Every  town  at  which  our  train  stops
beckons  to  us  to  leave  the  cars  and  pay
it  a  visit,  for  each  one  is  full  of  classic
interest.  But  we  cannot  linger  to  see
the  ruins  of  old  Magnesia,  so  old  that  it


138  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES

was  destroyed  by  Cimmerians  more  than
twenty-five  hundred  years  ago,  or  Tralles,
where  the  great  Attalus  once  had  his
palaces,  or  Sultan  Hissar,  where  Strabo,
the  historian,  to  whom  we  are  so  much
indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  ancient
men  and  manners,  once  went  to  school.
The  modern  Turkish  names  of  many  of
these  stations  on  the  way  to  Laodicea  are
most  interesting;  for  instance,  Balachik
means  "Little  Place  up  Above";  Deir-
manjak  means  "Dear  Little  Mill";  while
a  station  still  farther  south,  called  Kuyu-
kak,  means  "Dear  Little  Well."

At  last,  after  a  journey  which  had
taken  nearly  the  whole  day,  though  we
had  covered  less  than  a  hundred  miles
from  Ephesus,  the  conductor  calls  out,
"Gonjeli,"  and  we  know  that  we  have
reached  the  station  at  the  foot  of  the
great  hill  which  is  covered  with  the  ruins
of  Laodicea,  where  once  was  a  proud,
rich  city  and  a  church  which  received  the


LAODICEA  139

most  scathing  rebuke  of  any  which  was
spoken  by  the  Spirit  to  any  one  of  the
Seven  Churches  of  Asia.
