The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia. By W. M. Ramsay,
D.C.L. Vol. I., Parts I. and II. (The Clarendon Press. 21s. net.)—Pro- fessor Ramsay is the type of the scholar who digs. He writes in the introduction, "Almost every village on the map of Phrygia, and many not on the map, rouse memories for me," and, as he goes on to say, he does not dig only. "Wherever I have been and whatever was my luck, my passion has been to look for traces of the past in the facts of the present, in the faces, manners, pronunciation, tales, and superstitions of the people, as well as in the monuments of older days." The title of the book must not be misunderstood. It does not indicate that this is a work on Christian archteology. Such it is, but it is more. The author seeks to elucidate Phrygian history from the earliest date at which any light is thrown upon it ; but he tells that the most important part of this work will be found in the chapters on the early history of Christianity in the country. Many, we may say most, of the names will be unknown to any but those who have made a special study of ancient geography. Few will be generally familiar except through Christian associations. One of these is Laodicea, founded by Antiochus II. (261-246 B.C.), and named after his wife, Laodice. Of little importance in its earlier days, it became important in the first century B.C.—" in our days and in the days of our fathers" says Strabo (B.C. 66—A.D. 24). It is a remarkable instance of true local colour when we find in Rev. iii. 17, the Laodicean Church saying : "I am rich and have gotten riches, and am in need of nothing." So wealthy indeed was it that after a devastating earthquake in A.D. 61 it asked for no help,—" Nubo a nobis remedio, propriis opibus revaluit." More than a hun- dred years before Cicero had cashed there his letters of credit. The source of its wealth was the woollen manufacture. Various kinds of woollen garments, worn extensively through the Empire, were made there. Some were very plain and cheap ; some richly embroidered and costly. The vestes Phrygiae of Virgil are of the latter kind. Here, again, the Epistle to the Laodiceans comes in. The common wool was of a glossy black. "I counsel thee to buy of me white garments that thou mayest clothe thyself." Of course all this has disappeared under Turkish rule. The first part of the volume deals with, the cities of the Lycos Valley; the second with West and West-Central Phrygia. We hope to return to Professor Ramsay's work, which awaits completion. Even this wholly inadequate notice is better than absolute neglect.
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