At about the same time as the July/August 2011 issue of BAR was hitting the newsstands, containing an article about St. Philip’s Martyrium,^a author and excavation director Francesco D’Andria was making an exciting new discovery in the field at Hierapolis. A month later he announced it: They had finally found the tomb of the martyred apostle Philip.

The tomb wasn’t discovered at the center of the octagonal hilltop martyrium as long expected, however, but in a newly excavated church about 40 yards away. D’Andria’s team found a first-century Roman tomb, located at the center of the church, which he says originally contained Philip’s remains. The church was built around this tomb in the fourth or fifth century, and the nearby martyrium was built around the same time, in the early fifth century.