Pamukkale has always been a very popular settlement where the hot springs were believed to have healing powers, so the city became the center of a pagan cult in antiquity and a spa resort today. The city was on the borders of Caria, Lycia and Phrygia and had a mixed population. Citizens were usually involved in the wool industry and little has changed as it is still a textile center.

The terraces were formed by running warm spring water, at a temperature of 35 °C / 102 °F containing calcium bicarbonate. When the water loses its carbon dioxide it leaves limestone deposits. These are of different colors and shapes in the form of terraces with pools, overhanging surfaces and fascinating stalactite formations. Pamukkale which means "cotton castle" in Turkish takes its name from  these formations. According to scientists, if the water had always flowed at this rate, the terraces must have begun forming 14,000 years ago.A little further away from Pamukkale, near Karahayit village is another thermal spring, Kirmizi Su (the Red Water) with warmer water but less carbon dioxide gas where the running water creates a reddish effect different then the white cotton terraces of Pamukkale.

The ancient city of Hierapolis was founded by Pergamum, probably Eumenes II, in the 2C BC. Hierapolis is believed to derive its name from Hiera, the wife of Telephus, both being legendary ancestors of kings of Pergamum. Hierapolis was also interpreted by some as the "holy city". All the surviving ruins of the city except the foundations of the Apollo Temple date back to the Imperial Roman period.  In 133 BC the city was bequeathed to the Romans along with the Kingdom of Pergamum by the will of Attalus III. It is also thought That a large population of Jewish people lived there who contributed to the expansion of the Christian belief. Hierapolis suffered from frequent large earthquakes and was restored many times, one of them being a complete rebuilding by Nero in the 1C AD.

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