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The Visual Atlas
Places, art and manuscripts across time. First era: the apostolic and early church, from Pentecost to the early fourth century.
Hierapolis
A town Paul mentions once in Colossians. In the fathers it is Papias's see and the grave of a Philip, and they are not sure which Philip.
- 37.926925
- 29.127859
The real question: when two people with the same name get folded into one, how do you pull them apart again? The hometown paper says the Olympic swimmer once lived on Elm Street. It was actually his cousin with the same name. Nobody lied. Which Philip is buried at Hierapolis?
Paul says Epaphras has great zeal for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis (Colossians 4:13). Papias is bishop of Hierapolis in Ignatius's time (Church History 3.36.2), and Eusebius quotes him at length (3.39). Polycrates says Philip, one of the twelve apostles, sleeps in Hierapolis with two of his daughters (3.31.3; 5.24.2). Apolinarius, bishop of Hierapolis, writes an apology to the emperor and against the Phrygian prophets (4.26.1; 5.16.1; 5.19.2).
Hierapolis is not named in Acts. It appears in the New Testament once, at Colossians 4:13.
Eusebius names Papias bishop of the parish of Hierapolis (Church History 3.36.2), and says Papias heard a wonderful tale from the daughters of Philip, who lived there (3.39.9). Polycrates places Philip and two daughters in Hierapolis and another daughter at Ephesus (3.31.3). Proclus says four prophetesses, Philip's daughters, were at Hierapolis with their tomb and their father's (3.31.4). Apolinarius of Hierapolis is named as a writer and a strong opponent of the new prophecy (4.26.1; 5.16.1).
No manuscript in the sources read here is tied to Hierapolis in this era.
Polycrates calls the Philip of Hierapolis one of the twelve apostles. Acts places Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, at Caesarea with four virgin daughters who prophesy (Acts 21:8-9), and Eusebius quotes that passage right after Proclus (Church History 3.31.5). The daughters suggest one family; the titles suggest two men. Eusebius does not resolve it. The list of the twelve among the dubious and spurious pieces attributed to Hippolytus has Philip crucified head downward at Hierapolis under Domitian. That is legend. Pleiades lists more than one ancient Hierapolis; the identification with the city at modern Pamukkale is drawn here from Colossians pairing it with Laodicea, and is an inference.
Not Hierapolis/Bambyke. Pleiades records that one as a settlement of Commagene, along with other places of the name. This entry is the Phrygian city named with Laodicea.
- Colossians 4:13
- Acts 21:8-9
- Colossians and Acts, checked in the King James Version
- Eusebius, Church History, trans. McGiffert, NPNF2 vol. 1 (1890), 3.31, 3.36, 3.39, 4.26, 5.16, 5.19, 5.24
- Pseudo-Hippolytus, On the Twelve Apostles, ANF vol. 5, Appendix of Dubious and Spurious Pieces
- Pleiades gazetteer, place 638860, Hierapolis/Pamukkale, places.csv
