Pamukkale, meaning cotton castle, is an ancient health resort in present day Turkey and a wonderfully different experience up close. A characteristic set of white terraces cover it’s hillsides giving rise to it’s name. They’re actually made of travertine, a sedimentary rock deposited by the warm mountain springs.
This stone has typically been used for construction and the romans made bases for statues or egyptian obelisks from it, letting harder materials like granite settle into the softer travertine. Travertine is also the main building material for the Colosseum.
People have enjoyed the warm springs in Pamukkale for millenia and during the 2nd centruy BCE it became a health resort at the behest of heirs to Alexander the Great. The Greco-Roman city of Heirapolis was founded on near the springs and would eventually have 100.000 inhabitants well into the Byzantine era.
Inside the former roman bath complex, later convertet to a Byzantine basiclica, is an archeological museum today with artifacts from Heirapolis and the surrounding area. Among the ruins strewn across the hills is the roman theatre, built in the time of Hadrian in 129 CE. Heirapolis suffered large earthquakes during both Nero and Tiberius and was rebuilt several times.
The city was renovated again under Septimus Severus (193-211) who did much renovating across the empire and Caracalla also visited the city in 215 CE bestowing it with the title of neocoros (imperial sanctuary rights) which ensued a golden age. Hierapolis prospered into the Byzantine era until the 6th century after 7th century attacks by persian armies and another major earthquake resulted in it’s decline and eventual abandonment.
Song in the film: “Doomsday Trilogy” by Hands of Doom
Journey Thru History, Perseus Records ® 2015
journey thru history 