DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0066
40 II. LAODICEIA : THE GRAECO-ROMAN CITY.
cp. II 17). Hence the letter to the Church says, ' I counsel thee to
buy of me (not the gold of the bankers of Laodiceia, but) gold refined
by fire that thou may est become rich.' A brief account of the chief
sources of its wealth and the staple of its trade may be appropriately
added here.
The territory is fertile ; but under the Turkish occupation it has
been allowed to pass to a large extent out of cultivation. The great
marshes in the lower parts of the valley were doubtless drained and
cultivated under the Empire. Still it is pretty certain that the Lycos
valley could not grow enough of grain to support the population of
so many great cities, and that a Seitones, to superintend and be
responsible for the corn supply, must have been a much needed
official in the state. Of the territory of Laodiceia, a considerable
proportion is not fine arable land, viz. that hilly ground which lies
between the Kadmos and the Kapros. Moreover the chief product
of the country and a main source of its wealth was wool; hence
a large part of its territory must have been given up to pasture.
§ 4. Woollen Manufactures. It was however as a manufacturing,
not as an agricultural, centre that Laodiceia became rich and greatI,
A fine kind of wool, soft in texture and glossy black in colour, grew
on the Laodicean sheep; and the manufacture of fine cloth, carpets,
and various kinds of garments, was the chief occupation of the city2.
A kind of small cheap cloak or upper garment, containing little cloth,
which was widely used in the eastern provinces, was manufactured
at Laodiceia, and called Laodicia or drrXd l/iana3. These cheap
cloaks, which are mentioned in inscr. 8, were apparently worn fastened
by a ' safety-pin' (fibula), and may probably be identified with the
d-rrXd (j>if3ov\a,7a>pia, which are mentioned in the Edict of Diocletian
regarding Prices (16, 2).
Another species of upper garment woven at Laodiceia was the
1 To the present day this district is Laodicia dicitur, dc qua vestis exit nonii-
one of the few parts of Turkey, in -which nata [quae dicittir] Laodicena. Compare
any native manufactures have retained Vestem solam et nominatam Laodicia
existence. The centres are now Kadi emittit quae sic vocatur Laodiciam, Tot.
Keui and Bulladan. Orb. Descr.; where Wadd. well explains
2 The colour was called Kopafr'is, Strab. restem solam as a translation of n7rXoO>'.
p. 578. A similar class of wool was The term djrXS probably refers to the
produced at Colossai (Strabo I.e.) and smallness of the cloak : v. Hesychius
at Canusium and Tarentum (Plinv VIII airXovs, iirhotdcs, ptxpov [fiariov. Further,
73 (l9°): CP' Edict. Dioclct. 16, 52 [ipiav Waddington quotes Jerome adv. Jorin.
Ttpcv\rtw)p> rj AaSiKrjvfjv). II 21, cd. Vallar.s, lincis el Sericis restibus
3 In the Descripiio Orbis sub Constantio, et . . . Laodiceac indumentis ornatus
24, we read of maximum cwitatem quae incedis.
cp. II 17). Hence the letter to the Church says, ' I counsel thee to
buy of me (not the gold of the bankers of Laodiceia, but) gold refined
by fire that thou may est become rich.' A brief account of the chief
sources of its wealth and the staple of its trade may be appropriately
added here.
The territory is fertile ; but under the Turkish occupation it has
been allowed to pass to a large extent out of cultivation. The great
marshes in the lower parts of the valley were doubtless drained and
cultivated under the Empire. Still it is pretty certain that the Lycos
valley could not grow enough of grain to support the population of
so many great cities, and that a Seitones, to superintend and be
responsible for the corn supply, must have been a much needed
official in the state. Of the territory of Laodiceia, a considerable
proportion is not fine arable land, viz. that hilly ground which lies
between the Kadmos and the Kapros. Moreover the chief product
of the country and a main source of its wealth was wool; hence
a large part of its territory must have been given up to pasture.
§ 4. Woollen Manufactures. It was however as a manufacturing,
not as an agricultural, centre that Laodiceia became rich and greatI,
A fine kind of wool, soft in texture and glossy black in colour, grew
on the Laodicean sheep; and the manufacture of fine cloth, carpets,
and various kinds of garments, was the chief occupation of the city2.
A kind of small cheap cloak or upper garment, containing little cloth,
which was widely used in the eastern provinces, was manufactured
at Laodiceia, and called Laodicia or drrXd l/iana3. These cheap
cloaks, which are mentioned in inscr. 8, were apparently worn fastened
by a ' safety-pin' (fibula), and may probably be identified with the
d-rrXd (j>if3ov\a,7a>pia, which are mentioned in the Edict of Diocletian
regarding Prices (16, 2).
Another species of upper garment woven at Laodiceia was the
1 To the present day this district is Laodicia dicitur, dc qua vestis exit nonii-
one of the few parts of Turkey, in -which nata [quae dicittir] Laodicena. Compare
any native manufactures have retained Vestem solam et nominatam Laodicia
existence. The centres are now Kadi emittit quae sic vocatur Laodiciam, Tot.
Keui and Bulladan. Orb. Descr.; where Wadd. well explains
2 The colour was called Kopafr'is, Strab. restem solam as a translation of n7rXoO>'.
p. 578. A similar class of wool was The term djrXS probably refers to the
produced at Colossai (Strabo I.e.) and smallness of the cloak : v. Hesychius
at Canusium and Tarentum (Plinv VIII airXovs, iirhotdcs, ptxpov [fiariov. Further,
73 (l9°): CP' Edict. Dioclct. 16, 52 [ipiav Waddington quotes Jerome adv. Jorin.
Ttpcv\rtw)p> rj AaSiKrjvfjv). II 21, cd. Vallar.s, lincis el Sericis restibus
3 In the Descripiio Orbis sub Constantio, et . . . Laodiceac indumentis ornatus
24, we read of maximum cwitatem quae incedis.