Hierapolis Ancient City: A Complete Guide
Hierapolis was founded as a Greco-Roman thermal spa city in the 2nd century BC, built specifically to take advantage of the same mineral springs that formed Pamukkale's terraces below. It remained an important city well into the Byzantine era, and the scale of what survives — a full ancient city layout rather than a single monument — is easy to underestimate from photos of the terraces alone. Walking through it properly, rather than rushing to the theatre and back, takes a good two to three hours.
The Theatre
The site's standout structure is a well-preserved Roman theatre that could accommodate thousands of spectators, carved into the hillside with the surrounding plain visible behind the stage. The stage building itself retains some of its original decorative carving, which is unusual for a structure this old, and it's still occasionally used for performances today.
The Plutonium
Associated in antiquity with a cave releasing toxic gas and regarded as a gateway to the underworld, the Plutonium gives some sense of why the ancient city treated this location as sacred rather than purely functional. Ancient writers described priests entering the cave and apparently surviving exposure to the gas that killed animals sent in before them — a phenomenon modern research links to naturally occurring carbon dioxide seeping from geological faults beneath the site, concentrated enough to be lethal to smaller animals close to the ground while sparing a taller human standing upright.
The Necropolis
One of the largest ancient burial grounds in Asia Minor, the necropolis stretches along the approach to the city and includes hundreds of tombs and sarcophagi spanning several centuries, from simple stone graves to elaborate family mausoleums. Walking through it on the way in, rather than skipping straight to the theatre, gives a much better sense of how large and how long-inhabited Hierapolis actually was.
The Martyrium of Saint Philip
Set on a hill above the main city, this octagonal structure marks the traditional site associated with the martyrdom of the apostle Philip, who according to tradition was killed in Hierapolis in the 1st century AD. It's a further walk from the main cluster of ruins and consequently sees far fewer visitors than the theatre or the travertines — a good option if you want a quieter corner of the site to yourself.
Getting around the ruins
The site is large enough that a golf-cart tour is a popular option for covering more ground without a long walk in the heat — worth considering if you're combining Hierapolis with a full visit to the terraces and Cleopatra's Pool in the same day. Independent walkers should budget extra time and water given how exposed most of the site is to direct sun.