“INTORNO ALLE PORTE, CONSACRATE RECINTI” GLI INGRESSI A HIERAPOLIS DI FRIGIA TRA ETÀ ROMANA E BIZANTINA

Abstract

Partly thanks to the extraordinary conservation of its monuments, Hierapolis in Phrygia constitutes an interesting case study
for understanding phenomena associated with the entrances to ancient cities and the multiple functions that tended to be concentrated
in these particularly sensitive parts of the urban layout. An exceptional epigraphical document, discovered in the Sanctuary
of Apollo, makes reference to the response of the oracle of Claros concerning ritual acts to be performed around the city gates in
order to ward off the serious epidemic that struck during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. In the area around the north entrance, from
the Flavian period onwards the “Frontinus Gate” constituted the confluence of multiple activities, giving rise to a process of monumentalisation
that duplicated, for travellers arriving in the Phrygian city, the main public buildings (Theatre, Agora, Basilica)
present in the heart of the settlement. In the early Byzantine period the forms and functions of the entrance to the city changed
profoundly.

Keywords: Hierapolis in Phrygia, City Gates, Sextus Frontinus, St Philip, colonnaded streets.