Tripolis on the Meander

Ancient Greek city in Turkey

Tripolis on the Meander (Τρίπολις, Eth. Τριπολίτης, Tripolis ad Maeandrum) – also Neapolis (Νεάπολις), Apollonia (Απολλωνία), and Antoniopolis (Αντωνιόπολις) – was an ancient city on the borders of Phrygia, Caria and Lydia, on the northern bank of the upper course of the Maeander, and on the road leading from Sardes by Philadelphia to Laodicea ad Lycum. (It. Ant. p. 336; Tab. Peut.) It was situated 20 km to the northwest of Hierapolis. Ruins of it still exist near Yenicekent (formerly Yeniji or Kash Yeniji), a township in the Buldan district of Denizli Province, Turkey. (Arundell, Seven Churches, p. 245; Hamilton, Researches, i. p. 525; Fellows, Asia Minor, p. 287.) The ruins mostly date from the Roman and Byzantine periods and include a theater, baths, city walls, and a necropolis. An ancient church, dating back 1,500 years, has been unearthed in 2013.

The earliest mention of Tripolis is by Pliny (v. 30), who treats it as a Lydian town. Ptolemy (v. 2. § 18) and Stephanus of Byzantium describe it as a Carian town. Hierocles (p. 669) likewise calls it a Lydian town. William Mitchell Ramsay also places Tripolis within Lydia. The city minted coins in antiquity, some of which bore an image of Leto. Catalogues of coins of Tripolis generally refer to the city as belonging to Lydia. However, one book on coin collecting list Tripolis as part of Lydia on one page, but speaks of it as part of Caria on another. A website on which various contributors give news of Turkish archaeology treats Tripolis as part of Phrygia.

Pliny says the city was also called Apollonia (Ἀπολλωνία), and Stephanus of Byzantium that, in his time, it was called Neapolis (Νεάπολις).