Laodikeia glass (hellenistic-late antiquity)

Laodikeia is 6 km north of Denizli Province; It is located within the borders of Eskihisar, Goncalı and Bozburun neighbourhoods. It has been among the most important cities of the region since the 3rd century B.C., when it was founded as a polis over the early settlements named Rhoas and Diospolis. Laodikeia, which has assumed the identity of a metropolitan city with its political and commercial power, hosts the Laodikeia Church, which was one of the most important temples of Christianity in Late Antiquity and whose name is mentioned in the Bible, as well as the magnificent structures dominated by the Pagan faith. It has been observed that all of the political, economic and religious factors in question affected the glass repertoire of the city from the very beginning. In addition to the rarely encountered imported form groups in Hellenistic Period, the glass used extensively in the city during the Middle and Late Imperial Periods also proves the place and importance of the city in the region with the concrete data obtained on the glass production of the Late Antiquity. Glass, which had an uninterrupted and densely use in Laodikeia from its foundation until the 7th century A.D. when it was abandoned, became an indispensable part of daily life and religious rituals.