Pamukkale [antikvár]

ITS GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY Hierapolis is seventeen kilometers to the north of Denizli and it is 1840 m high. This height is 100-150 m above Lycos plains and 360 m above the sea. It came into existance through geologically broken and scattered-around earth layers. On the 3rd km of the Denizli, Burdur, Afyonkarahisar highway there is a turning to the north. This road which is 11 km long leads to Pamukkale. On the other hand, a train can be taken up to Yoncali and by following the same road Pamukkale can be reached. In the antique times it was inhabited by the natives, the Luvis (1900 B.C.) Between the years 550-500 B.C. there was a city called Idrara or (Kidrara). This was the most civilised city of the Lycos valley. The people of this city, who were called Hydraleitar, ruled over wide lands including Manisa in the north, Collosia in the east and Laodica in the south. As Hydrala started to lose its importance with time, people started to gather around Hieron and they built a temple there. In the second Century B.C., King Attalos 11., the king of Pergamon, built a new city in place of this holy town after winning a war against the Seleykos. This city was named after Hiera, the wife of the Mysian king and founder of Pergamon. Thus the -city Hierapolis was also called he "Holy City." The oldest inscription belonging to this city is an order, written in the honor of Apollonis, the mother of Eumenis. Being on the earthquake zone, the city came down with various earthquakes, but was rebuilt. In 133 B.C. Pergamon was dirctly connected to Rome after the will of King Attalos 111. and like all the other small cities connected to this kingdom, Hierapolis got connected to Rome.