=14.= Besides the seven cities forming the sites of the famous seven churches of Asia, there are two others to be noticed, =Colosse= and =Hierapolis=. The former was written to by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians. Nothing remains but a few fragments of broken columns and building stones.
=Hierapolis= received its name from its remarkable hot springs. At one place the deadly gas (carbonic dioxide) exhaled from the opening of a cave where the spring was located, and this exhalation caused death to animals and men. This fact originated the superstition that some divinity presided over the city, and hence it became called Hierapolis, “the holy city.” About the time of the apostles there was so great an abundance of the water supply that baths were built in every part of the city. The waters are so heavily charged with lime that they deposit stalactites and stalagmites in every direction, and the whiteness of the rock and ground over which the waters flow is so general that the place may be seen at a great distance, and because of its dazzling whiteness it receives the name of Pembouk Kalessi, “Cotton Castle.” It is only mentioned in Col. 4:13.
The apostle John, who outlived the rest of the apostles, seems to have had a special interest in those seven churches of Asia. He is said to have exercised a pastoral care over them all, but at some time after the death of Paul he went to Ephesus and dwelt there. He was banished to Patmos, probably by the Emperor Domitian, A. D. 95, where he wrote the Revelation.
This little rugged island was used as a place of banishment of Roman criminals. It is 32 miles west of the coast of Asia Minor, and is rocky and barren and about 28 miles in circumference. It has a port on the east where is a deep indentation. The population at present is 4,000, all Greeks and a seafaring people. On a height above the principal town is a large convent, resembling a fortress, where are said to be some valuable manuscripts.
On his return from banishment John went back to Ephesus, where he died at the great age of 95, A. D. 100. He was known to the last as the Holy Theologian, and the present name of the little village, Ayasoluk, near Ephesus, is the Turkish form of the Greek Hagios-Theologos, the Holy Theologian.