Laodicea on the Lycus was an ancient city in
Asia Minor, situated on a hill above the river
Lycus. It was located in the
Hellenistic regions of
Caria and
Lydia, which later became the Roman Province of
Phrygia Pacatiana, close to the modern city of
Denizli in Turkey. Laodicea was built on the site of an earlier pre-Hellenistic settlement, and was founded by
Antiochus II Theos, the king of the
Seleucid Empire from 261 to 253 BC, in honour of his wife
Laodice, together with several other cities of the same name. Laodicea became a wealthy city, and was later controlled by the
Roman and
Byzantine empires. The city had a large Jewish population, dating from the time of
Antiochus the Great, who transported 2000 Jewish families there from
Babylonia. It also became an early seat of
Christianity with a
bishopric. The
Epistle to the Colossians mentions Laodicea as one of the communities of concern for
Paul the Apostle. The city was destroyed in an earthquake in around AD 60, and subsequently rebuilt. It was eventually destroyed during the invasions of the
Turks and
Mongols during the second millennium, and is now a ruin. This photograph taken in 2020 shows the remains of a colonnaded Laodicean street.
Photograph credit: Alexander Savin