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HIERAPOLIS

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 452 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HIERAPOLIS . 1. (Arabic Manbij or Mumbij) an See also:

ancient Syrian See also:town occupying one of the finest sites in See also:Northern See also:Syria, in a fertile See also:district about 16 m. S.W. of the confluence of the Sajur and See also:Euphrates. There is abundant See also:water See also:supply from large springs. In 1879, after the Russo-See also:Turkish See also:war, a See also:colony of See also:Book. By this See also:time the word hidage as the designation of the tax was disappearing, its See also:place being taken by the word carucage. The See also:carucate (See also:Lat. caruca, a plough) was a measure of See also:land which prevailed in the See also:north of See also:England, the district inhabited by See also:people of Danish descent. Some authorities regard it as See also:equivalent to the hide, others deny this identity. In 1198, however, when See also:Richard I. imposed a tax of 5s. on each carucata terrae sive hyda, the two words were obviously interchangeable, and about the same time the See also:size of the carucate was fixed at roo acres. The word carucage remained in use for some time longer, and then other names were given to the various taxes on land. One or two other questions with regard to the hide still remain unsolved.

What is the connexion, if any, between the See also:

hundred and a hundred hides? Again, was the size of the hide fixed at 12o acres to make the See also:work of reckoning the amount of See also:Danegeld, or hidage, a See also:simple See also:process? 120 acres to the hide, 240 pence to the See also:pound, makes calculations easy. Lastly, is the See also:English hide derived from the See also:German hufe or huba? (A. W. H.*) Menderes (Maeander), situated on a broad See also:terrace, 20o ft. above the valley and 6 m. N. of See also:Laodicea. On the terrace rise calcareous springs, that have deposited vast incrustations of snowy whiteness. To these springs, which are warm and slightly sulphureous, and to the " Plutonium "—a hole reaching deep into the See also:earth, from which issued a mephitic vapour—the place owed its celebrity and sanctity. Here, at an See also:early date, a religious See also:establishment (hieron) existed in connexion with the old Phrygian Kydrara, a See also:settlement of the tribe Hydrelitae; and the town which See also:grew See also:round it became one of the greatest centres of Phrygian native See also:life but of non-See also:political importance. The See also:chief religious festival was the Letoia, named after the goddess Leto, a See also:local variety of the See also:Mother Goddess (See also:Cybele), who was honoured with orgiastic See also:rites in which elements of the See also:original Anatolian See also:matriarchate and Nature-cult survived: there was also a See also:worship of See also:Apollo Lairbenos.

Hierapolis was the seat of an early See also:

church (See also:Col. iv. 13), with which tradition closely connects the apostle See also:Philip. See also:Epictetus, the philosopher, and See also:Papias, a See also:disciple of St See also:John and author of a lost work on the Sayings of Jesus, were See also:born there. Hierapolis is now easily reached from Gonjeli, a station on the See also:Dineir railway about 7 M. distant. A See also:village of Yuruks has gradually grown below the site. The native name for the place is apparently Pambuk Kale (though doubt has been thrown on the statement), and this has always been explained by the See also:cotton-like See also:appearance of the See also:white incrustations. It should be noted, however, that this name, if genuine, is curiously like that given by the Syrians to the Commagenian Hierapolis (above), Bambyce, the origin of which it has been suggested was a native name of the goddess Pambe or Mambe (whence Mabog). Considering that cotton is a comparatively See also:modern phenomenon in See also:Anatolia, it is See also:worth suggesting that Pambuk in this See also:case may be a survival of a See also:primitive name, derived from the same goddess, Pambe. The goddesses of the two Hierapoleis were in any case closely akin. If an old native name has reappeared here after the decline of See also:Greek See also:influence, and been given a meaning in modern Turkish, it affords another instance of a very See also:common feature of See also:west Asian nomenclature. Combined with the petrified terraces, the ruins of Hierapolis See also:present the most attractive of the easily accessible See also:spectacles in See also:Asia See also:Minor. They are remarkable for the See also:long See also:avenue of tombs, mostly inscribed sarcophagi on plinths, by which the See also:city is approached from the W., and for a very perfect See also:theatre partly excavated in the See also:hill at the N. See also:side of the site.

See also:

Stage buildings as well as auditorium are well preserved. On the S., just above the white terraces and largely blocked with petrified See also:deposit, stand large See also:baths, into which the natural warm See also:spring was once conducted. Behind these is a See also:fine triumphal See also:arch, whence runs a See also:colonnade. Ruins of several churches survive, and also of a large See also:basilica. There is a sulphureous See also:pool which may represent the " Plutonium," but it has no such deadly See also:power as was ascribed to that See also:pond. See also:Ramsay thinks that the " Plutonium " was obliterated by Christians in the 4th See also:century. Over 30o See also:inscriptions have been collected, mostly sepulchral, whence Ramsay has deduced interesting facts about the very early See also:Christian community which existed here. The site has been often visited and described, and was systematically examined in 1887 by parties under W. M. Ramsay and K. Humann respectively. See K.

Humann, Altertiimer v. Hierapolis (r888); See also:

Sir W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of See also:Phrygia, vol. i. (1895). (C. W. W.; D.G.H.) Circassians from See also:Vidin (Widdin) was planted in the ruins, and the. result has been the See also:constant See also:discovery of antiquities, which find their way into the bazaars of See also:Aleppo and See also:Aintab. The place first appears in Greek as Bambyce, but See also:Pliny (v. 23) tells us its Syrian name was Mabog. It was doubtless an ancient Commagenian See also:sanctuary; but See also:history knows it first under the Seleucids, who made it the chief station on their See also:main road between See also:Antioch and See also:Seleucia-on-See also:Tigris; and as a centre of the worship of the Syrian Nature Goddess, See also:Atargatis(q.v.), it became known to the Greeks as the city of the sanctuary 'IepoiroMs, and finally as the See also:Holy City ' Iepaao?us. See also:Lucian, a native of Commagene (or some See also:anonymous writer) has immortalized this worship in the See also:tract De Dea Syria, wherein are described the orgiastic luxury of the See also:shrine and the tank of sacred See also:fish, of which See also:Aelian also relates marvels.

According to the De Dea Syria, the worship was of a phallic See also:

character, votaries offering little male figures of See also:wood and See also:bronze. There were also huge phalli set up like obelisks before the See also:temple, which were climbed once a See also:year with certain ceremonies, and decorated. For the See also:rest the temple was of Ionic character with See also:golden plated doors and roof and much gilt decoration. Inside was a holy chamber into which priests only were allowed to enter. Here were statues of a goddess and a See also:god in See also:gold, but the first seems to have been the more richly decorated with gems and other ornaments. Between them stood a gilt xoanon, which seems to have been carried outside in sacred processions. Other See also:rich See also:furniture is described, and a mode of See also:divination by movements of a xoanon of Apollo. A See also:great bronze See also:altar stood in front, set about with statues, and in the forecourt lived numerous sacred animals and birds (but not See also:swine) used for See also:sacrifice. Some three hundred priests served the shrine and there were numerous minor ministrants. The See also:lake was the centre of sacred festivities and it was customary for votaries to swim out and decorate an. altar See also:standing in the See also:middle of the water. Self-See also:mutilation and other orgies went on in the temple See also:precinct, and there was an elaborate See also:ritual on entering the city and first visiting the shrine under the conduct of local guides, which reminds one of the Meccan See also:Pilgrimage. The temple was sacked by See also:Crassus on his way to meet the Parthians (J3 B.

C.); but in the 3rd century of the See also:

empire the city was the See also:capital of the Euphratensian See also:province and one of the great cities of Syria. See also:Procopius called it the greatest in that See also:part of the See also:world. It was, however, ruinous when See also:Julian collected. his troops there ere marching to his defeat and See also:death in See also:Mesopotamia, and See also:Chosroes I. held it to See also:ransom after Justinian had failed to put it in a See also:state of See also:defence. See also:Harun restored it at the end of the 8th century and it became a See also:bone of contention between Byzantines, See also:Arabs and See also:Turks. The crusaders captured it from the See also:Seljuks in the 12th century, but See also:Saladin retook it (1175), and later it became the headquarters of Hulagu and his See also:Mongols, who completed its ruin. The remains are extensive, but almost wholly of See also:late date, as is to be expected in the case of a city which survived into Moslem times. The walls are Arab, and no ruins of the great temple survive. The most noteworthy relic of antiquity is the sacred lake, on two sides of which can still be seen stepped quays and water-stairs. The first modern See also:account of the site is in a See also:short narrative appended by H. Maundrell to his See also:Journey from Aleppo to See also:Jerusalem. He was at Mumbij in 1699. The coinage of the city begins in the 4th century B.c. with an Aramaic See also:series, showing the goddess, either as a bust with mural See also:crown or as See also:riding on a See also:lion.

She continues to supply the chief type even during imperial times, being generally shown seated with the tympanum in her See also:

hand. Other coins substitute the See also:legend Oeas Ivpias'IepenroXiv.7w, within a See also:wreath. It is interesting to See also:note that from Bambyce (near which much See also:silk was produced) were derived the bombycina vestis of the See also:Romans and, through the crusaders, the See also:bombazine of modern See also:commerce. See F. R. See also:Chesney, Euphrates Expedition (1850) ; W. F. See also:Ainsworth, See also:Personal Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition (1888); E. Sachau, Reise in Syrien, &c. (1883) ; D. G. See also:Hogarth in See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies (1909).

2.

End of Article: HIERAPOLIS

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HIERARCHY (Gr. iepos, holy, and apxe.v, to rule)