The History of Hierapolis, Explained

By All Over InformationUpdated August 10, 20268 min read

Hierapolis sits on a plateau above the white travertine terraces of Pamukkale, and its story is inseparable from the hot springs that made its name. The city’s very title means sacred city, and for over a thousand years it was a place of healing, of pilgrimage, and of dramatic faith. From its founding by Hellenistic kings to its rediscovery by modern archaeologists, this is the complete history of Hierapolis in the order it happened.

The Sacred Ground Before the City

The plateau above the travertine terraces was sacred long before any city rose there. The hot springs that pour out of the ground, rich in minerals and warm all year round, drew people to the site from prehistoric times, and the pools that formed below the cliff were already places of healing and worship.

The most mysterious feature of the site is the Plutonium, a cave opening that emits a deadly concentration of carbon dioxide gas. To the ancients this was the entrance to the underworld, the realm of Pluto, god of the dead. Priests of Cybele performed rituals here, and the lethal gas gave the place a terrifying reputation.

This combination of healing waters and an entrance to the underworld made the location deeply significant. When the kings of Pergamon decided to found a new city in the second century BC, they chose this charged ground, and they gave it a name that acknowledged its sanctity.

The Pergamene Foundation

Hierapolis was founded in the second century BC by the kings of Pergamon, the ruling dynasty of the kingdom that controlled much of western Anatolia. The city was named in honor of Hiera, the wife of Telephus, the legendary founder of the Pergamene royal house, and the name means sacred city.

The new foundation was planned in the Hellenistic manner, with a grid of streets, defensive walls, and public buildings, laid out on the plateau above the springs. Its position commanded the approach to the Lycus valley and the routes that crossed the region, making it both a religious center and a strategic stronghold.

The city grew steadily under Pergamene rule, but its real transformation came with a change of empire. In 133 BC, the last king of Pergamon bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, and Hierapolis, along with the rest of the region, passed into the hands of the rising power of the Mediterranean.

Hierapolis, Turkey — Photo by pohjakroon on Pixabay

The Hot Springs and the Plutonium

The city’s identity was bound to its thermal waters. The warm, mineral-rich springs were believed to have healing powers, and they attracted visitors from across the region who came to bathe and to be cured. The water also created the extraordinary white terraces below the city, the travertines that made the site famous.

The Plutonium remained the city’s most dramatic religious site. Its priests staged ceremonies at the cave, where the gas could kill small animals instantly, and they used the spectacle to demonstrate their power. Ancient writers described the phenomenon with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

Modern science explains what the ancients could not: the gas is carbon dioxide seeping from deep underground. The priests’ survival tricks, and the deaths that sometimes occurred, are now understood as chemistry rather than miracle, but the cave’s power to astonish has not diminished.

Under Roman Rule

When the Roman province of Asia was organized, Hierapolis became one of its leading cities. The first century AD brought challenges and opportunities: a severe earthquake struck the city in 60 AD, and the rebuilding that followed was supported by Rome, bringing the city closer to the imperial center.

Under Roman rule, Hierapolis grew rich. The wool trade, the dyeing industry that used the mineral waters, and the pilgrim traffic to the springs all generated wealth, and the city invested it in monumental architecture. The theatre, the great baths, and the colonnaded streets date from this period of expansion.

The Roman period also brought an earthquake-prone but prosperous stability. The city rebuilt after each disaster, and each rebuilding added new grandeur. By the second century AD, Hierapolis was a fully Roman city, its Greek past preserved in its institutions but its architecture transformed by imperial wealth.

The City of the Second Century

The second century AD was the golden age of Hierapolis. Under the emperors of the high imperial period, the city rebuilt its theatre on a grand scale, and the baths, the agoras, and the gymnasium complex that can still be seen today were constructed or enlarged.

The theatre, built into the slopes above the plateau, was one of the largest in the region, its stage facade decorated with elaborate reliefs. The city also built monumental gates, fountains, and a great colonnaded street, turning the plateau into a showcase of Roman urban design.

This was also the century when the thermal baths reached their peak. The great bath building, with its vaulted halls, served both the healing tradition and the social life of the city. Hierapolis had become a health resort of the ancient world, combining medicine, luxury, and spectacle.

The Jewish Community and the Synagogue

Hierapolis was home to a large and influential Jewish community, and the city’s Jewish history is among the best documented in the ancient world. Inscriptions record Jewish citizens, benefactors, and officials, showing a community that was integrated into city life while maintaining its own identity.

The center of this community was the synagogue, a large building integrated into the complex of the city’s baths and gymnasium. Discovered in the twentieth century, it was lavishly decorated with marble and inscriptions, and it stands as one of the most important ancient synagogue buildings ever found.

The presence of the community is also connected to the Apostle Philip. Early Christian tradition held that Philip preached in Hierapolis, and the city’s religious history was shaped by the meeting of its pagan, Jewish, and Christian populations in the centuries when the Roman world was changing faith.

The Apostle Philip and Christian Hierapolis

Christian tradition makes Hierapolis the scene of the martyrdom of the Apostle Philip, one of the twelve disciples. According to the tradition, Philip preached in the city and was killed there, and the site of his tomb became a focus of Christian pilgrimage.

In the fifth century AD, a great martyrion, a commemorative building, was erected on a hill above the city to mark the apostle’s death. Its octagonal design, with radiating chapels, was a masterpiece of early Christian architecture, and pilgrims came from across the Byzantine world to visit it.

The martyrion’s construction marked Hierapolis’s transformation into a Christian city. The temples closed, the Plutonium lost its priests, and the city’s sacred character was transferred from the underworld god to the martyred apostle. Christianity had claimed the sacred ground.

The Byzantine City

Under the Byzantine Empire, Hierapolis continued as a city and a bishopric, its thermal baths still drawing visitors and its churches serving a Christian population. The martyrion and the cathedral dominated the religious life of the plateau, and the city remained an important regional center.

The city’s fortunes turned in the seventh century AD, when earthquakes and the wars between Byzantium and the rising powers of the east devastated the region. Hierapolis was repeatedly damaged, and its population shrank as the empire’s cities contracted across Anatolia.

By the early medieval period, the great monuments stood abandoned or in ruins, and the city was reduced to a small settlement around the remaining baths. The healing waters continued to draw people, but the grand city of the Roman and Byzantine centuries was over.

Earthquakes, Invasion, and Decline

The pattern of Hierapolis’s decline was set by its geology and its geopolitics. The same faults that create the thermal springs also produce earthquakes, and the city’s history is punctuated by seismic disasters that toppled its monuments and demanded expensive rebuilding.

In the seventh century, the region suffered a series of devastating earthquakes, and the Byzantine defenses could not protect the city from the invasions that followed. The urban population dispersed, and the plateau returned largely to the sheep pastures and orchards it had been before the city.

The name Hierapolis faded from memory, and the site was absorbed into the life of the surrounding countryside. The hot springs were never forgotten, but the city itself passed into legend, awaiting the travelers and archaeologists who would one day uncover its marble from the soil.

Rediscovery and Modern Archaeology

Western travelers began describing the ruins of Hierapolis in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, marveling at the theatre, the baths, and the strange white terraces below. Their accounts brought the site to the attention of the scholarly world, and early archaeologists made the first systematic surveys.

The modern era of excavation began in 1957, when the Italian Archaeological Mission took up the site, and the work has continued under Italian teams ever since. They have excavated the theatre, the agora, the baths, the synagogue, and the martyrion of Saint Philip, and their work has transformed knowledge of the city.

In 1988, Hierapolis and the travertine terraces of Pamukkale were inscribed together on the UNESCO World Heritage List, one of the first Turkish sites to receive the honor. Today the excavations continue, and the sacred city is once again a place of pilgrimage, though its pilgrims now come with cameras and guidebooks.

Frequently asked questions

When was Hierapolis founded?

Hierapolis was founded in the second century BC by the kings of Pergamon. It grew into a major city under Roman rule, reached its peak in the second century AD, and remained important through the Byzantine period before declining after earthquakes and invasions in the seventh century.

What happened to Hierapolis after antiquity?

The city declined sharply in the seventh century AD after earthquakes and invasions, shrinking to a small settlement. Its monuments fell into ruin and were gradually buried. Western travelers rediscovered the site in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and modern excavation began in 1957.

Who excavated Hierapolis?

The Italian Archaeological Mission has excavated Hierapolis since 1957, working continuously on the site. Their teams have uncovered the theatre, the agora, the baths, the synagogue, and the martyrion of Saint Philip, and the work continues today in partnership with Turkish authorities.

All Over Information

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