Amphitheater at Hierapolis

Hierapolis is a ancient city right beside Pamukkale. It is a city which thrived because of the presence of hot springs. It is a marvel that the travertine terraces of Pamukkale survived to this day but Hierapolis itself didn’t. I would have imagined that people would be just as marveled at the terraces just like we still are. However, the ancient Greeks and Romans didn’t have to deal with social media and they didn’t need to take photos of themselves by the terraces. I guess this also helps preserve the terraces. Or they just know how to take care of it, much better than we can.

Hierapolis is spread out over a large area and it would not be possible for me to visit all of these sites, I would be visiting the closer ones and that would be it. I would be starting at the Amphitheater at Hierapolis. Like a lot of major Roman cities, Hierapolis has its own amphitheater. Amphitheaters are the Roman equivalent of the cinema. There would be performances here to entertain the people. The amphitheater at Hierapolis is built on the side of a hill, so this means visitors would first need to climb up the hill to see the amphitheater. It isn’t a very tall hill, it is just that it was blazing hot that it makes it difficult to walk. At least we now have our shoes on. The theater is thought to have been built in the second century and looking at it right now, you won’t even think that it is almost two thousand years old. I am pretty sure that the was a lot of restoration that happened over the centuries but this is really a very well maintained piece of history.

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