The Ham Nomads

27 May 2015. <TR> Laodicea on the Lycus; Karakasu —

The day was a little dull and wet, but we decided to leave Pamukkale via Laodicea, an earthquake-ruined ancient city only about 10 km away.

Laodicea on the Lycus (Λαοδίκεια πρὸς τοῦ Λύκου) was founded by King Antioches II in the early 3rd century BC, naming it for his wife, Laodicea. The city fell to Pergamon in the 2nd century BC, and then to the Romans. For a while, during the wars between Rome and King Mithritates of Pontus, it vacillated between these two powers.

It was devastated by a might earthquake in 60 BC, but after Hadrian visited in the early 2nd century AD it was rebuilt under him and then Caracalla. It was a major centre in the Byzantine period, in part because one of the seven major churches of Christianity (the seven churches of the Apocalypse) was here. But another huge earthquake destroyed the city at the end of the 5th century AD, and Laodicea never recovered. Its population emigrated mainly to the nearby city of Denizli, which is now one of the major population centres of Turkey.

The whole archaeological site is a ruin, but there is a lot of work going on to reconstruct it. The Byzantine church area is closed to the public as there is extensive restoration work going on there — it will be interesting to see what the site looks like in ten years!

We entered the site by the Byzantine Gate, wandered up Syria Street (the main street of the city), noticing the remains of a gaming table and its two seats to one side of the street at one point. We went into "Temple A", the temple of Apollo and the Emperor cult. We walked round past where they are working on the Byzantine Basilica and visited what remains of the city's two theatres — the city must have been large to warrant two! The theatres have been so severely plundered for building materials over the centuries that you can only see what they might have been by mentally filling in the gaps.

Ionic capitals can be fairly detailed ...

... or extremely simple!

The remains of the North (the later, larger) Theatre

Part of the West (the earlier, smaller) Theatre

We have visited ancient cities in various states of restoration or reconstruction, but this site is interesting in that it is in the very early stages of such work.

After our wanderings, we came back to the kiosk for afternoon tea, and got into conversation with the people there. The conversation wandered from travelling to politics (we are in the last two weeks of a hectic election campaign here), and onto Kemal Atatürk, perhaps the most revered person to most Turks. The people here are most friendly, and charming hosts!

We left Laodicea and drove out on our way towards Aphrodisias. We passed the intriguing veterinary clinic sign that had diverted our attention on the way in from the sign on the other side of the road pointing very clearly to Laodicea!

We had had a wild thunderstorm last night, and today we passed barley fields flattened by the squalls.

We drove southwards, towards somewhat threatening skies, finally finding a stop for the night on a layby — or was it just the remains of an old curve in the road — on the D-585 just outside Karakasu. We shared the spot with some mighty thistles!

Distance driven — today, 57 miles ( 92 km ); to date, 20,955 miles ( 33,724 km )