THE RUINS OF LAODICEA.T. Allom.J. Sands.
This last church of the Apocalypse stood in Phrygia, on the river Lycus, near Collosæ. It was first called Diospolis, or the “City of Jupiter,” but changed its name to Laodicea, from the wife of Antiochus, who rebuilt it. It became celebrated for its commerce; the richness of its soil, and the raven fleece of its sheep, were a source of unbounded wealth. It gave birth to many distinguished persons:−Hiero, who named its citizens as heirs to his immense wealth; and Zeno, who, though not the founder of the Stoic sect, was renowned, with his son Polemon, for skill in rhetoric. His name, two thousand years after, was found sculptured on the seats of the theatre.
When Christianity was planted here, it was not received with the eagerness and enthusiasm with which the “new faith” was embraced in other churches. The evangelist, reproaches them with their “lukewarm” zeal, and rebukes their indifference by wishing, they were either “hot or cold.”10It does not appear that St. Paul ever visited them in his travels; yet he took a great interest in their welfare. He was well acquainted with their character; for he ordered his Epistle to the Colossians to be read to them also, as equally requiring it.11A letter exists which he is said to have written expressly to them; but it is considered spurious, and not recognized in our canon.
The place was shattered with earthquakes, in common with other cities in the same region; and what was not destroyed by the hand of nature, was more effectually so by the hands of the Turks. In the year 1009 it fell into their power; and from that time it sustained various assaults, during which the inhabitants were massacred, and their Christian bishops driven into captivity, along with their cattle. There is now no modern town built in or near the ancient site; but the extent and magnificence of its ruins, slumbering in dilapidated grandeur, attest what it once was; and various perfect and legible inscriptions still mark the era when it flourished.
Our illustration represents what travellers suppose to have been the senate-house. It consists of many piers, supporting arches of stone; among which lie marble fragments of great beauty, mouldings, cornices, pedestals, and columns, marking by their sculpture and abundance the opulence of the inhabitants, and the advanced state of the arts among them. On a portion of the wall is a legible inscription, creditable to the people. It states that they had “elected Asem to be their magistrate for life, as a reward for his piety and integrity.” Beyond, extending over the plain, are the remains of various edifices−a stadium, amphitheatre, and other evidences of wealth and civilization in this rich country, where all is now solitary and desolate−where a few wandering Turcomans make a temporary abode, and their feldt-tents strongly contrast with what remains of the splendid edifices of its former possessors.