Colossae in Space and Time

The ancient site of Colossae in south-west Turkey has been sorely neglected by archaeologists and biblical commentators. It has never been excavated. Modern scholarship in general has been content to repeat nineteenth century assessments, especially those of J. B. Lightfoot and W. M. Ramsay. This is the first modern contribution to gather the archaeological, historical, classical and biblical materials related to the site and its region, some of which is published in English for the first time. It marks a major step forward in scholarship on Colossae, and is designed to restore Colossae to time and space, to its material and comparative significance. Colossae emerges as a site of uninterrupted human activity in dynamic interaction with its neighbours from before the Achaemenid period to beyond the end of Byzantine control. Evidence of a chalcolithic origin of Colossae is presented along with an assessment of the relationship of the site to the modern city of Honaz. An array of international scholars have brought their specialisations in various periods and disciplines to yield a radically new assessment of the history and importance of the site. All future scholarship will be able to use this volume as the necessary foundation for research. The volume includes the first chronology of the ancient site and the first English translation of the key Byzantine text centred on the ancient city, as well as major new insights into the text of the Epistle to the Colossians.

1;Front Cover;1 2;Title Page;4 3;Copyright;5 4;Table of Contents;6 5;Preface;8 6;Alan H. Cadwallader / Michael Trainor: Colossae in Space and Time: Overcoming Dislocation, Dismemberment and Anachronicity;10 7;Nicholas Sekunda: Changing Patterns of Land-Holding in the South-Western Border Lands of Greater Phrygia in the Achaemenid and Hellenistic Periods ;49 8;Rick Strelan: The Languages of the Lycus Valley;78 9;Hatice Erdemir: Woollen Textiles: An International Trade Good in the Lycus Valley in Antiquity;105 10;Rosalinde A. Kearsley: Epigraphic Evidence for the Social Impact of Roman Government in Laodicea and Hierapolis;131 11;Alan H. Cadwallader: Refuting an Axiom of Scholarship on Colossae: fresh insights from new and old inscriptions;152 12;Paul Trebilco: Christians in the Lycus Valley: the view from Ephesus and from Western Asia Minor;181 13;Harry O. Maier: Reading Colossians in the Ruins: Roman Imperial Iconography, Moral Transformation, and the Construction of Christian Identity in the Lycus Valley;213 14;Michael Trainor: Excavating Epaphras of Colossae;233 15;Bahad r Duman / Erim Konakçi: The Silent Witness of the Mound of Colossae: Pottery Remains;248 16;Alan H. Cadwallader: A stratigraphy of an ancient city through its key story: the archistrategos of Chonai;283 17;Appendix 1a: A Chronology of Colossae/Chonai;300 18;Appendix 1b: Colossae (Chonai) Nin Kronolojìk Tarihçesi;317 19;Appendix 2: The Story of the Archistrategos, St Michael of Chonai;324 20;Turkish Abstracts;332 21;Abbreviations;339 22;List of Figures;341 23;Contributors;343 24;Index of Ancient Texts;345 25;Index of Biblical References;349 26;Index of Inscriptions and Papyri;351 27;Modern Author Index;353 28;Index of Main Subjects;362 29;Back Cover;370