HIERAPOLIS

(Hi·e·rapʹo·lis) [Holy City].

A city in the province of Asia. It was located on the northern edge of the Lycus Valley of Asia Minor, about 10 km (6 mi) N of Laodicea at modern Pamukkale, Turkey.

Although the apostle Paul apparently never visited Hierapolis, the effects of his long work at Ephesus (from the winter of 52/53 C.E. until after Pentecost in 55 C.E. [1Co 16:8]) radiated over ‘all the district of Asia.’ (Ac 19:1, 10) Christianity appears to have actually reached Hierapolis through the ‘efforts’ of Epaphras.​—Col 4:12, 13.

While the city lacked political importance, it became prosperous in the peaceful Roman period as a center of devotion to Cybele. Her worship there was enhanced by two natural phenomena, mineral springs and the Plutonium, or Charonion, a deep, narrow chasm that emitted deadly fumes.