Laodicaea

LAODICAE'A, the old city of Diospolis, the present village of Eski-hissar, stood on the banks of the Lycus, an affluent of the Meander, a few miles distant from Colosse and Hierapolis, in the Roman province of Asia, the present Asia Minor. By the Syrian king Seleucus II., Diospolis was enlarged and beautified, and from his wife, Laodice, it received its new name. Under the Roman rule it became a great commercial centre, situated as it was on the great route through Asia, and acquired great wealth. When, in the middle of the first century of our era, an earthquake destroyed Colosse, Hierapolis, and Laodicaea, the latter was rebuilt by its own inhabitants without any aid from the Roman senate. A Christian church was early established here, probably from Ephesus, and to this church Paul sent a salutation when writing to the Colossians, Col 4:15; it is also mentioned in Rev 1:11; Num 3:14. From Col 4:16 it appears that Paul wrote a letter to the Laodicaians, but of this letter no certain account can be made; some think to recognize it in the Epistle to Ruins of Laodicaea. the Ephesians, which was a circular letter. The "Epistle to the Laodicaeans," so called, which exists only in Latin, is a literary forgery of late date, and compiled from the Galatians and Ephesians. The church of Laodicsea flourished for several centuries. In the fourth century an important council gathered here. The Mohammedans destroyed the city, and it is now only a heap of ruins around a small and miserable village.

LAODICAE'A, the old city of Diospolis, the present village of Eski-hissar, stood on the banks of the Lycus, an affluent of the Meander, a few miles distant from Colosse and Hierapolis, in the Roman province of Asia, the present Asia Minor. By the Syrian king Seleucus II., Diospolis was enlarged and beautified, and from his wife, Laodice, it received its new name. Under the Roman rule it became a great commercial centre, situated as it was on the great route through Asia, and acquired great wealth. When, in the middle of the first century of our era, an earthquake destroyed Colosse, Hierapolis, and Laodicaea, the latter was rebuilt by its own inhabitants

without any aid from the Roman senate. A Christian church was early established here, probably from Ephesus, and to this church Paul sent a salutation when writing to the Colossians, Col 4:15; it is also mentioned in Rev 1:11; Num 3:14. From Col 4:16 it appears that Paul wrote a letter to the Laodicaians, but of this letter no certain account can be made; some think to recognize it in the Epistle to Ruins of Laodicaea. the Ephesians, which was a circular letter. The "Epistle to the Laodicaeans," so called, which exists only in Latin, is a literary forgery of late date, and compiled from the Galatians and Ephesians. The church of Laodicsea flourished for several centuries. In the fourth century an important council gathered here. The Mohammedans destroyed the city, and it is now only a heap of ruins around a small and miserable village.