Philadelphia/ Alaşehir in medieval

The fact that Philadelphia was mentioned by John in the Book of Revelation part of theBible in much of a praise as one of the seven churches, has particularly attracted Christianecclesiastics throughout centuries. Indeed, the huge number of visits to the seven churchesand many books written about them are the result of this interest.Having been founded by Attalos Philadelphos II, King of Pergamon, between 150-138BC., the town was included into Roman lands upon the last will of the King in 133 BCE.Philadelphia gained importance especially from Roman Period onwards. Although the citywas damaged by an earthquake in 17 CE, it was reconstructed with the support of Tiberius.Likewise, it was honoured as Saviour of Temple in the beginning of the 300 CE and wascalled Little Athens because of its gorgeous festivals and temples.Our knowledge regarding the history of Philadelphia between 4th and 11th centuries (whenTurks entered into Anatolia) is limited. However, it is considered that the town was notaffected from Arabian and Persian assaults which led to huge amount of damage in manycenters, even the complete destruction of some cities and towns.From the 11th century to the late 14th century, Philadelphia was the scene of severalbattles with Turks. Having become a significant center of Thrakesion thema, the towngradually turned into a base for military campaigns of the Empire against the East. Thoughthe city became the vassal of Aydınoğulları Beyliği 1335, it continued its existence as theonly Christian city in Western Anatolia until its capture in 1390/91 by Bayezid II.Medieval architectural remains of the city are rather small in number and mostly preservedas ruins. Many parts of the city walls are lost among apartment buildings. The only remains ofSaint Ioannes Church, constructed probably as the cathedral of the city, has only three piersleft today. The large part of the building with mosaics, unearthed by a recent illicit excavationis still under the adjecent apartment buildings. Similarly, despite the fact that 12 hypogeumswas unearthed in 1976, only three of the hypogeums have reached today. The location of theChurch of Prophet Naum about which we only know through a photograph taken in thebeginning of 20th century was not found. The Monastery of the Mother of God and the OldAge Home are in ruins and some parts of them are still beneath the earth. The mostinformative data on the Monastery of the Mother of God are monastic documents, almost allof which are available today.