Colossae - Clickable Map of the Roman Empire - First Century AD

Colossae
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Ancient Colossae Co-los'sse, in KJV Colosse. (near Khonai, Turkey) Colossae was a city of southwestern Phrygia in Asia Minor, not far from the rivers Lycos and Meander. In antiquity Colossae was on the trade route (from Ephesus to the Euphrates River) heading east and was a very important city. During the time of the Roman Empire the road system changed and neighboring cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis became more important. Colossae was famous for its fine wool, and it was declared "free" under the Romans. It is not recorded that Paul the Apostle had visited Colossae when he wrote the Book of Colossians (Colossians 1:2, Colossians 2:1), since he tells Philemon of his hope to visit it upon being freed from prison (Philemon 1:22). It appears that Epaphras was the founder of the Colossian church (Colossians 1:7; 4:12).

Col. 1:2 - To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossae (Κολοσσαί). Once an important city of Great Phrygia, on the river Lycus , but so reduced subsequently that it might have been forgotten but for the epistle written to its inhabitants by the Apostle. - Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.

Colossae COLOSSAE
COLOSSAE (Κολοσσαί: Eth. Κολοσσηνός, Κο-λοσσαεύς), a city of Phrygia, first mentioned by Herodotus (7.30) as a large city of Phrygia, on the Lycus, a branch of the Maeander. Xerxes, on his march to Sardes, B.C. 481, reached Colossae after leaving Anaua. [ANAUA] The younger Cyrus, on his march from Sardes towards the Euphrates, B.C. 401, passed through Colossae. He crossed the Maeander, and after a march through Phrygia of 8 parasangs from the river, he came to Colossae, a large and prosperous city. (Anab. 1.2.6, &c.) The march of Cyrus from Colossae to Celaenae was 20 parasangs. The position of Colossae south of the Maeander is determined by these two authorities. Strabo (pp. 576--578) places Colossae near Laodiceia on the Lycus. In his time Apameia Cibotus and Laodiceia were the largest cities in this part of Phrygia. Laodiceia was then the chief town of a conventus, to which Colossae and more than twenty other towns belonged. Both Laodiceia and Colossae were famed for their wool, and the people of Colossae also derived a great profit from their skill in dyeing it. (See Groskurd's note on the passage of Strabo, p. 578; Transl. Strab. vol. ii. p. 533.) The upper valley of the Maeander was a sheep-feeding country.

Colossae had become a place of comparatively little importance in Strabo's time. In the middle ages there arose near it a town called Chonae (Χῶναι, or Χοναί), and Colossae disappeared. Chonae was the birthplace of Nicetas Choniates, one of the Byzantine historians. East of Denizli there is a place now called Khonos, or Chonos, situated at the base of the mountain range of Cadmus. Arundell (Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 159, &c.) supposes that Khonos, which is certainly the site of Chonae, is also the site of Colossae; and that the name Chonae superseded that of Colossae under the Byzantine Empire. His description is not clear. Hamilton (Researches, &c. vol. i. p. 508) found extensive ruins of an ancient city about three miles north of Khonos. On this site are large blocks of stone, foundations of buildings, and fragments of columns, architraves and cornices. He also found �the hollow cavea of a theatre, built on the side of a low sloping hill, and of which several seats were still in situ.� He does not mention any inscriptions. Herodotus says that the Lycus disappears in Colonae by sinking into a cleft (χάσμα γῆς), and after running about five stadia under ground it appears again and flows into the Maeander. If this cleft or hole can be determined, we may be pretty certain that we have ascertained the site of Colossae. Hamilton, who examined the ground carefully, found the necropolis or burying place of this city, of which we have spoken, to be on one side of a river, and the theatre and other ruins on the opposite side. There is a bridge, which crosses a rapid stream, flowing from east to west; and this river is �formed by the junction of three rivers, which unite their waters immediately above the bridge.� The chief stream is called the Tchoruk, which Hamilton supposes to be the Lycus. Another stream is called Ak-su (white water), and possesses highly petrifying qualities. Below the bridge is a narrow gorge, through which the waters of the united rivers flow. He found that the Ak-su had once fallen into the Lycus lower down than where it now does, exactly at the place where the chasm is narrowest. Another large stream falls over the cliff on the south side of the river, or the side opposite to the Ak-su which runs from the NW. This river has also the same qualities as the Ak-su, and makes a great deposit, forming cliffs of travertine, and burying the plants and other substances that are in its way. This operation is going on rapidly, and the cliffs on each side have been formed by it. Hamilton adds, �it is evident, that if the water always flowed in the same channel, these cliffs would approach each other, and continue to overhang the river until a natural bridge were completed by the touching of the opposite sides, while the arch or passage of the river below would be kept clear, the rapidity of the stream not allowing the deposit of the calcareous matter. It is indeed most apparent that this has been the case, that the two cliffs have been here joined, and thus formed the χάσμα γῆς, through which, as Herodotus [1.649] reports, the water flowed by a subterranean channel for half a mile, the soft crust having been in all probability subsequently broken up by an earthquake. In the hollow below the bridge are several mills, which are turned by the petrifying stream of the Ak-su; in consequence of the rapid accumulation of calcareous matter, it has been frequently necessary to change their position; they would otherwise be soon choked up, and buried in the calcareous silt deposited round them by the spray and overflowings of the mill stream.� This very clear and instructive explanation, founded on the examination of the spot by a practised eye, leaves no doubt about the conclusion, that this is the spot within Colossae which Herodotus describes, though, as Hamilton observes, it may still be doubted whether the Lycus is the river which now flows through the centre of the plain, or the Ak-su. This, however, is not very material: one of these streams is certainly the Lycus. The passage in Pliny (31.2) is now fully explained: �at Colossae there is a stream, into which if bricks are thrown, they come out stones.� Hamilton observes that the Ak-su, which joins the Tchoruk in the centre of the town, would soon cover a brick with a thick incrustation, and even fill the pores by infiltration. This is, no doubt, what Pliny means.

Colossae was one of the early Christian churches of Asia, and the apostle Paul addressed one of his epistles to the people of this place. It does not appear from the epistle that he visited Colossae, and an expression (1.3, 4) has been cited to show that he had not been there; and also another (2.1). But the want of words to prove directly that he was at Colossae, does not justify the conclusion that he never was there, especially as we know that he went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia.

The epigraph on the coins of Colossae is δημος Κολοσσηνων. - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, LLD, Ed.   

Colossae or Colosse (also known as Chonae or Kona; Greek: Κολοσσαί, Χωναί/Χῶναι), was an ancient city of Phrygia, on the Lycus, which is a tributary of the Maeander River. It was situated about 12 miles above Laodicea, and near the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates. The site, located near the modern town of Honaz in Turkey, has never been excavated.

Ancient History. In 396 B.C., during the Persian Wars, the satrap Tissaphernes was lured to Colossae and slain by an agent of the party of Cyrus the Younger. Pliny tells that the wool of Colossae gave its name (colossinus) to the colour of the cyclamen flower. During the Hellenistic period, the town was of some mercantile importance, although by the first century it had dwindled greatly in size and significance.

It does not appear that St. Paul had visited this city when he wrote his Epistle to the Colossians there (Col. 1:2, Col. 2:1), since he tells Philemon of his hope to visit it upon being freed from prison (see Philemon 1:22). It seems that Epaphras was the founder of the Colossian church (see Col. 1:7; 4:12).

This town fell into decay (possibly due to an earthquake) and the Byzantine town of Chon� occupied a site near its ruins. A look at the classical, Byzantine, and otherwise medieval literature mentioning the site reveals a name change for part or all of Colossae to Cona or Chonae. The town was the birthplace of the Byzantine Greek writers Nicetas and Michael Choniates.  - Wikipedia

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