Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/138

 122 LAODICEIA. of the hill may possibly have belonged to the temple of Juno Sospita; and a small portion of a theatre, brought to light by excavations in 1832, are all that are now visible. The inscriptions discovered on the spot belong principally to the time of the Antonines, and excavations in the last century brought to light many statues of the same period. (Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, vol. ii. pp. 173 — 187 ; Abeken, Mittel Italien, p. 215.) Lanuvium, as ah'eady observed, was situated at a short distance from the Appian Way, on the right of that road : the station " Sub Lanuvio," marked in the Tabula Peutingeriana between Aricia and Tres Tabernae, was evidently situated on the high road, probably at the eighteenth milestfine from Rome, from which point a branch road led directly to the ancient city. (Westphal, Rom. Kamj). p- 28 ; jSIibby, l.c.) The remains of two other ancient roads may be traced, leading from the W. and S. of the city in the direction of Antium and Aatura. The existence of this line of communication in ancient times is incidentally referred to by Cicero («cZ Ait.xu. 41, 43, 46). The tract of country extending S. of Lanuvium in the direction of Antium and the Pon- tine marshes, was even in the time of Strabo very unhealthy (Strab. v. p. 231), and is now almost wholly depopulated. [E. H. B.] LAODICEIA CO.MBUSTA (AaoS'iKna KaraKe- Ka.viJ.ivy) or KiKaif-Uvrj), one of the five cities built by Seleucus I., and named after his mother Seleuca. Its surname (Lat. Combusta) is derived by Strabo (xii. pp. .576, 579, xiii. pp. 626, 628, 637) from the volcanic nature of the surrounding country, but Hamilton {Reseaixhes, ii. p. 194) asserts that there is " not a particle of volcanic or igneous rock in the neighbourhood;" and it may be added that if such were the case, the town would rather have been called A. ttjs KaraKeKav/xhris. The most probable solution undoubtedly is, that the town was at one time destroyed by fire, and that on being rebuilt it received the distinguishing surname. It was si- tuated on the north-west of Iconium, on the high road leading from the west coast to IIelitene on the Euphrates. Some describe it as situated in Lycaonia (Steph. B. 5. V. ; Strab. xiv. p. 663), and others as a town of Pisidia (Socrat. Hist. Eccl. vi. 18 ; Hierocl. p. 672), and Ptolemy (v. 4. § 10) places it in Galatia ; but this discrepancy is easily explained by recollecting that the territories just mentioned were often extended or reduced in extent, sothat at one time the town belonged to Lycaonia, while at another it formed part of Pisidia. Its foundation is not men- tioned by any ancient writer. Both Leake {Asia Minor, p. 44) and Hamil- ton identify Laodiceia with the modern Ladik ; and the former of these geographers states that at Ladik he saw more numerous fragments of ancient architecture and sculpture than at any other place on his route through that country. Inscribed marbles, altars, columns, capitals, friezes, cornices, were dispersed throughout the streets, and among the houses and burying grounds. From this it would appear that Laodiceia must once have been a very considerable town. There are a few imperial coins of Laodiceia, behiuging to the reigns of Titus and Domitian. (Sestini, Mon. Ant. p. 95 ; comp. Droysen, Gesch. des IMlen. i. p. 663, foil.) [L. S.] LAODICEIA AU LYCUM (Aao5i'«ia -wphs rS .vKCf> : Eski Hissar), a city in the south-west of LAODICEIA. Phrygia*, about a mile from the rapid river Lycus, is situated on the long spur of a hill between the narrow valleys of the small rivers Asopus and Caprus, which discharge their waters into the Lycus. The town was originally called Diospolis, and afterwards Rhoas (Plin. v. 29), and Laodiceia, the building of which is ascribed to Antiochus Theos, in honour of his wife Laodice, was probably foianded on the site of the older town. It was not far west from Colossae, and only six miles to the west of Hierapolis. {It. Ant. p. 337; Tab. Pent. ; Strab. xiii. p. 629.) -4.t first Laodiceia was not a place of much importance, but it soon acquired a high degree of prosperity. It suffered greatly during the ]Iithridatic War (Appian, Bell. Mithr. 20 ; Strab. xii. p. 578), but quickly recovered under the dominion of Rome ; and towards the end of the Republic and under the first emperors, Laodiceia became one of the most important and flourishing commercial cities of Asia Minor, in which large money transactions and an extensive trade in wood were carried on. (Cic. ad Fain. ii. 17, iii. 5 ; Strab. xii. p. 577 ; comp. Vitruv. viii. 3.) The place often suifered from earthquakes, especially from the great shock in the reign of Tiberius, in which it was completely destroyed. But the inha- bitants restored it from their own means. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 27.) The wealth of its inhabitants creared among them a taste for the arts of the Greeks, as is manifest from its ruins ; and that it did not remain behind-hand in science and literature is attested by the names of the sceptics Antiochus and Theiodas, the successors of Aenesidemus (Diog. Laert. ix. 11. § 106, 12. § 116), and by the existence of a great medical school. (Strab. xii. p. 580.) During the Roman period Laodiceia was the chief city of a Roman conventus. (Cic, ad Fam. iii. 7, ix. 25, xiii. 54, 67, xv. 4, ad Att. v. 15, 16, 20. 21, vi. 1, 2, 3, 7, in Verr. i. 30.) Many of its inhabitants were^Jews, and it was probably owing to this cir- cumstance, that at a very early period it became one of the chief seats of Christianity, and the see of a bishop. (St, Paul, Ep. ad Coloss. ii. 1, iv. 15, foil. ; Apocal. iii. 14, foil. ; .loseph. Ant. Jud. xiv. 10, 20 ; Hierocl. p. 665.) The Byzantine writers often mention it, especially in the time of the Com- neni ; and it was fortified by the emperor Manuel. (Nicet. Chon. Ann. pp. 9, 81.) During the invasion of the Turks and Jlongols the city was much ex- posed to ravages, and fell into decay, but the exist- ing reruains still attest its farmer greatness. The ruins near Denisli are fully described in Pococke's, Chandler's, Cockerell's, Arundel's and Leake's works. " Nothing," says Hamilton {Researches, vol. i. p. 515), "can exceed the desolation and melancholy appearance of the site of Laodiceia ; no picturesque features in the nature of the ground on which it stands relieve the dull uniformity of its undulating and barren hills; and with few exceptions, its grey and widely scattered ruins possess no architectural merit to attract the .attention of the traveller. Yet it is impossible to view them without interest, when we consider what Laodiceia once was, and how it is connected with the early history of Christianity. Its stadium, gymnasium, and theatres (one of which is in a state of great preservation, with its Soph. 1. 25) call it a town of Caria, while Stephanus B. {s. v.) describes it as belonging to Lydia ; which ari.-es from the uncertain frontiers of these countries.
 * Ptolemy (v. 2. § 18) and Philostratus ( Vit.