Laodicea is around 10 km from Hierapolis.
It’s easy to see why the Laodiceans may have been so self-satisfied. The town was very rich (lots of marble) and lying in a beautiful location. Even though the sky is overcast, we can still make out Pamukkale just across the valley. I imagine it was a popular spa resort for rich Laodiceans.
The town was a banking centre and so rich that it did not need imperial funds when it was destroyed by an earthquake.
It was also famous for its medical school, especially its eye salve, and its trade in black wool. Once again it strikes me how tailor-made to the local situation Jesus’s words to the church are: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see.” (Revelation 2:17f)
Jesus’s comment about the Laodiceans being so lukewarm that he was about to spit them out of his mouth also fits perfectly: Hierapolis had the healing water of the hot springs and Colossae, 12 miles south-east of Laodicea, had refreshing mountain streams, but once the water got to Laodicea it was lukewarm and sludgy. (I have read that the remains of the aqueducts still show thick layers of calcareous matter…)
