Spoke 7: The Biblewheel and The 7th Century - The Fate of Colossae

Spoke 7: The Biblewheel and The 7th Century
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The Fate of Colossae



Colossae is the city to whom the apostle wrote his epistle, the the 7th among the epistles (the 7th book of the 3rd cycle of the Biblewheel).

Colossae

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Colossae (/kəˈlɒsi/; Greek: Κολοσσαί) was an ancient city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, and was the location to which the Apostle Paul directed his Epistle to the Colossians. A significant city from the 5th Century BC onwards, it had dwindled in importance by the time of Paul, but was notable for the existence of its local angel cult. It was part of the Roman – and then Byzantine – province of Phrygia Pacatiana, before being destroyed in 1192/3 and its population relocating to nearby Chonae (modern day Honaz).

Location and geography

Colossae was located in Phrygia, in Asia Minor.^[1] It was located 15 km southeast of Laodicea on the road through the Lycus Valley between Sardeis and Celaenae.^[2] At Colossae, Herodotus describes how, "the river Lycos falls into an opening of the earth and disappears from view, and then after an interval of about five furlongs it comes up to view again, and this river also flows into the Maiander."^[3] Despite a treacherously ambiguous cartography and history, Colossae has been clearly distinguished in modern research from nearby Chonae (Χῶναι), now called Honaz, with what remains of the buried ruins of Colossae ("the mound") lying 3 km to the north of Honaz.^[4][5][6]

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Decimation and destruction

Colossae's famous church was destroyed in 1192/3 during the Byzantine civil wars. It was a suffragan diocese of Laodicea in Phyrigia Pacatiane but was replaced in the Byzantine period by the Chonae settlement on higher ground^[2]The city was decimated by an earthquake in the 60s AD, and was rebuilt independent of the support of Rome.^{[citation needed]} The city was later overrun by the Saracens in the 7th and 8th centuries AD.^{[citation needed]}

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossae