Note 37 — I. THE CHURCHES OF THE LYCUS.

Strabo xiii. 4. 14 (p. 629) says ὑπερβαλοῦσι δὲ τὴν Μεσωγίδα ... πόλεις εἰσὶ πρὸς μὲν τῇ Μεσωγὶδι καταντικρὺ Λαοδικείας Ἱερὰ πόλις, κ.τ.λ. He cannot mean that Hierapolis was situated immediately in or by the Mesogis (for the name does not seem ever to be applied to the mountains between the Lycus and Mæander), but that with respect to Laodicea it stood over against the Mesogis, as I have explained it in the text. The view in Laborde (pl. xxxix) shows the appearance of Hierapolis from Laodicea. Strabo had himself visited the place and must have known how it was situated. Some modern travellers however (e.g. Chandler and Arundell) speak of the plateau of Hierapolis as part of the Mesogis. Steiger (Kolosser p. 33) gets over the difficulty by translating Strabo’s words, ‘near the Mesogis but on the opposite side (i.e. of the Mæander) is the Laodicean Hierapolis’ (to distinguish it from others of the name); but καταντικρὺ cannot be separated from Λαοδικείας without violence.