Pepuza (or Pepouza, Greek: Πέπουζα) was an ancient town in

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

, Asia Minor (in today's Turkish district of

Karahallı Karahallı is a town and district of Uşak Province in the inner Aegean region of Turkey. Karahallı district area neighbors those of two other districts of the same province to the north, namely Ulubey and Sivaslı, and to the south those of tw ...

Uşak Province Uşak ( tr, Uşak ili ) is a province in western Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Manisa to the west, Denizli to the south, Afyon to the east, and Kütahya to the north. The provincial capital is Uşak, and its licence location code is 64. The ...

Aegean Region The Aegean Region () is one of the 7 Geographical regions of Turkey, geographical regions of Turkey. The largest city in the region is İzmir. Other big cities are Manisa, Aydın, Denizli, Muğla, Afyonkarahisar and Kütahya. Located in w ...

). Coordinates of the central terrasse of the settlement: UTM 35 S 0714926/4253954 (WGS-84), 38.408˚ N, 29.4615˚ E. From the middle of the 2nd century CE to the middle of the 6th century, Pepuza was the headquarters of the ancient Christian church of Montanism, which spread all over the Roman Empire. The Montanist patriarch resided at Pepouza, and the Montanists expected the heavenly Jerusalem to descend to earth at Pepouza and the nearby town of Tymion. In late antiquity, both places attracted crowds of pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire. Women played an emancipated role in Montanism, becoming priests and also bishops. In the 6th century, this church became extinct. Since 2001,

Peter Lampe Peter Lampe (born 28 January 1954) is a German Protestant theologian and chaired Professor of New Testament Studies/History of Early Christianity at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Life After studies in theology, philosophy and archaeo ...

of the University of Heidelberg has directed annual archaeological campaigns in Phrygia, Turkey. During these interdisciplinary campaigns, together with William Tabbernee of Tulsa, numerous unknown ancient settlements were discovered and archaeologically documented. Two of them are the best candidates so far in the search for the identification of the two holy centers of ancient Montanism, Pepuza and Tymion. Scholars had searched for these lost sites since the 19th century. The ancient settlement in the Karahallı area, near the village of Karayakuplu, discovered and identified as Pepuza by William Tabbernee and

, was settled continuously from Hellenistic times to Byzantine times. In Byzantine times, an important rock-cut monastery belonged to the town.

Literature

* W. Tabbernee/

, ''Pepouza and Tymion: The Discovery and Archaeological Exploration of a Lost Ancient City and an Imperial Estate'' (deGruyter: Berlin/New York, 2008) und *

, Die montanistischen Tymion und Pepouza im Lichte der neuen Tymioninschrift, in: '' Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum'' 8 (2004) 498-512

External links

University of Heidelberg: The Discovery of Pepouza and Tymion

In: "SpiegelOnline" 3.7.2010
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{{coord, 38, 24, 29, N, 29, 27, 41, E, region:TR-64_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Archaeological sites in the Aegean Region Roman sites in Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Geography of Uşak Province History of Uşak Karahallı District Montanism