COLOSSE (Κολόσοσι, Κολόσι, lat. Colosse). — City of Greater Phrygia, on the left bank of the Lycus, 25 km from Laodicea. Built against the austere and picturesque backdrop of Cadmus, on the road linking Ephesus with central Asia, it was the most important city of south-western Phrygia and an active centre of commerce, until it was eclipsed by Laodicea (v.), founded by Antiochus II Theos (261–46), which absorbed its trade. Thus, while Herodotus (VII, 30) and Xenophon (Anab., I, 2, 26) mention C. as a beautiful and populous city, and Pliny too (Hist. nat., V, 145), certainly referring to its past, ranks it among the oppida celeberrima, Strabo (XII, 576), on the other hand, classifies it among the small cities (πολύματα). Of it, partly as a result of the earthquakes that struck the region, only 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. COLOSSESI, EPISTOLA ai). This community had probably been founded while Paul was residing in Ephesus (54–57), during his third missionary journey, by Epaphras, who held a position of prime importance there (Col. 1, 7). It consisted predominantly of ethnic Christians (Col. 1, 21,
27; 2, 13), but there were also Jews, very numerous in the Lycus valley, as seems to be confirmed by the errors that were spreading among the faithful. 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 archiepiscopal see.
Teodorico da Castel S. Pietro