(anc. geog.), a town of Phrygia, abounding in hot springs; and having its name from the number of its temples. There are coins exhibiting figures of various gods who had temples here. Of this place was Epictetus the Stoic philosopher.—It is now called Pambouk; and is situated near the Scamander, on a portion of Mount Melogis, distant six miles from Laodicea.—Its site appears at a distance as a white lofty cliff; and upon arriving at it, the view which it presents is so marvellous (says Dr Chandler), that the description of it, to bear even a faint resemblance, ought to appear romantic. Dr Chandler's description is as follows:

"The vast slope which at a distance we had taken for a small channel on the top. A woman was washing linen Hierapolis, in it, with a child at her back; and beyond were cabins of the Turcomans, standing distinct, much neater than any we had seen, each with poultry feeding, and a fence of reeds in front.

"It is an old observation, that the country about the Maeander, the soil being light and friable, and full of salts generating inflammable matter, was undermined by fire and water. Hence it abounded in hot springs, which, after passing under-ground from the reservoirs, appeared on the mountain, or were found bubbling up in the plain or in the mud of the river; and hence it was subject to frequent earthquakes; the nitrous vapour compressed in the cavities, and sublimed by heat or fermentation, bursting its prison with loud explosions, agitating the atmosphere, and shaking the earth and waters with a violence as extensive as destructive; and hence, moreover, the subterranean grottos, which had subterraneous communications with each other, derived their noisome effluvia; and serving as smaller vents to these furnaces or hollows, were regarded as apertures of hell, as passages for deadly fumes rising up from the realms of Pluto. One or more of the mountains perhaps has burned. It may be suspected, that the surface of the country has in some places been formed from its own bowels; and in particular, it seems probable, that the hill of Laodicea was originally an eruption.

"The hot waters of Hierapolis have produced that most extraordinary phenomenon, the cliff, which is one entire incrustation. They were anciently renowned for this species of transformation. It is related, they changed so easily, that being conducted about the vineyards and gardens, the channels became long fences, each a single stone. They produced the ridges by our tent. The road up to the ruins, which appears as a wide and high causeway, is a petrification; and overlooks many green spots, once vineyards and gardens, separated by partitions of the same material. The surface of the flat, above the cliff, is rough with stone and with channels, branching out in various directions, a large pool overflowing and feeding the numerous rills, some of which spread over the slope as they descend, and give to the white stony bed a humid look, resembling salt or driven snow when melting. This crust, which has no taste or smell, being an alkaline, will ferment with acids; and Picenini relates, that trial of it had been made with spirit of vitriol. The waters, though hot, were used in agriculture.

"Tamerlane, when he invaded this country, encamped for the summer at Tangazlik, where many of his men were destroyed by drinking of a spring which stagnated and petrified. The Turkish name Pambouk signifies cotton; and, it has been said, refers to the whitening of the incrustation.

"The shepherd-poet of Smyrna, after mentioning a cave in Phrygia sacred to the Nymphs, relates, that there Leda had once descended from the sky to Endymion, while he was sleeping by his herds; that marks of their bed were then extant under the oaks; and that in the thickets around it the milk of cows had been spilt, which men still beheld with admiration (for such was the appearance if you saw it very far off); but that from thence flowed clear or warm water, which in a little while concreted round about the channels, and formed a stone pavement. The writer describes the cliff of Hierapolis, Hierapolis, if I mistake not, as in his time; and has added a local story, current when he lived. It was the genius of the people to unite fiction with truth; and, as in this and other instances, to dignify the tales of their mythology with fabulous evidence taken from the natural wonders in which their country abounded.

"We ascended in the morning to the ruins, which are on a flat, passing by sepulchres with inscriptions, and entering the city from the east. We had soon the theatre on our right hand, and the pool between us and the cliff. Opposite to it, near the margin of the cliff, is the remains of an amazing structure, once perhaps baths, or, as we conjectured, a gymnasium; the huge vaults of the roof striking horror as we rode underneath. Beyond it is the mean ruin of a modern fortress; and farther on are massive walls of edifices, several of them leaning from their perpendicular, the stones distorted, and seeming every moment ready to fall; the effects and evidences of violent and repeated earthquakes. In a recess of the mountain on the right hand is the area of a stadium. Then again sepulchres succeed, some nearly buried in the mountain-side, and one a square building, with an inscription in large letters. All these remains are plain, and of the stone created by the waters. The site has been computed about two hundred paces wide and a mile in length.

"After taking a general survey, we returned to the theatre, intending to copy inscriptions, and examine more particularly as we changed our situation. We found this a very large and sumptuous structure, and the least ruined of any we had seen. Part of the front is standing. In the heap which lies in confusion, are many sculptures well executed in basso relievo; with pieces of architecture inscribed, but disjointed; or so encumbered with massive marbles, that we could collect from them no information. The character is large and bold, with ligatures. The marble seats are still unremoved. The numerous ranges are divided by a low semicircular wall, near mid-way, with inscriptions on the face of it, but mostly illegible. I copied a short but imperfect one, in which Apollo Archegetes of The Leader is requested to be propitious. In another compartment, mention is made of the city by its name Hierapolis; and on a third is an encomium in verse, which may be thus translated, "Hail, golden city Hierapolis, the spot to be preferred before any in wide Asia; revered for the rills of the Nymphs; adorned with splendor." The Nymphs presided over springs and fountains.

"After attentively viewing them, and considering their height, width, and manner of arrangement, I am inclined to believe, that the ancient Asiatics sat at their plays and public spectacles like the modern, with their legs crossed or gathered under them; and it is probable upon carpets.

"The waters of Hierapolis were surprisingly tempered for tingling wool, with a colour from roots rivalling the more costly purples; and were a principal source of the riches of the place. The company of dyers is mentioned in the inscription on the square building among the sepulchres. That heroum or monument was to be crowned by them with garlands or festoons of flowers. The springs flowed so copiously, that the city was full of spontaneous baths; and Apollo, the tutelar deity of the Hierapolitans, with Esculapius and Hygiea, on their medals, bear witness to the medicinal virtues which they possess. The people, in some of their inscriptions, are styled the most splendid, and the senate the most powerful.

"The pool before the theatre has been a bath, and marble fragments are visible at the bottom of the water, which is perfectly transparent, and of a briny taste.

"Hierapolis was noted, besides its hot waters, for a plutonium. This was an opening in a small brow of the adjacent mountain, capable of admitting a man, and very deep, with a square fence before it, inclosing about half an acre; which space was filled with black thick milt, so that the bottom could be scarcely discerned. The air, to those who approached it, was innocent on the outside of the fence, being clear of the milt in serene weather, it remaining then within the boundary; but there death abode. Bulls, as at Nyssa, dropt down, and were dragged forth without life; and some sparrows which Strabo let fly instantly fell senseless. But eunuchs, the priests of Magna Mater, or Cybele, could go in quite to the aperture, lean forward, or enter it unharmed; but they held their breath, as their visages testified, and sometimes until in danger of suffocation. Strabo, the relater, was in doubt whether all eunuchs could do this, or only they of the temple; and whether they were preserved by Divine Providence, as in cases of enthusiasm, or were possessed of some powerful antidotes. But it is likely this milt was the condensed steam of the hot waters, made noxious by the qualities of the soil; and that the whole secret of the priests consisted in carrying their faces high in the air, as another spectator has observed they always did; and in avoiding respiration when they stooped. I had hoped the description of this spot would have enabled me to find it, but I searched about for it unsuccessfully.

"We descended to our tent at the approach of evening, by a steep track down the cliff, beginning beyond the pool, in which we also bathed with pleasure, on the side next the gymnasium. Our way was often rough and slippery, resembling ice, and our horses with difficulty preserved their footing. When arrived at our tent, I renewed my inquiries for the plutonium; and an old Turk, with a beard as white as snow, told me he knew the place, that it was often fatal to their goats; and accounting for the effect, said, it was believed to be the habitation of a demon or evil spirit. We ascended again early in the morning to the theatre, where he had promised to join us; and a live fowl was intended to be the martyr of experiment." But our author was interrupted by some banditti, and obliged to leave Hierapolis in haste.