. The Site GONCALI (LAODICEA AD LYCUM) Laodicea was once an
important city in Anatolia, built on a natural trade route. In
the Roman period it was the metropolis of Asia. It was a center
of banking and exchange and a cloth weaving center, where the
weavers used goats� wool. The wool was a distinctive jet black,
the color being the result of the minerals in the water the
sheep and goats drank. The city was founded by the Seleucid
Dynasty in the 3C BC. It was named after the wife of its
founder. For a period Laodicea belonged to the Kingdom of
Pergamum. During the early Christian period it prospered and an
important council was held there in the 4C AD in the name of
Christianity. The city was abandoned after a severe earthquake
in the 5C AD. Today Laodicea houses remains of a stadium, a
water tower (next to the stadium), a gymnasium and baths complex
(east of the stadium), an odeon (further away from the stadium
to the north), a nymphaeum, a few unidentified buildings
(probably civic buildings), a large Helleni