COLOSSAE, once the great city of south-west Phrygia, was situated on rising ground (1, I 5o ft.) on the left bank of the Lycus (Churuk Su), a tributary of the Maeander, at the upper end of a narrow gorge 2 2 m. long. It was a large, prosperous city (Herod. vii. 3o; Xenophon, Anab. i. 2, § 6), until it was ruined by the foun dation of Laodicea in a more advantageous position. Colossae was the seat of an early Christian church, the result of St. Paul's activity at Ephesus, though perhaps actually founded by Epaph ras. The church, to which St. Paul wrote a letter, was mainly composed of mingled Greek and Phrygian elements deeply imbued with fantastic and fanatical mysticism. Colossae lasted until the 7th and 8th centuries, when it was gradually deserted under pressure of the Arab invasions.