Editing Colossae (section)

==History==
===Before the Pauline period===

{{expand section | a cohesive account of the history of the municipality and its peoples and cultures, as appear in many texts on the subject | small = no |date=February 2016}}

The first mention of the city may be in a 17th-century BC [[Hittite language|Hittite]] inscription, which speaks of a city called Huwalušija, which some archeologists believe is a reference to early Colossae. The 5th-century geographer [[Herodotus]] first mentions Colossae by name and said it was a "great city in Phrygia", which accommodates the Persian king [[Xerxes I]] while en route to wage war against the Greeks in the [[Greco-Persian Wars]], showing the city had already reached a certain level of wealth and size by this time.<ref>Trainor, Michael, ''Colossae - Colossal In Name Only?'' ''[[Biblical Archaeology Review]]'', March/April 2019, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 46.</ref> 
Writing in the 5th century BC, [[Xenophon]] said Colossae was "a populous city, wealthy and of considerable magnitude".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22003|title=The First Four Books of Xenophon's Anabasis|last=Watson|first=J. S.|publisher=Project Gutenberg|year=2007|page=6}}</ref>  [[Strabo]] said the city drew great revenue from its sheep, and that the wool of Colossae gave its name to a colour, ''colossinus''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44885|title=The Geography of Strabo, Volume 2 (of 3) by Strabo|page=334|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 396 BC Colossae was the site of the execution of the rebellious Persian satrap [[Tissaphernes]], who was lured there and slain by an agent of the party of [[Cyrus the Younger]].<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Tissaphernes |volume= 26 |short=x}}</ref>

===Pauline period===

During the [[Hellenistic]] period, the town was of some mercantile importance. By the 1st century it had dwindled greatly in size and significance.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAwqB33cr_wC&q=Colossae+first+century&pg=PA174|title=Colossae in Space and Time: Linking to an Ancient City|last1=Cadwallader|first1=Alan H.|last2=Trainor|first2=Michael|date=2011-12-07|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|isbn=9783647533971|language=en}}</ref>  [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]]'s letter to the Colossians points to the existence of an early Christian community. Colossae was home to the miracle near the Archangel church, where a sacristan named Archipos witnessed, how the Archangel Michael thwarted a plan by the heathens to destroy the church by flooding it with the waters of near-by mountain rivers. The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] commemorates this feast on 6(19) September.

[[File:Michael_Miracle_Icon_Sinai_12th_century.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The apparition of Archangel [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]] in the Springs of Colossae, depicted in the 12th century icon from the [[St. Catherine's Monastery]].]]
The canonical biblical text [[Epistle to the Colossians]] is addressed to the Christian community in Colossae. The epistle has traditionally been attributed to [[Paul the Apostle]] due to its autobiographical salutation and style,<ref>{{cite book |author=Beale, G.K. |year=2019 |title=Colossians and Philemon |series=Baker Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament |editor1=Yarbrough, Robert W |editor2=Jipp, Joshua W |pages=5–8 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-0-8010-2667-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=colossians+1&version=NIV| title = Colossians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To God's holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ}}</ref> but some modern critical scholars now believe it to be written by another author some time after Paul's death.<ref name="ODCC self">{{Citation | contribution = Colossians, Epistle to the | editor-last = Cross | editor-first = F.L. | title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | place = New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005}}.</ref> It is believed that one aim of the letter was to address the challenges that the Colossian community faced in its context of the syncretistic Gnostic religions that were developing in Asia Minor.<ref name="BruceNTH69">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RyJAAAAMAAJ|title=New Testament History|author=Bruce, Frederick Fyvie |publisher=Galilee/Doubleday|year=1980|isbn=0385025335|location=New York|pages=415f|quote=[Quoting:] Those churches which claimed an apostolic foundation attached great importance to the maintenance of the teaching which they had originally received. There were powerful forces at work in many of them which militated against the maintenance of that teaching; chief among these were those tendencies which in a few decades blossomed forth in the elaborate systems of the various schools of Gnosticism. One form of incipient Gnosticism is the syncretistic angel-cult of nonconformist Jewish foundation and pagan superstructure attacked in the Epistle to the Colossians.|access-date=17 February 2016|orig-year=1969}}</ref>

According to the Epistle to the Colossians, [[Epaphras]] seems to have been a person of some importance in the Christian community in Colossae,<ref>({{bibleverse||Col.|1:7|NSRV}}; {{bibleverse-nb||Col.|4:12|NSRV}})</ref> and tradition presents him as its first bishop.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pétridès, Sophrone |year=1908 |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |chapter=Colossae |location=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04131a.htm |quote=Colossæ was the home of...Onesimus and Epaphras, who probably founded the Church of Colossæ.}}</ref> The epistle also seems to imply that [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] had never visited the city, because it only speaks of him having "heard" of the Colossians' faith,<ref>{{bibleverse||Col.|1:4|NSRV}}</ref> and in the [[Epistle to Philemon]] Paul tells [[Philemon of Colossae|Philemon]] of his hope to visit Colossae upon being freed from prison.<ref>[[Philemon 1:22]]</ref> Tradition also gives Philemon as the second bishop of the see.

The city was decimated by an earthquake in the 60s AD, and was rebuilt independent of the support of Rome.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theologyofwork.org/new-testament/colossians-philemon/introduction-to-colossians-and-philemon/background-on-colossae-and-the-colossians|title=Background on Colossae and the Colossians {{!}} Bible Commentary {{!}} Theology of Work|website=www.theologyofwork.org|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

The Apostolic Constitutions list Philemon as a bishop of Colossae.<ref>{{cite book |translator=James Donaldson |year=1886 |title=Apostolic Constitutions. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. |chapter=(Book VII) Section 4 |location=Buffalo, NY |publisher=Christian Literature Publishing Co. |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/07157.htm |access-date=2018-12-28 |quote=Of Colossæ, Philemon.}}</ref> On the other hand, the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' considers Philemon doubtful.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pétridès, Sophrone |year=1908 |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |chapter=Colossae |location=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04131a.htm |access-date=2018-12-28 |quote=Besides St. Epaphras... Archippus and Philemon, especially the latter, are very doubtful.}}</ref>

The first historically documented bishop is Epiphanius,{{when|date=February 2016}} who was not personally at the [[Council of Chalcedon]], but whose metropolitan bishop Nunechius of [[Laodicea on the Lycus|Laodicea]], the capital of the [[Roman province]] of [[Phrygia Pacatiana]], signed the acts on his behalf.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

===Byzantine period and decline===
{{expand section | with SOURCED material relevant to its destruction by the Saracens and the Turks | small = no|date=February 2016}}
The city's fame and renowned status continued into the Byzantine period, and in 858, it was distinguished as a Metropolitan See. The Byzantines also built the church of St. Michael in the vicinity of Colossae, one of the largest church buildings in the Middle East. Nevertheless, sources suggest that the town may have decreased in size or may even been completely abandoned due to Arab invasions in the seventh and eighth centuries, forcing the population to flee to resettle in the nearby city of Chonai (modern day [[Honaz]]).<ref name="autogenerated47"/>

Colossae's church was destroyed in 1192/3 during the Byzantine civil wars. It was a suffragan diocese of Laodicea in Phyrigia Pacatiana but was replaced in the Byzantine period by the Chonae settlement on higher ground.<ref name=":0" />

===Modern study and archeology===
{{expand section | with SOURCED material relevant to the history of its mapping and historical and literary discussion (see further reading), and on plans for its excavation | small = no|date=February 2016}}
Most archeological attention has been focused on nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis.<ref name="autogenerated48">Trainor, Michael, ''Colossae - Colossal In Name Only?'' [[Biblical Archaeology Review]], March/April 2019, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 48.</ref> Excavations of Colossae began in 2021 led by Bariş Yener of Pammukale University in Denizli.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Borges |first=Jason |date=2022-09-06 |title=Excavations at Colossae |url=https://www.biblicalturkey.org/post/excavations-at-colossae |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=Biblical Turkey |language=en}}</ref> The first several years involve surface surveys to analyze pottery and survey the landscape. They hope to start digging in 2023–24.

The site exhibits a biconical [[acropolis]] almost {{convert|100|ft|m}} high, and encompasses an area of almost {{convert|22|acre}}. On the eastern slope there sits a theater which probably seated around 5,000 people, suggesting a total population of 25,000–30,000 people. The theater was probably built during the Roman period, and may be near an agora that abuts the ''[[cardo maximus]]'', or the city's main north–south road. Ceramic finds around the theater confirm the city's early occupation in the third and second millennia BC. Northeast of the [[tell (archaeology)|tell]], and most likely outside the city walls, a [[necropolis]] displays [[Hellenistic]] tombs with two main styles of burial: one with an antecedent room connected to an inner chamber, and [[tumulus|tumuli]], or underground chambers accessed by stairs leading to the entrance. Outside the tell, there are also remains of sections of columns that may have marked a processional way, or the ''cardo''. Today, the remains of one column marks the location where locals believe a church once stood, possibly that of St. Michael.<ref name="autogenerated48" /> Near the Lycus River, there is evidence that water channels had been cut out of the rock with a complex of pipes and sluice gates to divert water for bathing and for agricultural and industrial purposes.<ref>Trainor, Michael, ''Colossae - Colossal In Name Only?'' [[Biblical Archaeology Review]], March/April 2019, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 49.</ref>

===Modern legacy===
The holiness and healing properties associated with the waters of Colossae during the Byzantine era continue to this day, particularly at a pool fed by the Lycus River at the Göz picnic grounds west of Colossae at the foot of Mt. Cadmus. Locals consider the water to be therapeutic.<ref>Trainor, Michael, ''Colossae - Colossal In Name Only?'' [[Biblical Archaeology Review]], March/April 2019, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 50.</ref>