Colossae
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Colossae or Colosse, was an ancient city of Phrygia, on the Lycus, which is a tributary of the Maeander River. It was situated about 12 miles above Laodicea, and near the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates. The site has never been excavated.
In 396 B.C., during the Persian Wars, the satrap Tissaphernes was lured to Colossae and slain by an agent of the party of Cyrus. Pliny tells that the wool of Colossae gave its name (colossinus) to the colour of the cyclamen flower. During the Hellenistic period, the town was of some mercantile importance, although by the first century it had dwindled greatly in size and significance.
It does not appear that St. Paul had visited this city when he wrote his letter to the church there (Col. 1:2), since he tells Philemon of his hope to visit it upon being freed from prison (see Philemon 1:22). It seems that Epaphras was the founder of the Colossian church (see Col. 1:7; 4:12).
This town fell into decay (possibly due to an earthquake), and the Byzantine town of Chonas or Chonum occupied a site near its ruins. A look at the classical, Byzantine, and otherwise medieval literature mentioning the site reveals a name change for part or all of Colossae to Kona or Chonae. The town was the birthplace of the medieval writers Nicetas Choniates and Michael Choniates.
In Byzantine and Russian art, the theme of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Kona is intimately interlocked with the site. The Monastery of the Miracle in the Moscow Kremlin, where the Russian tsars were baptized, was dedicated to the feast of the Miracle at Kona.
[edit] References
- Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897.
- Bennett, Andrew L. "Archaeology From Art: Investigating Colossae and the Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Kona." Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin 50.
