An Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis of Phrygia (Pamukkale)

This guide aims to present visitors to the site and the museum with some of the most interesting Greek inscriptions that they will encounter, helping to both read and understand them. The excavations conducted by the Italian Archaeological Mission have trebled the number of documents that were known at the end of the nineteenth century, now totalling over 1000. Starting in Hellenistic times, the inscriptions from Hierapolis shed light on all aspects of urban life, and provide information on the composition of the population, on institutions and government, on municipal and provincial roles, as well as on religion, productive sectors and the organisation of gilds, Greek-type contests and amphitheatre games, the activity of public benefactors, funerary rites, the Jewish community and the expressions of Christianity. The majority of the most significant documents have been published, and work is now directed towards producing a scientific corpus of all epigraphic material.