A small town in the Lycus valley of Phrygia, in the Roman province of Asia, on the road east from Ephesus — and the least important place any New Testament letter is addressed to. Herodotus and Xenophon knew it as a considerable city, but by Paul's day it had been overtaken by its near neighbours LAODICEA (ten miles away, rich and banking) and Hierapolis, and was a modest wool and dyeing town in decline; an earthquake struck the valley around AD 60 and Colossae never really recovered. ⚠ Paul had NEVER VISITED it (2:1, 'those who have not seen my face') — the congregation was founded by Epaphras, a local man. It received, nonetheless, one of the highest statements about Christ ever written. The site has never been properly excavated; it lies under an unexcavated mound.