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Bible Dictionaries
Hierapolis
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or HIERAPOLIS (‘holy city’) is mentioned in the Bible only in Colossians 4:13 , in association with the neighbouring towns Laodicea and Colossæ. All three were situated in the valley of the Lycus, a tributary of the Mæander, in Phrygia, Hierapolis on the north side being about 6 miles from the former and 12 miles from the latter. (The best map of this district is at p. 472 of Ramsay’s Church in the Roman Empire .) It probably belonged originally to the tribe Hydrelitæ, and derived its title from the medicinal hot springs there, which revealed plainly to the ancient mind the presence of a divinity. The water is strongly impregnated with alum, and the calcareous deposit which it forms explains the modern name Pambuk-Kalessi (Cotton Castle). Another sacred attribute of the city was a hole, about the circumference of a man’s body, from which noxious vapours issued: Strabo (in the time of Augustus) had seen sparrows stifled by them. The city owed all its importance in NT times to its religious character. It had not been visited by St. Paul, but derived its Christianity from his influence (cf. Acts 19:10 and Col.). Legend declares that the Apostles Philip and John preached there, and this appears trustworthy. The fight between native superstition and the enlightenment brought by Christianity must have been very bitter. The city remained important throughout the Empire, and was the birthplace of Epictetus, the Stoic.
A. Souter.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Hierapolis'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/h/hierapolis.html. 1909.
