Church of Saint Philip's Sepulchre

The Church of Saint Philip's Sepulchre is a fourth or fifth century basilica built over a Roman era tomb, believed to be the sepulchre of the martyred apostle Philip. The church was built around a first century sacellum tomb belonging to the Roman period cemetery.

Overview

The church was discovered during the excavations in 2011 CE. The tomb was the object of intense veneration. From the narthex (entrance) the pilgrims could either climb a marble staircase to a platform above the tomb, or enter the church itself, in which the facade of the tomb was on the left of the central nave.

Surprisingly the tomb wasn’t discovered at the center of the octagonal hilltop martyrium as long expected, however, but in this newly excavated church about 40 yards to the east.

The Apostle Philip's remains are no longer in the tomb. It has been suggested was initially buried in this tomb and later the relics may have been relocated from Hierapolis to Constantinople in the late sixth century CE, and later potentially transferred to Rome, where they might have been placed in the newly consecrated Church of Saint Philip and Saint John (now known as the Church of the Holy Apostles). However, reports from the twelfth century CE indicate that Philip's remains were still observed in Constantinople, the Christian hub of Turkey.

Architecture

circa 90 CE

Tomb of Saint Philip
The facade (inspect) of the tomb, attributed to Saint Philip is constructed with travertine blocks and is surmounted by a tympanum. On the facade are numerous graffiti and holes made during the Byzantine time to attach metal ornaments. The funerary chamber (approx. 3.5 meters wide and 4 meters long) has stone benches on thres sides on which the corpses were laid.

To the right of the sepulchre, in the central nave, two baths for individual immersions, dating back to the fourth or fifth century CE, and two larger pools lined with marble slabs were discovered. Thus healing rituals were conducted in the sanctuary right next to the tomb, as in other Byzantine era sanctuaries of Anatolia (saint Michael in Germia and saint Thecla in Seleucia Pieria).

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See Also

• Martyrion of Saint Philip
• Ploutonion
• Theatre of Hierapolis
• List of Tombs in Ancient Hierapolis Necropolis

References

• Giorgio Bejor. Hierapolis. Le statue. vol. 3, Roma, Giorgio Bretschneider, 1991. ISBN 8876890637.
• Francesco D'Andria. Hierapolis. Le sculture del teatro. I rilievi con i cicli di Apollo e Artemide. vol. 2, Roma, Giorgio Bretschneider, 1985. ISBN 8876890866.
• The Art of the Roman Empire AD 100-450 by Susan Walker and Michael W. T. Tyler (1997).
• The City of Hierapolis: The Discovery and Excavation of an Ancient City in Anatolia by Francesco D'Andria and Angelika Driesch (2008).
• Hierapolis and the Pamukkale Travertine Terraces: Geological Formation and Cultural Preservation by Veli Şenel, Mehmet Özkul, and Fikret Dedeoğlu (2016).
• Grewe, Klaus (2009). "Die Reliefdarstellung einer antiken Steinsägemaschine aus Hierapolis in Phrygien und ihre Bedeutung für die Technikgeschichte. Internationale Konferenz 13.−16. Juni 2007 in Istanbul". In Bachmann, Martin (ed.). Bautechnik im antiken und vorantiken Kleinasien (PDF). Byzas. Vol. 9. Istanbul: Ege Yayınları/Zero Prod. Ltd. pp. 429–454. ISBN 978-975-8072-23-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-11.
• Filippo Masino, Giorgio Sobrà, La frontescena severiana del Teatro di Hierapolis di Frigia. Architettura decorazione e maestranze, in Sebastiano Ramallo, Nicole Röring (eds.) La scaenae frons en la arquitectura teatral romana, Cartagena 2010. ISBN 9788483719954.
• Filippo Masino, Giorgio Sobrà, A monumental Altar of Hadrianic age at Hierapolis in Phrygia, in Trinidad Nogale Basarrate, Isabel Rodà I Llanza (eds.), Roma y Las Provincias. Modelo y Difusión, Roma 2011, Vol. I, 169–181.
• Filippo Masino, Giorgio Sobrà, Ricerche e interventi nel Teatro, in Francesco D'Andria, Maria Piera Caggia, Tommaso Ismaelli (ed.s), Hierapolis di Frigia V. Le attività delle campagne di scavo e restauro 2004–2006, Istanbul 2012, 207–233.
• Ritti, Tullia; Grewe, Klaus; Kessener, Paul (2007). "A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications". Journal of Roman Archaeology. Vol. 20. pp. 138–163.
• Giorgio Sobrà, The analysis of the fragments from the scaenae frons of the Theatre at Hierapolis, in Filippo Masino. Giorgio Sobrà (eds.), Restoration and Management of Ancient Theatres in Turkey, Lecce 2012, 183–204. ISBN 978-88-6766-026-1.
• Dr. Cemil Toksöz - Pamukkale & Hierapolis; 1995, Eriṣ Turizm Tic Pazarlama, Denizli.
• Paul Arthur - Byzantine and Turkish Hierapolis, an archaeological guide; Ege Yayinlari, Istanbul, 2006, ISBN 975-8071-34-3.
• Hierapolis in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine Periods: New Evidence from the Excavations at Laodicea on the Lycus by R. R. R. Smith (2013).
• The Necropolis of Hierapolis in Anatolia: Research on the Burial Monuments and Interim Report of the 2003-2005 Excavations by Carlo Beltrame (2007).
• Pfanz, Hardy; Yüce, Galip; Gulbay, Ahmet H.; Gokgoz, Ali (2018). "Deadly CO2 gases in the Plutonium of Hierapolis (Denizli, Turkey)". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. doi:10.1007/s12520-018-0599-5.