HIERAPOLIS, in Phrygia, stood on a small tributary of the Mæander, from which it was distant 15 or 20 miles, and was 5 miles N. of Laodicea. It was celebrated for the worship of Cybele, here celebrated with great pomp, for its warm springs, which formed stalactites sometimes attaining an immense size, and for its Plutonium. This was a large cave, from a fissure in the floor of which exhaled a noxious vapour, said to poison all who breathed it except the priests
of Cybele. The city was probably founded by the Greeks, though the history, alike of its rise and of its decay, is unknown. Its ruins, which are near a place called Pambuk-Kaleesi, have often been visited and described by modern travellers, who likewise describe the extant stalactites, some of which have now reached the size of small hills.