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The
extensive ruins of the Roman mineral water spa city of Hierapolis include
a grand theater, a vast North Necropolis (cemetery),
colonnaded street, baths, and numerous
other ruined structures.
Plan to spend
1 to 2 hours seeing the ruins and
travertines, 3 if you're very interested
in Roman
architecture.
If you have
your own transport, drive to the north entrance (toward
Karahayıt), park, and walk through
the kilometer-long North Necropolis with
Roman tombs large and small, simple
and elaborate.
Hierapolis,
it would appear, was a place many
sick people
came in search of a cure, but died
instead. One of these was the Apostle
Philip, who died while on a visit
here with his daughter in the year
80. Ruins of his grand martyrium (monumental
tomb of a martyr) lie up the hill
and just outside the city walls.
There is another
extensive necropolis on the hill
to the east
of the city.
Driving from
the north entrance, but before
reaching the main part of the plateau
with
its Antique
Pool and theater,
you pass the colonnaded street on
the left, with the Arch of
Domitian at its northern
end. The arch, built about the year
82 or 83 by Julius Frontinus, Proconsul
of Asia,
in
honor of his
emperor.
The grand street
has been excavated and
partly
restored, and is worth a stroll
along its giant paving stones from
the Arch to the southern end.
At the center
of the plateau are
the Antique
Pool, Archeological
Museum,
and the calcium travertines.
Up
the hill about a 10-minute walk from
the Antique
Pool is the great Roman
theater.
Restored by Italian artisans in
1972, it was capable of seating
more than
12,000 spectators.
—by Tom Brosnahan
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Above, Colonnaded
Street, Hierapolis,
Pamukkale, Turkey, with the Arch
of Domitian at the far
end.
Below, the finely restored Roman
theater.
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