Hieropus Swaura - the ancient Hierapolis

The ruins of ancient Hierapolis follow the 1200 metre long and 6 metre wide road which is lined with columns all over the travertine terraces from north to south. The street of columns begins right behind a gate of three arches which had been built as a memorial to the Roman king Domitian about 84 B.C. To the north of the gate you will find the ruins of a bath which had been built during the Roman period and which consists of three different sections. During the Byzantine period this building had been used as a church. North of this building and next to the centre of the town you will find the northern Necropolis with about 1200 different tombs in the Anatolian style.  Because of these different styles of tombs you realise that people of different nationalities and culture had lived there. Tombs of Kilikian or Roman style are shaped like houses, showing a rectangular structure and consist of one or more floors. The tumulus tombs of the Lycean culture just have one door. Sarcophagi, mainly situated on high columns or platforms, are tombs of the Lycean people. Quite often you will find different information about the dead person in the tomb written and carved into the stone.

South of the Gate of Domitian, where the road of columns meets the former city wall, you will find another Byzantine gate, built from old used stones. South of this gate there are the ruins of a Byzantine basilica and again south of that there is the Roman bath, formerly consisting of five sections which today is used as a museum. Most of the antique treasures which have been found here today are in an exhibition at the pre-historic museum of Beyce Sultan. Next to the complex of the Roman bath you will find the ancient thermal bath with the ruins of historic columns and stones under the water. While swimming, you can see them. Right behind the pool, on top of the rocks of the main thermal spring, you will find the foundations of the old temple of Apollo and next to that the holy area of the goddess Kybele. This temple was formerly dedicated to the Frygian god, Men, who was the successor to Apollo.

The temple, which includes a cella and pronaos, was erected on a podium 20 metres in length and 15 metres wide, at the front of which there are six Corinthian columns. South of the temple, between the rocks, acting as a kind of natural corridor, there is a door which leads to the underground cave containing holy water. In ancient times this door was quite famous and very important, because it led directly into the world of t