Hierapolis

Hierapolis, ancient Syrian city, now partly occupied by Manbij (Membij), about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Aleppo. The place first appears in Greek as Bambyce, but its Syrian name was probably Mabbog. The Seleucids made it the chief station on their main road between Antioch and Seleucia-on-Tigris. As a centre of the worship of the Syrian nature goddess Atargatis, it became known to the Greeks as the Holy City (Hierapolis).

In the 3rd century ce, Hierapolis was one of the great cities of Syria, but it thereafter declined. Hārūn al-Rashīd restored it at the end of the 8th century. Crusaders captured it in the 12th century, but Saladin retook it (1175), and later it became the headquarters of Hülegü and his Mongols, who completed its ruin. The remains of the city are extensive but are almost wholly of late date.