Hierapolis (Denizli)

The city of Hierapolis of Phrygia (Pamukkale) was founded by the Hellenistic ruler Eumenes II. Most of the remains are Roman or later (the city reached its peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD), and the cemetery contains tombs from Late Hellenistic to Byzantine. Hierapolis was the seat of a Byzantine diocese. The site was investigated briefly by the Germans in the 19th century and since 1957 by the Italian Archaeological Mission, currently led by Francesco D'Andria.

2007

The following report was kindly provided by Professor D'Andria.

The 2007 campaign marked the completion of the first fifty years of uninterrupted activity by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Hierapolis, which was founded in 1957 by Paolo Verzone of the Politecnico in Turin. The celebrations organized for this important anniversary included an international conference on Roman sculpture in Asia Minor (Cavallino - Lecce, 23-26 May 2007), an international meeting entitled "Methodologies of restoration and enhancement of ancient theatres in Turkey: methods, activities, results" (Karahayit - Denizli, 7-8 September 2007), the inauguration of the restoration of the logeion of the theatre, and the publication of an atlas of Hierapolis in Phrygia (Atlante di Hierapolis di Frigia, 2008).

In the campaigns of 2006 and 2007, the theatre was the object of an extensive program of excavations, consolidation and restoration. New flooring, made of travertine slabs mounted on a steel frame, was installed for the stage. The restoration was completed with the assembly of all the blocks of the front of the logeion and replacements for the missing pieces, and the cleaning of all the surfaces. The archaeological surveys inside the hyposkenion and the ima cavea provided important new data that enable us to determine more precisely the dimensions of the structure existing before the substantial reconstruction of the Severan epoch. Of this earlier theatre, dated to the 1st century AD, the travertine stylobate of the logeion has been completely brought to light, while in the ima cavea some travertine seating has been identified, along with two steps of the perimeter of the orchestra and two marble thrones. These new discoveries allow us to attribute to the 1st century phase of the building a perfectly round orchestra and a trapezoidal logeion with oblique parodoi. In the 4th century AD the orchestra was transformed into a kolymbethra. Also identified were the remains of the mortar used in the walls around it and the channel used to drain water from the building. 
Fig. 1: View of the stage of the theatre after restoration

Fig. 2: 1st century foundations of the logeion inside the hyposkenion

Near the north entrance to the city (the Frontinus Gate), the excavations have brought to light, close to the famous tomb of Flavius Zeuxis, a funerary building with an underground chamber and a marble aedicule supported by pillars decorated with vegetable motifs (2nd century AD), and a row of travertine sarcophagi lined up along one of the paths that crossed the necropolis.

New research in the area of the Roman baths known as the "Great Building" has sought to determine the various phases of the monument during the Byzantine epoch. Traces were found of significant economic activity involving the production of wine and oil (counterweights for the presses, vats lined with mortar and channels for the collection of liquids) belonging to two successive complexes datable to the mid-Byzantine period.
Fig. 3: Installations for the production of oil and wine from the mid-Byzantine period

The Sanctuary of Apollo is one of the main centres of activity. Recent surveys have revealed a complex structure organized on three terraces and centred on an Ionic peripteral temple flanked by two other buildings associated with oracular practices. Recent research has looked at the broad area to the north of the Temple of Apollo: with accumulated deposits of ash and charcoal, this was where sacrificial activities were performed. The excavation was accompanied by the collection of botanical and faunal samples, and chemical analyses of the organic residues of the containers were undertaken. Excavations along the southern edge of the perimeter wall of the sanctuary also resumed, bringing to light the flight of steps linking the lower terrace with the plateia below.

A second broad area of intervention in the campaigns of 2006 and 2007 was the eastern hill, where the Martyrion of St Philip was built at the beginning of the 5th century AD, beyond the walls built by the Emperor Theodosius. Surveys enabled us to understand more precisely the nature of the large complex, which included the bridge and the monumental flight of steps that led to the church. An octagonal building with sides 9 m in length, built at the beginning of the 5th century next to the flight of steps, was excavated. Inside, the structure was organized into rectangular and semicircular rooms. The presence of vats, water channels and a praefurnium indicate with some certainty that the octagonal building was a bath building: the function of the individual rooms was also determined, from the large apodyterium near the entrance to the tepidarium and calidarium further inside. It is possible that the building had a ritual function as part of the route leading to the tomb of the apostle, as indicated by the discovery of eulogiai and glass phials for oils in the drainage channel. The structure fell down in the second half of the 7th century and the area was occupied by dwellings in the 9th and 10th centuries, and subsequently was used for funerary purposes.
Fig. 4: Monumental flight of steps leading to the Martyrion of St Philip

Fig. 5: Aerial view of the octagonal Byzantine bath building

The 2007 campaign also saw the start of excavation at the Gymnasium, a large complex located in the southern area of the city: the excavation identified the southern side of a large courtyard at least 80 m long and oriented on an east-west axis. The peristyle, with marble columns of the Doric order, seems to date from the early imperial period, which has been highlighted by recent studies as being key to the establishment of the main monumental complexes. The Gymnasium, partly damaged during the 4th century AD, was definitively demolished by the earthquake of the 7th century: the fallen architectural materials remain, testifying to this dramatic seismic event.
Fig. 6: Collapsed portico of the Gymnasium

Survey in the territory surrounding Hierapolis has led to the identification of a complex network of aqueducts carrying drinking water to the city from the plateau above it. Clay pipes were buried or embedded in the rock and sometimes were flanked by open channels. The pipes were taken across ditches and ravines by means of small bridges or arches made of large blocks of travertine.

2006

In 2006 work took place at a number of areas of the site, including the Martyrion of St Philip. This octagonal structure appears to have originally been designed as a bath. The marble screen for the ambo (pulpit) is Constantinopolitan in style with a fine pattern of "H" designs and swastikas.

The Middle Byzantine (10th century) gate and the houses lining the road leading to it were studied further and restoration work was undertaken. In front of the Temple of Apollo excavations revealed a broad area with altars and considerable amounts of ashes, all from sacrifices, and masses of animal bones and seeds were found in pits. Vessels from the area were studied for cholesterol deposits.

Further excavation work was undertaken at the theatre and a solid floor was made for the stage. Several marble statues were re-erected on the scaenae frons, which had a socle with very elaborate marble reliefs. Inscriptions on the marble theatre seats were studied. During the restoration work construction details of the early (Julio-Claudian) phase of the theatre were identified. At the Marble Stoa work revealed blocks with inscription and frieze for a portico from the time of Augustus.

Survey of the surrounding area continued and the source of the water supply system for the ancient city has now been identified.

2005

The following report on the 2005 season was kindly provided by Professor D'Andria.

In 2005 the campaign of excavations and restoration continued, focusing on the two visitor itineraries previously established (Itinerary A from the Frontinus Gate to the theatre; Itinerary B from the theatre to the Martyrion of Saint Philip).

With the resumption in 2001 of excavation of the sanctuary of Apollo - barely touched by the surveys of the early 1960s - the Mission was able to identify, near the building on a podium previously believed to be the temple of Apollo, a series of three terraces linked by marble flights of steps and surrounded by porticoes. In 2005 excavation continued in the great Ionic peripteral building (13.80 x 26.70 m) situated in the middle of the temenos, which was heavily affected by the destruction and looting of materials for use in new buildings that characterised the Byzantine period. The layout of the krepis was identified and the graphic reconstruction of the building achieved by studying the architectural materials found both in the sanctuary itself and in other buildings where they have been re-used. The survey of the temple-like building (Building C) has reached the foundations; erected in the northern part of the temenos, it had an underground chamber with a vaulted ceiling, without a staircase for access, built directly over the fault that runs through the bedrock from north to south. To this monument may be attributed the carefully arranged architectural materials discovered in a large pit to the east of the building. The pit was dug out of the escharon - the altar of ashes - in the 5th century AD. The removal of marbles from the pit has, for the first time, provided confirmation that the area was indeed used as a sanctuary in the Hellenistic age. Evidence for religious practices includes a well filled with ashes and charcoal and located in the section where the remains of sacrifices and libations were placed in the early imperial age.

Near the theatre, excavations are continuing with a view to re-opening the ancient access points to the second diazoma. Inside the building a careful campaign of restoration has been carried out, with the completion of the front of the logeion and the start of work on the flooring. The materials belonging to the frons scena are in the process of being arranged on the ground in preparation for the restoration of its first order.

Near the North Gate of the city, beside the tomb of Flavius Zeuxis, the resumption of excavations has brought to light an extremely well preserved olive press, with a slab (2.65 x 3.0 m) where the olives were placed, a large block of stone with a hole where the beam used to press the olives was inserted and an elliptical stone tank.

Highly important for the characterisation of the Byzantine phases of Hierapolis is the excavation of the Cathedral, where researchers were able to recover, from a layer of fallen material in the atrium, the lead seal of Bishop Gregory, bearing the image of Saint Philip. Datable thanks to the palaeographic characters to the 6th/7th century, the seal provides confirmation of the centrality of the cult of the saint in the religious life of the city. The survey of the processional route towards the Martyrion of Saint Philip on the eastern hill continued with the excavation and consolidation of the long monumental staircase outside the 4th century city walls. It was by this staircase that the pilgrims reached the Martyrion complex. The route also entailed crossing over a bridge and passing by an octagonal building whose function remains uncertain.

With the objective of complementing our knowledge of the urban area with knowledge of the surrounding territory, in the campaign of 2005 a survey was conducted of the area within a radius of about 3 km around the site. Important information was gathered concerning the industrial activities in the territory, thanks to the discovery of quarries for the extraction of travertine and marble, as well as numerous farms from the imperial and proto-Byzantine ages. Small villages, each with its relative necropolis, were also discovered (between Yeniköy and Küçükdereköy), together with a stretch of the road to Tripolis, of which the second milestone was recovered.

2004

In 2004 the expedition worked in a number of areas of the site, including the theatre where Late Roman channels in the orchestra suggest water games were held. At the Apollo temple Byzantine water channels were traced and ran in the same direction as modern ones. Beside the temple was an ash layer, connected with sacrifice related to the cult. In Byzantine times the temple was used as a stone dump and Ionic capitals from the temple were found in this pile.

An area of the Sacred Way was investigated, and coins dating up to Leo III (717-741) were found at the bridge. They suggest some kind of passing the bridge ritual was practised here.
Architecture along St Philip's Road was studied, including a Seljuk building that contained an inscribed block, and the stairs up to the St Philip Octagon (Martyrium Church).

Other finds included a house of the 6th century with inscriptions in place, an inscription of Elagabalus from the Nymphaeum and, from an area between Hierapolis and Laodikea, a Hadrianic inscription about a fishing area.

Bibliography

P. Arthur, Hierapolis (Pamukkale) bizantina e turca -- Guida archeologica, Istanbul (2006) (in Italian, English and Turkish)
F. D'Andria and M. P. Caggia (eds), Hierapolis di Frigia I -- Le attività delle campagne di scavo e restauro 2000-2003, Istanbul (2007)
F. D'Andria, G. Scardozzi and A. Spanò (eds), Atlante di Hierapolis di Frigia, Hierapolis di Frigia II, Istanbul (2008)
T. Ritti, Guida epigrafica a Hierapolis di Frigia (Pamukkale), Istanbul (2007) (in Italian, English and Turkish)

Websites

Excavation websites are at http://www.misart.it and http://antares.ibam.cnr.it/atlante-hierapolis