Irony.
The place often suffered from earthquakes, especially from the great shock in the reign of Nero (60 AD), in which it was completely destroyed. But the inhabitants declined imperial assistance to rebuild the city and restored it from their own means.[8] The wealth of its inhabitants created among them a taste for the arts of the Greeks, as is manifest from its ruins; and that it did not remain behind in science and literature is attested by the names of the sceptics Antiochus and Theiodas, the successors of Aenesidemus[9] and by the existence of a great medical school.[10] Its wealthy citizens embellished Laodicea with beautiful monuments. One of the chief of them, Polemon, became King of Armenian Pontus – called after him "Polemoniacus" – and of the coast round Trebizond. The city minted its own coins, the inscriptions of which show evidence of the worship of Zeus, Æsculapius, Apollo, and the emperors.
…
The existing remains still attest its former greatness. The ruins near Denizli (Denisli) are relatively well preserved. Its stadium, gymnasium, and theatres (one of which is in a state of great preservation, with its seats still perfectly horizontal, though merely laid upon the gravel), are well deserving of notice. …Amongst other interesting objects are the remains of an aqueduct, commencing near the summit of a low hill to the south, whence it is carried on arches of small square stones to the edge of the hill. The water must have been much charged with calcareous matter, as several of the arches are covered with a thick incrustation. From this hill the aqueduct crossed a valley before it reached the town, but, instead of being carried over it on lofty arches, as was the usual practice of the Romans, the water was conveyed down the hill in stone barrel-pipes; some of these also are much incrusted, and some completely choked up. It traversed the plain in pipes of the same kind. The aqueduct appears to have been destroyed by an earthquake, as the remaining arches lean bodily on one side, without being much broken.
The stadium, which is in a good state of preservation, is near the southern extremity of the city. The seats, almost perfect, are arranged along two sides of a narrow valley, which appears to have been taken advantage of for this purpose, and to have been closed up at both ends. Towards the west are considerable remains of a subterranean passage, by which chariots and horses were admitted into the arena, with a long inscription over the entrance. The whole area of the ancient city is covered with ruined buildings, and one could distinguish the sites of several temples, with the bases of the columns still in situ. The ruins bear the stamp of Roman extravagance and luxury, rather than of the stern and massive solidity of the Greeks….
~ Laodicea on the Lycus. (n.d.). Retrieved 21 August 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laodicea_on_the_Lycus.
Meanwhile, even though the architecture was such that these magnificent ruins would remain in spite of earthquakes and time…
Laodicea is Composed of Many Ineffective Structures
~ Caption under picture in “CGOM: Where is the True Church?”