

 the rainy season, which lasts from No- 

 vember 15 to March 1 in that part of the 

 country, it is practically impossible to 

 cross the valley, for the reason that it is 

 rendered impassable by the overflow 

 waters of the Lycus. 



the; cascades op hierapolis 



The cascades of the city are visible 

 from a long distance, and as one ap- 

 proaches them the more impressive they 

 become. At a distance of two miles they 

 have the appearance of some huge cata- 

 ract, not unlike that of Niagara, and if 

 seen in April, when the grass is green 

 upon the slopes beyond, the whole pre- 

 sents a wonderful picture. The cascades 

 are white as snow. 



Some idea may be had of this phenom- 

 enon when I state that the falls are iy 2 

 miles in length and 525 feet high ; in 

 other words, a stupendous cataract 

 turned to stone. It must have taken 

 many cycles of time in the course of na- 

 ture for the deposits contained in those 

 mineral springs to slowly transform the 

 whole precipice into a state of petrifac- 

 tion. And it was upon this broad terrace 

 that a very ancient race of people must 



have built a city, of which there appears 

 no chronological record. Hierapolis is 

 first heard of in history about 200 years 

 B. C, and at that time it rivalled the 

 splendor of Laodicea. It is supposed 

 that the primitive city is entombed be- 

 neath the thick calcareous layer of stone. 

 I have read several descriptions of 

 Hierapolis which have been written at 

 different times during the past 80 years, 

 but none of them seem to apply, in many 

 respects, to the present state of things. 

 For example, one explorer says that he 

 ascended to the ruins by a precipitous 

 path, and that the terrace upon which the 

 city stood was prettily wooded with olive 

 trees. If such was the case at that time, 

 it certainly is not true today ; and as the 

 deposits from the mineral springs have 

 blasted the entire plateau with sterility, 

 it does not seem probable that such was 

 ever the case. Certainly not since the 

 city ceased to be inhabited, and the 

 waters, being no longer kept in well- 

 defined channels, were permitted to run 

 riot among the abandoned buildings and 

 to plunge over the cliff at will. As olive 

 trees grow to be two or three hundred 

 years old, it seems that traces of the 

 same might easily be seen. This de- 

 scription probably applies to the little 

 Turkish village of Edscheli, which lies 

 at the foot of Hierapolis, in the midst of 

 an olive grove, well protected from the 

 warm water of the springs which flows 

 near by toward the Lycus. 



THE WONDER OE THE ANCIENTS 



Of the Plutonium, which was the won- 

 der of the ancients, there is now no trace 

 whatsoever. Strabo tells us that in his 

 day the inhabitants of Hierapolis re- 

 garded the warm waters and the Plu- 

 tonium as two phenomena which bor- 

 dered on the miraculous. The waters 

 were so ready, he says, to petrify every- 

 thing, that by running them through arti- 

 ficial ditches around the fields channels 

 ot solid stone were soon formed. 



The Plutonium, he continues, was sit- 

 uated in the low crest of a neighboring 

 hill, and consisted in a small orifice, yet 

 sufficiently large to admit the body of a 



