William Ramsay has said that "Abercius was bishop of
Hieropolis in the valley of
Sandukli and not of
Hierapolis in the
Maeander valley, for the latter was in Phrygia Magna, or Pacatiana." He states that "The confusion of the two towns Hierapolis and Hieropolis has produced much error in early Christian history. ... Hierapolis of Salutaris must always be interpreted as the Hieropolis in the valley of Sandukli: Hierapolis near
Laodicea is
always assigned in the Byzantine authorities to Pacatiana".
J. B. Lightfoot said that "the city of Abercius was not Hierapolis on the Mæander but this Hieropolis near
Synnada."
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Ramsay "discovered at Kelendres, near Synnada, in Phrygia Salutaris (Asia Minor), a Christian
stele (inscribed slab) bearing the date of the year 300 of the Phrygian era (216 AD). The inscription in question recalled the memory of a certain Alexander, son of Anthony. De Rossi and Duchesne at once recognized in it phrases similar to those in the epitaph of Abercius. On comparison it was found that the inscription in memory of Alexander corresponded, almost word for word, with the first and last verses of the epitaph of the Bishop of Hieropolis; all the middle part was missing. Mr. Ramsay, on a second visit to the site of Hieropolis, in 1883, discovered two new fragments covered with inscriptions, built into the masonry of the public baths. These fragments, which are now in the Vatican Christian Museum, filled out the middle part of the
stele inscribed with the epitaph of Abercius. It now became possible, with the help of the text preserved in the
Life, to restore the original text of the epitaph with practical certainty." ==See also==