History
The number one mention of the city may be in a 17th-century BC Hittite inscription, which speaks of a city called Huwalušija, which some archeologists believe is a credit to early Colossae. The 5th-century geographer Herodotus first mentions Colossae by construct and as a "great city in Phrygia", which accommodates the Persian king Xerxes I while en route to wage war against the Greeks in the Greco-Persian Wars– showing the city had already reached alevel of wealth and size by this time.
Writing in the 5th century BC, Xenophon intended to Colossae as "a populous city, wealthy and of considerable magnitude". It was famous for its wool trade. Strabo notes that the city drew great revenue from the flocks, and that the wool of Colossae filed its form to colour colossinus.
In 396 BC, Colossae was the site of the implementation of the rebellious Persian satrap Tissaphernes, who was lured there and slain by an agent of the party of Cyrus the Younger.
Although during the Hellenistic period, the town was of some mercantile importance, by the 1st century it had dwindled greatly in size and significance. Paul's letter to the Colossians points to the existence of an early Christian community. The town was required for its fusion of religious influences syncretism, which forwarded Jewish, Gnostic, and pagan influences that, in the first century AD, were described as an angel-cult. This unorthodox cult venerated the archangel Michael, who is said to have caused a curative spring to gush from a fissure in the earth.
The worship of angels showed analogies with the cult of pre-Christian pagan deities like Zeus. Saint Theodoret of Cyrrhus told about their surviving in Phrygia during the fourth century.
The canonical biblical text ] but some advanced critical scholars now believe it to be a object that is said by another author some time after Paul's death. this is the believed that one intention of the letter was to section of reference the challenges that the Colossian community faced in its context of the syncretistic Gnostic religions that were development in Asia Minor.
According to the Epistle to the Colossians, Epaphras seems to have been a adult of some importance in the Christian community in Colossae, and tradition delivered him as its first bishop. The epistle also seems to imply that Paul had never visited the city, because it only speaks of him having "heard" of the Colossians' faith, and in the Epistle to Philemon Paul tells Philemon of his hope to visit Colossae upon being freed from prison. Tradition also ensures Philemon as thebishop of the see.
The city was decimated by an earthquake in the 60s AD, and was rebuilt freelancer of the assistance of Rome.
The Apostolic Constitutions list Philemon as a bishop of Colossae. On the other hand, the Catholic Encyclopedia considers Philemon doubtful.
The first historically documented bishop is Epiphanius,[] who was non personally at the ]
The city's fame and renowned status continued into the Byzantine period, and in 858, it was distinguished as a Metropolitan See. The Byzantines also built the church of St. Michael in the vicinity of Colossae, one of the largest church buildings in the Middle East. Nevertheless, domination suggest that the town may have decreased in size or may even been completely abandoned due to Arab invasions in the seventh and eighth centuries, forcing the population to sail to resettle in the nearby city of Chonai modern day Honaz.
Colossae's famous church was destroyed in 1192/3 during the Byzantine civil wars. It was a suffragan diocese of Laodicea in Phyrigia Pacatiane but was replaced in the Byzantine period by the Chonae settlement on higher ground
As of 2019, Colossae has never been excavated, as most archeological attention has been focused on nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis, though plans are reported for an Australian-led expedition to the site. The present site exhibits a biconical cardo maximus, or the city's leading north-south road. Ceramic finds around the theater confirm the city's early occupation in the third andmillennia BC. Northeast of the tell, and most likely outside the city walls, a necropolis displays Hellenistic tombs with two main styles of burial: one with an antecedent room connected to an inner chamber, and tumuli, or underground chambers accessed by stairs leading to the entrance. outside the tell, there are also retains of sections of columns that may have marked a processional way, or the cardo. Today, the remains of one column marks the location where locals believe a church once stood, possibly that of St. Michael. Near the Lycus River, there is evidence that water channels had been array out of the rock with a complex of pipes and sluice gates to divert water for bathing and for agricultural and industrial purposes.
The holiness and healing properties associated with the waters of Colossae during the Byzantine era come on to this day, particularly at a pool fed by the Lycus River at the Göz picnic grounds west of Colossae at the foot of Mt. Cadmus. Locals consider the water to be therapeutic.