HIEL (S^-n • brother of God ' or • he who.se brother is God.' The name is a contraction of Sx-rx Ahiel, and this form appears in LXX ['Ax"<X B, 'Ax")X A]. Cf. DTn for D-i'-.s, and Phoen nsVsn for nD^DnK). — A Betlielite, famed as the rebuilder of Jericho, in the reign of Ahab (1 K 16"). He is said to have laid the foundations of the city at the cost of the life of Abiram his firstborn son, and to have set up the gates with the loss of his youngest son Segui) ; in fulfilment of Joshua's curse pronounced against the rebuilder of Jericho (Jos G-*). The meaning of this statement possibly is that the builder sacrificed his sons, perhaps by enclosing them alive in the foundation and wall, in order to secure the prosperity of the city by this costly blood-otlcring. See FOUNDATION. Or, the tradi- tion may have been that, through failure to perform such a rite, his eldest and youngest bom sons were claimed by the otl'ended deity at the initiator}' and final stages of the building operations. For in- stances, from various sources, of tlie widespread primitive custom of human sacrifice ' in onier to furnish blood at the foundations of a house or of a public structure,' cf. U. C. Trumbull, The Thrcs- nnld Covenant, p. 46 IT. It may be urged, however, that the language of I K 16" implies not a usual practice, but the occurrence of something inrvlun- tary on the part of Hiel ; e.g. that the death of his sons was the result of accidents during the building operations. C. F. BintNKY.
HIERAPOLIS ('\tpiiro\i%, in more classical form 'Upd lluXi!, and in ruder native Greek ' UpiroXn), a city on tlie north edge of the Lycus valley,
• The rcndcrinjc of B ia not found at t.** hut after v.», wliprfl it is out of place. ItM omisMioo in the finil iuslauc« would appear to be accidental.
380
HIERAPOLIS
HIGH, lllLiii.MlNDED
probably originally Lylian, but in tlie Roman iiorioJ always reckoned to Pliryj;ia, played alii^'hly important part in the early history of Christianity. Ill the Bible it is mentioned only in Col 4'' in association with Laodicoa. Standing on the site on the north edge of the Lycus valley, one looks d'le south across the hollow valley about 6 miles to Laodicea on a slight rising ground, while Coloss;e, about 12 miles distant to the southeast, is concealed by the low hills that separate the upper or Colossian glen from tlic lower or Laodicean glen of the Lycus. Ilierapolis, probably, was originally the ' Holy City ' of the tribe llydrelitai, which possessed the north bank of the Lycus ; and Kydrftra (i.e. Kydrfila, Ilydrdia) in Herod, vii. 31 is probably another name for it. It was marked out to the inhabitants by its marvellous medicinal hot springs as the place where divine power was plainly present. The water of these springs is strongly impregnated with alum (being on that account very useful for dyeing purposes), as Hamilton mentions, and it forms a calcareous deposit with extraordinary rapidity, so that the site is almost entirely covered with encrustation formed since the city was ruined, while the pre- cipitous rocks on the south side of the city, over wliich the water tumbles in many rivulets, have been transformed into the appearance of 'an immense frozen cascade' (Chandler).* Even more remarkable was the Ploutonion or Charonion, a hole just large enough to admit a man, reaching deep into the earth, from which issued a poisonous vapour, the breath of the realm of death. Strabo had with his own eyes seen sparrows stilled by tliis vapour. The city, though devoid of political importance, derived high social consequence and prosperity in the peaceful Roman period from its religious character ; and here, as the special strong- hold of Satan, Christianity fixed itself from the first. The filling up of the Cliaronion, the dwell- ing place of the hostile power, may be plausibly attributed to Christian action in the 4th cent.
From the NT narrative (Ac I'J'" and Col) it is dear that the Church in Hierapolis was founded through the influence difTused over .\sia from St. Paul's residence in Ephesus (perhaps l>y Timothy, Col 1'). But later legends t describe the Aiiostle Philip as the evangelist both of Tripolis (about 10 miles to the north-west, and also in view) and of Hierapolis, in which the Apostle John also preached; and the Hierapolitan Echidna (i.e. the serpent- form in which the Phrygian god Sabazios was there and everywhere represented) is described as their special enemy. It appears well attested that Philip preached and resided in Hierapolis, and that ne was buried there with his two daughters, who were virgins, while a third daughter of his was married and buried in Ephesus (Eusebius, HE iii. 31, quoting Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus about A.D. 190). Owing (io mere confusion of name, Philip the deacon (who had four prophetic daughters, Ac 21') is connected by some authorities with Hierapolis ; but legend and an inscription J found in the city agree with the earliest historical autho- rity, Polycrates. The city, apparently, assumed for a time the name Philippopolis, for Tatianus, bishop of Philippopolis in Plirj'gia, at the Council of Chalcedori, A.D. 451, was in all probability bishop of Hierapolis,§ and so also Andreas of Philip- popolis in Plirygia in A.D. 692. Ten Christian in- scriptions of Hierapolis are published ;|| two of them may perhaps be Jewish, if not Jewish-Christian.