Also known as:
Greek: Kolossai;
Colossae in Phrygia
COLOSSAE (Κολόσσι, Κολοσί, Lat. Colosse). - A city of Greater Phrygia, on the left bank of the Lycus, 25 km from Laodicea. Built against the severe and picturesque backdrop of Mount Cadmus, on the road that linked Ephesus to central Asia, it was the most important city of southwestern Phrygia and an active commercial center, until it was eclipsed by Laodicea (v.), founded by Antiochus II Theos (261-46), which absorbed its traffic. For this reason, while Herodotus (VII, 30) and Xenophon (Anab., I, 2, 26) recall C. as a beautiful and populous city, and Pliny too (Hist. nat., V, 145), certainly referring to its past, places it among the oppida celeberrima, Strabo (XII, 576) on the other hand ranks it among the small cities (πολύματα). Of it, also as a consequence of the earthquakes that struck the region, scanty and unimportant ruins remain, 4 km from the present-day village of Khonas.
C. is remembered almost solely for the letter that St. Paul addressed to its Christian community (v. COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE). This had been founded, in all likelihood, while Paul was staying at Ephesus (54-57), during his third missionary journey, by Epaphras, who held a position of the first rank there (Col. 1, 7). It consisted predominantly of Gentile Christians (Col. 1, 21, 27; 2, 13), but Jews were not lacking, very numerous in the valley of the Lycus, as the errors that were spreading among the faithful seem to confirm. Epiphanius, bishop of C., took part in the Council of Chalcedon (451) and Dositheus in the Second Council of Nicaea (787). Today it is a titular Archbishopric.
Bibliography5 worksW. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, I, Oxford 1895, p. 208 ff.; id., The Church in the Roman Empire, 9th ed., London 1907, pp. 4
BIBL.: W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, I, Oxford 1895, p. 208 ff.; id., The Church in the Roman Empire, 9th ed., London 1907, pp. 466-80; E. Le Camus, Voyage aux sept Eglises de l'Apocalypse, Paris 1896, pp. 167-81; id., s. v. in DB, II, coll. 860-66; V. Schultze, Altschriftl. Städte und Landschaften, II, 1, Gütersloh 1923, pp. 445-50.
Teodorico da Castel S. Pietro. “Colosse (ΚΟΛΌΣΟΣΙ, κολόσι, lat. colosse).” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV, coll. 23–24. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/colosse-kolososi-kolosi-lat-colosse.
MLA
Teodorico da Castel S. Pietro. “Colosse (ΚΟΛΌΣΟΣΙ, κολόσι, lat. colosse).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, coll. 23–24. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/colosse-kolososi-kolosi-lat-colosse.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec4_colosse_kolososi_kolosi_lat_co,
author = {Teodorico da Castel S. Pietro},
title = {Colosse (ΚΟΛΌΣΟΣΙ, κολόσι, lat. colosse)},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {IV},
pages = {23--24},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/colosse-kolososi-kolosi-lat-colosse}
}
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