“HIERAPOLIS ALMA PHILIPPUM”: NEW EXCAVATIONS, RESEARCHES AND RESTORATIONS IN THE SANCTUARY OF THE APOSTLE

After the discovery in 2011 of the tomb of St Philip inside the large Byzantine Sanctuary dedicated to the memory of the Apostle, in the course of the 2012-2015 campaigns the Italian Archaeological Mission in Hierapolis intensified its research and restoration activities, especially in the area of the Church around the sepulchre. This period also saw the extraordinary development of historical investigations of early Christianity in the valley of the Lykos and the intensification of the archaeological research in the nearby cities of Laodicea and Tripolis on the Maeander. In this framework of profound renewal of our knowledge, of extraordinary importance is the discovery in 2015, in a room by the entrance to the Church, of a wall on which the pilgrims left numerous graffiti and painted inscriptions, with references to Philip the Apostle and invocations to the Lord. Other discoveries have made it possible to verify that the Sanctuary was a centre of health care and healing, with the production of medicinal substances, distributed in special ampullae that bear stamps with the image of St Philip.