Laodicea Combusta

Its surname ({{langx|la|Combusta}}) is derived by Straboxii. pp. 576, 579, xiii. pp. 626, 628, 637. (from the volcanic nature of the surrounding country), but HamiltonResearches, ii. p. 194. asserts that there is not a particle of volcanic or igneous rock in the neighbourhood, and it may be added that, if such were the case, the town would rather have been called, in Greek, Laodikeia tês katakekaumenês. The most probable solution undoubtedly is that the town was at one time destroyed by fire, and that on being rebuilt it received the distinguishing surname.

Some ancient authors describe it as situated in LycaoniaStephanus of Byzantium s. v.; Strabo xiv. p. 663. and others as a town of Pisidia,Socrates, Hist. Eccl. vi. 18; Hierocles p. 672. and Ptolemyv. 4. § 10. places it in Galatia, but this discrepancy is easily explained by recollecting that the territories just mentioned were often extended or reduced in extent, so that at one time the town belonged to Lycaonia, while at another it formed part of Pisidia. Its foundation is not mentioned by any ancient writer.

Laodicea was one of the five cities built by Seleucus I Nicator and named after his mother Laodice. It was restored by Claudius and received the name Claudiolaodicea in 41 AD which was used up to the end of the third century.{{cite book |last1=Breytenbach |first1=Cilliers |last2=Zimmermann |first2=Christiane |title=Early Christianity in Lycaonia and Adjacent Areas From Paul to Amphilochius of Iconium |date=December 2017 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004352520 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztBCDwAAQBAJ |access-date=8 October 2023}} There are a few imperial coins of Laodicea, belonging to the reigns of Titus and Domitian.Sestini, Mon. Ant. p. 95 ; comp. Droysen, Gesch. des Hellen. i. p. 663, foll. It was situated to the northwest of Iconium (now Konya), on the high road leading from the west coast to Melitene on the Euphrates. The apostle Paul passed several times by the town and many early Christians named their sons after him. From the fourth century there is evidence of aurarii, people either working or selling it, and it is likely that the town enjoyed some prosperity.

File:Heinrich Kiepert. Asia citerior.Lycaonia.jpg

Later, Laodicea was part of the Byzantine Empire and a major town in the Anatolikon theme. It was sacked in 770 by the Arabs who deported its population.{{cite book |last1=Treadgold |first1=Warren T. |title=A History of the Byzantine State and Society |date=October 1997 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804726306 |page=364 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYbnr5XVbzUC |access-date=6 October 2023}}

Numerous fragments of ancient architecture and sculpture have been found and visitors in the 19th century described seeing inscribed marbles, altars, columns, capitals, friezes, and cornices dispersed throughout the streets and among the houses and burying grounds. From this it would appear that Laodicea must once have been a very considerable town. Nowadays unfortunately almost no archaeological sites or monuments remain.

The Christian community of Laodicea might go back to the journeys of Paul and existed latest by the second century as attested by inscriptions. It seems that it was one of the most christianised places in the area. A bishop named Eugenius who had been persecuted during the Diocletianic persecution of Christians is known to have build a church, possibly a cathedral, according to his tomb.{{cite book |last1=Niewöhner |first1=Philipp |title=The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia From the End of Late Antiquity Until the Coming of the Turks |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190610463 |page=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgUmDwAAQBAJ |access-date=8 October 2023}} There is also evidence for a chorepiscopus for the middle of the fifth century as a participant at the Council of Chalcedon.{{cite book |last1=Huttner |first1=Ulrich |title=Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley |date=November 2013 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004264281 |page=283 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3HZfAgAAQBAJ |access-date=8 October 2023}} The only other known council where a bishop of Laodicea participated is the council of Constantinople in 692 AD.

Since 1933 it is a titular see but it has been vacant.{{cite web |title=Laodicea Combusta |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2l19.html |website=Catholic-Hierarchy |publisher=David M. Cheney |access-date=6 October 2023}}

• List of ancient Greek cities

{{Reflist}}

• Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, {{ISBN|0-691-03169-X}}, p. 63.

• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060602084633/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/gazetteer/0198.html Hazlitt, Classical Gazetteer, "Laodicea"]}}
• Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064&query=head%3D%236022 "Laodiceia"], London, (1854)

{{SmithDGRG|title=Laodiceia Combusta}}

{{Former settlements in Turkey}}

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Category:Archaeological sites in Central Anatolia

Category:Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey

Category:Former populated places in Turkey

Category:Populated places in Pisidia

Category:Populated places in ancient Lycaonia

Category:Populated places in Phrygia

Category:Hellenistic Phrygia

Category:Seleucid colonies in Anatolia

Category:Roman towns and cities in Turkey

Category:Populated places of the Byzantine Empire

Category:Geography of Konya Province

Category:Catholic titular sees in Asia

Category:Seleucus I Nicator