Hierapolis-Pamukkale
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How it came to be
Hierapolis began as a Hellenistic spa town beside hot springs that rise from a cliff almost 200 metres high in western Turkey. In 133 BC, when Attalus III of Pergamon left his kingdom to Rome, the city became part of the Roman province of Asia. An earthquake in AD 60 ruined it, and it was rebuilt with imperial help.
According to UNESCO the apostle Philip was martyred here around AD 80, and a martyrium in his honour stands outside the north-west wall. The city became a bishopric after 330, and in 531 Justinian raised its bishop to metropolitan rank. It was abandoned in the late 14th century.
Calcium carbonate in the spring water has built the white travertine terraces known as Pamukkale. Carl Humann excavated here in 1887, and Italian teams led by Paolo Verzone have worked on the site since 1957. Hotels built on the travertines were later removed, and in 1988 the site was inscribed under both cultural and natural criteria.
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