This is not perfect and should be redone, but something is often better than nothing:
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Turkey Day 6: The Galatians
Turkey in 10 Days
1. General Remarks
2. What to Bring
3. Day 1: Traveling There
4. Day 2: Troy
5. Day 3: Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna
6. Day 4: Ephesus and Laodicea
7. Day 5: Colossae and Perga
8. Day 6: The Galatians
Today we covered the central locations to which Paul sent his letter to the Galatians. The F. F. Bruce dating would put the letter as Paul's first, around AD49. I date it to the early 50s, probably from Ephesus.
So our morning began in Isparta at the Otel Balat (if I'm remembering the hotel correctly). By now we were used to the call to prayer going off before dawn. I believe the hotel had 7 floors (a walk out balcony with our rooms), and breakfast was on the top floor with the usual fare. It seemed very quiet except for the raucous Americans. I wondered if the others were being quiet to listen to us.
Antioch of Pisidia (Yalvach)
A couple blocks north and a right on Ataturk Boulevard and we were on 330, which took us northeast out of Isparta and headed toward Yalvach, up the right side of Lake Eğidir. There's a left turn at 320 after you've left the lake behind--no doubt there were clear signs for Yalvach.
I failed to mention that there was some pretty impressive mountain driving the night before going to Isparta... big drop.
Yalvach is not a big town. There was a brown sign signaling a right turn for Antioch out at 320. But unless we missed them, the signs dried up there. We followed a stream running through town... way too far. If you get to the playground, you've gone too far. We ended up one or two very picturesque villages beyond town, and someone kindly pointed us back in the right direction.
Basically, we should have kept left when the road crossed the creek rather than continuing to follow the river. There was a colorful orange house immediately on the road to the left where we should have turned. Perhaps less than a kilometer in this direction is, I think, a brown sign pointing to the right and the ruin is right there, at the edge of town, back to the right on the hillside.
Entrance is 3 lira a person. I don't know if he's still living but the Turkish archaeologist who excavated most of the site used to live in the house right above the entrance: Mehmet Tashlialan. Keith Drury has a signed copy of his book on the site. Both KD and Steve Lennox once went around the site with him and had tea till midnight.
This is another one that Keith has watched grow and grow, although perhaps a little more slowly since there is a specific archaeologist involved. I sketched a diagram of the site:
We entered at the West Gate area. There was the familiar Roman road coming in from the south. Straight ahead you can see "St. Paul's Church." The archaeologist suggested to Keith once upon a time that it was built on a Jewish synagogue. Acts 13 gives us Paul preaching a sermon in the synagogue here. We do know that the archbishop at this church attended the Council of Constantinople in 381, the council that finalized the Nicene Creed.
If you take the first turn right after you come into the site, you are on the Decumanus Maximus.
You will see what's left of the (Greek) theater.
The Decumanus Maximus currently dead ends and you turn left onto the Cardo Maximus. It passes a central church on the left and goes down to a Nymphaeum where there was a fountain. Water comes in from a nearby lake by way of an aqueduct...
... but the pressure is so great that Roman cities had "nymphaea" to depressurize it. Basically, they shot it up into the air by way of fountains, if I understand correctly. Then water in a pool pushed out through a hole in the bottom into pipes that ran underneath the roads and took water into the city.
Of most interest to me was the Temple of Augustus here--you take a right at the central church on the Cardo Maximus. That leads to a set of steps that used to be at a Propylon Gate leading up to the temple.
What is significant about this Propylon gate is that it had a copy of Augustus' "res gestae" in which he recounted his accomplishments as emperor. It is here that he self-describes as "son of god." The Temple of Augustus here is fascinating because it was carved out of the side of the mountain. They just cut away all the rock around what is left, leaving a temple.
All in all, what a great site, completely unexpected. The people at the entrance weren't particularly friendly, but the site was wonderful. Dave wished we had seen if the archaeologist was home before we began. Maybe he would have shown us around the site.
Iconium
Iconium is now Konya, a fairly large city. We backtracked out of Yalvach the way we came, turned east (left) onto 695 a short way to 300 and continued down to Konya. It's a bit of a drive but fairly flat. We stopped along the way for some lunch from our supplies.
300 blurs into 330. The approach to Konya involves a large, curving drop in altitude, but it's a good road. Konya's huge. The main attraction is the Mevlana museum where the Sufi mystic who founded the whirling dervishes was. It's easy to find by following the brown signs with the dancing priest on it.
On the other hand, getting back out of the center of a city like Konya is a taller order. I believe we headed back north, ended up on 330 going west. We did pass some ruins that looked Roman but, alas, a bus got in the way of a good shot.
By the way, Iconium is the location for an early legend about Paul and a young woman named Thecla, who followed him around and shared the good news. There is apparently a Konya museum with some artifacts from the Roman ruins of the area as well (maybe the ethnographic museum?).
Lystra
By far Lystra was the hardest of all the sites to find. We had a harder time with Colossae but we shouldn't have. Meanwhile, Lystra is genuinely hard to find. The Garman didn't even have any roads in it for this area southwest of Konya. Even when we got to the site, the Garman only had a dot in the middle of nothing, based on the latitude and longitude Keith had plugged in.
Ross' iPad was a godsend. Perhaps I wasn't focusing in far enough, but it didn't seem to have the roads either. It had some villages on it that we knew from our paper map, and we basically made sure that the blue dot on the iPad kept lined up properly as Dave Ward sped on a back road through section after section of Konya and finally into the countryside.
So here's my advice on finding it. First, don't go late in the day. You don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere after dark. The farmer across from the mound was very friendly once he saw our genuine interest, and we ended up staying about an hour after seeing the site for tea. You want to get going well before dark so you can find your way back to 715 in the daylight. We ended up trying to negotiate these roads as it turned dark.
Basically, you want to head south from the center until you hit Antalya Road (696). Turn right until you are just about out of town and then turn left onto Hatip Road, going south again. Lystra is south. The villages you are headed toward are Hatip and Hatunsaray. Hatunsaray is the village closest to Lystra.
So you take Hatip Road and pass Hatip. Now it's called Hatunsaray Road (Caddesi). You go through Gödene and keep going south. Just before Bayat, you take the right fork (if I remember correctly, we didn't even see the left possibility--it just seemed to curve to the right).
At Hatunsaray, there is a fork. Take the right one--the familiar brown sign is there for Lystra--and you'll immediately see the mound off to the left. It's about 20 miles south of Konya.
We were fortunate enough to ask the farmer across the street from the mound if we had found Lystra. A wonderful example of "trail magic," beautiful hospitality, ensued. He showed us around this thorn laden site, including an artesian well from which we drank. Dave did a good job (I think) of figuring out what he was saying.
He seemed frustrated that people would come and then leave. He may not have understood their method. Archaeologists often uncover a little and then cover it back up so that no one will disturb the site or steal from it.
It is amazing to think that this whole area, perhaps as much as a square mile, was once a prominent Roman city. This was Timothy's home town, where his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois lived. Paul was stoned here and thought to be dead (Acts 14).
After we went all the way around, Memesh invited us for tea at his one room house. He had invited us to put our rental car in his driveway. When we arrived, his wife was (perhaps nervously) reading the Qur'an. But she began to smile after we started to talk about children. She had one son who was a teacher.
He made and sold tiles. He made his own bread. He farmed the land, perhaps for others. He used his cell phone to tell others we were there. People honked as they passed.
We finally left just before dark and found ourselves on a red dirt road that isn't on anyone's map, headed east over a big hill. Dave and I got a little nervous because a car started following us, matching our acceleration. Ross and Keith didn't know what was going on and joked about how big of a hurry Dave seemed to be in. Finally the car turned around. There was nowhere to turn off. They just stopped following us and headed back to their village.
We'll never know exactly what was going on. Dave figured that there are rednecks in every country. Keith wondered if they were trying to help some lost folk. Whatever, the dirt road finally connected with a paved road on the other side of the hill and we wandered into Icherichumra and back south again on 715.
Next time, I would leave by turning south on Hatunsaray Road again and take it to Akören (maybe 10 miles). There I would turn left until hitting 715, passing through Alibeyhuyugu (maybe 15 miles).
It was well dark by the time we got to 715. There was no hotel in Icherichumra that we could find. We drove another 50 minutes south to Karaman. Although several gas stations along the way seemed to have hotel buildings, none of them were operating.
At Karaman, still a little freaked out, we asked directions to a hotel. A young man offered to show us and had Keith get in the back of his car. That was a little freaky, especially when he stopped at a side road and Keith found out there was no handle to get out of the back seat. But the man drove another 100 yards and there was a hotel.
The young man turned out to be another trail angel. He spoke some English, set us up with the hotel clerk, even gave us his phone number in case we had any problems. So a night of paranoia without any reason...
1. General Remarks
2. What to Bring
3. Day 1: Traveling There
4. Day 2: Troy
5. Day 3: Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna
6. Day 4: Ephesus and Laodicea
7. Day 5: Colossae and Perga
8. Day 6: The Galatians
Today we covered the central locations to which Paul sent his letter to the Galatians. The F. F. Bruce dating would put the letter as Paul's first, around AD49. I date it to the early 50s, probably from Ephesus.
So our morning began in Isparta at the Otel Balat (if I'm remembering the hotel correctly). By now we were used to the call to prayer going off before dawn. I believe the hotel had 7 floors (a walk out balcony with our rooms), and breakfast was on the top floor with the usual fare. It seemed very quiet except for the raucous Americans. I wondered if the others were being quiet to listen to us.
Antioch of Pisidia (Yalvach)
A couple blocks north and a right on Ataturk Boulevard and we were on 330, which took us northeast out of Isparta and headed toward Yalvach, up the right side of Lake Eğidir. There's a left turn at 320 after you've left the lake behind--no doubt there were clear signs for Yalvach.
I failed to mention that there was some pretty impressive mountain driving the night before going to Isparta... big drop.
 |
| Lake Eğidir |
Yalvach is not a big town. There was a brown sign signaling a right turn for Antioch out at 320. But unless we missed them, the signs dried up there. We followed a stream running through town... way too far. If you get to the playground, you've gone too far. We ended up one or two very picturesque villages beyond town, and someone kindly pointed us back in the right direction.
Basically, we should have kept left when the road crossed the creek rather than continuing to follow the river. There was a colorful orange house immediately on the road to the left where we should have turned. Perhaps less than a kilometer in this direction is, I think, a brown sign pointing to the right and the ruin is right there, at the edge of town, back to the right on the hillside.
Entrance is 3 lira a person. I don't know if he's still living but the Turkish archaeologist who excavated most of the site used to live in the house right above the entrance: Mehmet Tashlialan. Keith Drury has a signed copy of his book on the site. Both KD and Steve Lennox once went around the site with him and had tea till midnight.
This is another one that Keith has watched grow and grow, although perhaps a little more slowly since there is a specific archaeologist involved. I sketched a diagram of the site:
 |
| Layout of Pisidian Antioch |
We entered at the West Gate area. There was the familiar Roman road coming in from the south. Straight ahead you can see "St. Paul's Church." The archaeologist suggested to Keith once upon a time that it was built on a Jewish synagogue. Acts 13 gives us Paul preaching a sermon in the synagogue here. We do know that the archbishop at this church attended the Council of Constantinople in 381, the council that finalized the Nicene Creed.
 |
| St. Paul's Church, Pisidian Antioch |
If you take the first turn right after you come into the site, you are on the Decumanus Maximus.
 |
| Decumanus Maximus |
You will see what's left of the (Greek) theater.
 |
| Theater at Pisidian Antioch |
The Decumanus Maximus currently dead ends and you turn left onto the Cardo Maximus. It passes a central church on the left and goes down to a Nymphaeum where there was a fountain. Water comes in from a nearby lake by way of an aqueduct...
 |
| Aqueduct at Pisidian Antioch |
... but the pressure is so great that Roman cities had "nymphaea" to depressurize it. Basically, they shot it up into the air by way of fountains, if I understand correctly. Then water in a pool pushed out through a hole in the bottom into pipes that ran underneath the roads and took water into the city.
Of most interest to me was the Temple of Augustus here--you take a right at the central church on the Cardo Maximus. That leads to a set of steps that used to be at a Propylon Gate leading up to the temple.
 |
| Propylon stairs leading to Temple of Augustus (Pisidian Antioch) |
What is significant about this Propylon gate is that it had a copy of Augustus' "res gestae" in which he recounted his accomplishments as emperor. It is here that he self-describes as "son of god." The Temple of Augustus here is fascinating because it was carved out of the side of the mountain. They just cut away all the rock around what is left, leaving a temple.
 |
| Temple of Augustus (Pisidian Antioch) |
All in all, what a great site, completely unexpected. The people at the entrance weren't particularly friendly, but the site was wonderful. Dave wished we had seen if the archaeologist was home before we began. Maybe he would have shown us around the site.
Iconium
Iconium is now Konya, a fairly large city. We backtracked out of Yalvach the way we came, turned east (left) onto 695 a short way to 300 and continued down to Konya. It's a bit of a drive but fairly flat. We stopped along the way for some lunch from our supplies.
 |
| On way to Konya |
300 blurs into 330. The approach to Konya involves a large, curving drop in altitude, but it's a good road. Konya's huge. The main attraction is the Mevlana museum where the Sufi mystic who founded the whirling dervishes was. It's easy to find by following the brown signs with the dancing priest on it.
 |
| Konya's Whirling Dervishes |
On the other hand, getting back out of the center of a city like Konya is a taller order. I believe we headed back north, ended up on 330 going west. We did pass some ruins that looked Roman but, alas, a bus got in the way of a good shot.
 |
| Konya - almost Iconium |
By the way, Iconium is the location for an early legend about Paul and a young woman named Thecla, who followed him around and shared the good news. There is apparently a Konya museum with some artifacts from the Roman ruins of the area as well (maybe the ethnographic museum?).
Lystra
By far Lystra was the hardest of all the sites to find. We had a harder time with Colossae but we shouldn't have. Meanwhile, Lystra is genuinely hard to find. The Garman didn't even have any roads in it for this area southwest of Konya. Even when we got to the site, the Garman only had a dot in the middle of nothing, based on the latitude and longitude Keith had plugged in.
Ross' iPad was a godsend. Perhaps I wasn't focusing in far enough, but it didn't seem to have the roads either. It had some villages on it that we knew from our paper map, and we basically made sure that the blue dot on the iPad kept lined up properly as Dave Ward sped on a back road through section after section of Konya and finally into the countryside.
So here's my advice on finding it. First, don't go late in the day. You don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere after dark. The farmer across from the mound was very friendly once he saw our genuine interest, and we ended up staying about an hour after seeing the site for tea. You want to get going well before dark so you can find your way back to 715 in the daylight. We ended up trying to negotiate these roads as it turned dark.
Basically, you want to head south from the center until you hit Antalya Road (696). Turn right until you are just about out of town and then turn left onto Hatip Road, going south again. Lystra is south. The villages you are headed toward are Hatip and Hatunsaray. Hatunsaray is the village closest to Lystra.
So you take Hatip Road and pass Hatip. Now it's called Hatunsaray Road (Caddesi). You go through Gödene and keep going south. Just before Bayat, you take the right fork (if I remember correctly, we didn't even see the left possibility--it just seemed to curve to the right).
At Hatunsaray, there is a fork. Take the right one--the familiar brown sign is there for Lystra--and you'll immediately see the mound off to the left. It's about 20 miles south of Konya.
 |
| Lystra mound from the back side |
He seemed frustrated that people would come and then leave. He may not have understood their method. Archaeologists often uncover a little and then cover it back up so that no one will disturb the site or steal from it.
 |
| Remain at Lystra |
It is amazing to think that this whole area, perhaps as much as a square mile, was once a prominent Roman city. This was Timothy's home town, where his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois lived. Paul was stoned here and thought to be dead (Acts 14).
 |
| Lystra looking down on Memesh's farm |
After we went all the way around, Memesh invited us for tea at his one room house. He had invited us to put our rental car in his driveway. When we arrived, his wife was (perhaps nervously) reading the Qur'an. But she began to smile after we started to talk about children. She had one son who was a teacher.
He made and sold tiles. He made his own bread. He farmed the land, perhaps for others. He used his cell phone to tell others we were there. People honked as they passed.
 |
| Memesh at Lystra |
We finally left just before dark and found ourselves on a red dirt road that isn't on anyone's map, headed east over a big hill. Dave and I got a little nervous because a car started following us, matching our acceleration. Ross and Keith didn't know what was going on and joked about how big of a hurry Dave seemed to be in. Finally the car turned around. There was nowhere to turn off. They just stopped following us and headed back to their village.
We'll never know exactly what was going on. Dave figured that there are rednecks in every country. Keith wondered if they were trying to help some lost folk. Whatever, the dirt road finally connected with a paved road on the other side of the hill and we wandered into Icherichumra and back south again on 715.
Next time, I would leave by turning south on Hatunsaray Road again and take it to Akören (maybe 10 miles). There I would turn left until hitting 715, passing through Alibeyhuyugu (maybe 15 miles).
It was well dark by the time we got to 715. There was no hotel in Icherichumra that we could find. We drove another 50 minutes south to Karaman. Although several gas stations along the way seemed to have hotel buildings, none of them were operating.
At Karaman, still a little freaked out, we asked directions to a hotel. A young man offered to show us and had Keith get in the back of his car. That was a little freaky, especially when he stopped at a side road and Keith found out there was no handle to get out of the back seat. But the man drove another 100 yards and there was a hotel.
The young man turned out to be another trail angel. He spoke some English, set us up with the hotel clerk, even gave us his phone number in case we had any problems. So a night of paranoia without any reason...
Monday, June 10, 2013
Turkey Day 5: Colossae and Perga
Turkey in 10 Days
1. General Remarks
2. What to Bring
3. Day 1: Traveling There
4. Day 2: Troy
5. Day 3: Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna
6. Day 4: Ephesus and Laodicea
7. Day 5: Colossae and Perga
Hierapolis
Monday morning started in Pamukale, ancient Hierapolis.
At the top of these white rocks are natural hot baths, a result of the frequent earthquakes of this region. We had the usual speculation about whether Jesus in Revelation was thinking of the hot or the cold as the preferred temperature of nearby Laodicea. I guess the baths at the top are no longer available to tourists, now that this is a World Heritage site. But there is a man made bath up there, I guess. We saved a little money and didn't go up.
That means we also missed the ruins at the top. Hierapolis is actually mentioned in the New Testament, in Colossians 4:13 where all three of the cities in this area are mentioned (Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis) as places Epaphras served. We mused what his role might have been--"senior pastor"? Probably not. Maybe a respected deacon type that these churches sent to Paul to bring material support while he was in prison.
Hierapolis is better known as the place where Papias was bishop in the early 2nd century (and, yes, there were bishops over cities by then). Some date him as early as 110. Irenaeus, in the late 100s, considered him a contemporary of Polycarp, who was martyred in 155. Irenaeus calls him someone who had heard John.
The reason Papias is significant is because he is the one that first says that Mark was the author of Mark and that Matthew, somewhat enigmatically, wrote down the "sayings" of Jesus in Aramaic. Papias is so early and so well connected that we should take his traditions quite seriously.
Colossae
We had a really hard time finding Colossae because the Garman kept changing the numbers we plugged in for longitude and latitude (37-45-22.33N, 29-15-57.81E)--very weird. First it took us down some back road to the almost mountain village of Honaz, about 2 kilometers south of where we needed to be.
In the end, it's easy to find if you just follow the brown signs. From Pamukkale, you head back south toward Denizli and get back on 320 going east. About 25 kilometers east of Denizli, you'll eventually see a small brown sign on the right that points you toward Colossae. Follow the road until the next brown sign (a couple kilometers), which is another right turn. You'll see the mound right there on the right.
There really isn't much to see here. There is a guard booth at the bottom of the mound, but no one was there. We looked around. Some farmer had gunshots going off about every 2 minutes--we figured to scare off birds. But another farmer must have called the Jandarma, the state police, who showed up at the site just as we were coming down.
Keith and Ross were already at the bottom. Dave and I were headed down a little more slowly from different parts of the mound. I figured they just wanted to make sure we weren't tampering with the site, not carrying off any potsherds. There is an industrial park nearby, as you can see in one of the pictures above. Hard to believe they would be concerned that we were taking pictures of it.
They were a little like good cop/bad cop. The one went up past me to check out the site, maybe whether anyone else was up there (I had already told him "dirt keesheeler," "four persons")? The other one was friendly. He looked at my notebook. Curiously, I had never taken my notebook with me on site until then. He saw that I had written Colossae down with some other scribble--that rung true to him. We showed them the letter from the university. I learned the word "erretmen," "teacher." At least the "good cop" seemed satisfied, and they let us go.
Still not quite sure what that was all about. If I were to take a tour, I think I would clear it with the state first, get a letter from the Turkish government with a list of sites we were going to visit. You don't need more than 20 minutes at Colossae, just enough for the motivated to climb to the top, walk around, and walk back down.
Colossae is far more significant than the current state of the site. Paul and Timothy wrote a letter to this church. This is the church of Philemon. This is the church Paul was afraid might be influenced by a particular kind of Jewish philosophy in the area (I think a form of mystical Judaism).
Colossae, as well as Laodicea and Hierapolis, were destroyed by an earthquake around the year 61 (Tacitus) or 64 (Eusebius). The other cities rebuilt, Colossae apparently didn't.
Antalya (Attalia)
The rest of the day was mostly travel. We went back to 320, back west toward Denizli for a smidge, then south again on 585 toward Antalya, ancient Attalia. At some point it merges into 350 east, still toward Antalya.
We wanted to see the water where Paul and Barnabas left the region to head back to Syrian Antioch at the end of the first missionary journey (Acts 14:25). This lovely bay did the trick. There is a ruin in town called Hadrian's Gate, but the water was sufficient to cover this one verse in the Bible.
It's of course also possible that Paul, Barnabas, and Mark sailed into Attalia from Cyprus in Acts 13:13. Or they could have sailed into Side, just a little further east. Or they could have sailed up the Aksu River straight to Perga itself.
Perga
The Perga site was easy to find. Either the Garman didn't fail us on Perga (written Perge) or the signs were clear, but we didn't have any trouble finding the ruins. Looking at maps, it looks like you would go east on 400 out of Antalya toward Serik, just a little past your turn off north to Isparta (685). Then you would seen a sign to the left going north to Perge, which is Attaturk Road.
It is a fairly extensive site as such things go. Admission was 15 lira to the main site so we skipped it (our letter didn't help here--they'd already gotten to the printed ticket stage). We were still able to go into the stadium, and a ticket won't get you into the theater anyway, which is perhaps the best (Roman) theater intact from the ancient world.
North
Our goal for the day was to go north up 685 in the direction of Isparta and stay somewhere for the night. We wanted to get a feel for Paul's trip north. There is actually a hiking trail I guess called St. Paul's Trail or some such that goes from Antalya to Yavach (Pisidian Antioch). I guess there is also a St. Paul's Center in Antalya. I heard that at one time there were two nuns running a church there in which you could worship.
We tried to get a feel for what John Mark would have seen if he had looked north from Perga. I suspect a lot more was going on than just a dread of climbing, but if you look at the picture above, you could at least understand one scenario in which Mark says something like, "That's it. I didn't sign up to climb mountains like that."
But it turned out to be quite a pleasant drive. It would be fun to hike it some day.
We ended up spending the night in Isparta. Paul's route likely went up the east side of Lake Eğidir, so we deviated from the path a little to get a room for the night. There were plenty of hotels on what seemed to be a main drag.
Just as we got into town, we went to a Migros (like Wal-Mart), bought some bread and foodstuffs. Ross got some directions from some modern dressed women in the parking lot, and we found pay dirt in hotels.
I believe we stayed at the Otel Bolat, although I'm a little fuzzy on this one. It was a typical old school hotel. There is a string of hotels on "Mimar Sinan" Street. Here's a picture looking off the balcony.
1. General Remarks
2. What to Bring
3. Day 1: Traveling There
4. Day 2: Troy
5. Day 3: Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna
6. Day 4: Ephesus and Laodicea
7. Day 5: Colossae and Perga
Hierapolis
Monday morning started in Pamukale, ancient Hierapolis.
 |
| White Rocks of Hierapolis |
At the top of these white rocks are natural hot baths, a result of the frequent earthquakes of this region. We had the usual speculation about whether Jesus in Revelation was thinking of the hot or the cold as the preferred temperature of nearby Laodicea. I guess the baths at the top are no longer available to tourists, now that this is a World Heritage site. But there is a man made bath up there, I guess. We saved a little money and didn't go up.
That means we also missed the ruins at the top. Hierapolis is actually mentioned in the New Testament, in Colossians 4:13 where all three of the cities in this area are mentioned (Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis) as places Epaphras served. We mused what his role might have been--"senior pastor"? Probably not. Maybe a respected deacon type that these churches sent to Paul to bring material support while he was in prison.
Hierapolis is better known as the place where Papias was bishop in the early 2nd century (and, yes, there were bishops over cities by then). Some date him as early as 110. Irenaeus, in the late 100s, considered him a contemporary of Polycarp, who was martyred in 155. Irenaeus calls him someone who had heard John.
The reason Papias is significant is because he is the one that first says that Mark was the author of Mark and that Matthew, somewhat enigmatically, wrote down the "sayings" of Jesus in Aramaic. Papias is so early and so well connected that we should take his traditions quite seriously.
Colossae
We had a really hard time finding Colossae because the Garman kept changing the numbers we plugged in for longitude and latitude (37-45-22.33N, 29-15-57.81E)--very weird. First it took us down some back road to the almost mountain village of Honaz, about 2 kilometers south of where we needed to be.
In the end, it's easy to find if you just follow the brown signs. From Pamukkale, you head back south toward Denizli and get back on 320 going east. About 25 kilometers east of Denizli, you'll eventually see a small brown sign on the right that points you toward Colossae. Follow the road until the next brown sign (a couple kilometers), which is another right turn. You'll see the mound right there on the right.
 |
| Dave atop Colossae |
 |
| Lower ruins of Colossae |
 |
| Colossae was here. |
Keith and Ross were already at the bottom. Dave and I were headed down a little more slowly from different parts of the mound. I figured they just wanted to make sure we weren't tampering with the site, not carrying off any potsherds. There is an industrial park nearby, as you can see in one of the pictures above. Hard to believe they would be concerned that we were taking pictures of it.
They were a little like good cop/bad cop. The one went up past me to check out the site, maybe whether anyone else was up there (I had already told him "dirt keesheeler," "four persons")? The other one was friendly. He looked at my notebook. Curiously, I had never taken my notebook with me on site until then. He saw that I had written Colossae down with some other scribble--that rung true to him. We showed them the letter from the university. I learned the word "erretmen," "teacher." At least the "good cop" seemed satisfied, and they let us go.
Still not quite sure what that was all about. If I were to take a tour, I think I would clear it with the state first, get a letter from the Turkish government with a list of sites we were going to visit. You don't need more than 20 minutes at Colossae, just enough for the motivated to climb to the top, walk around, and walk back down.
Colossae is far more significant than the current state of the site. Paul and Timothy wrote a letter to this church. This is the church of Philemon. This is the church Paul was afraid might be influenced by a particular kind of Jewish philosophy in the area (I think a form of mystical Judaism).
Colossae, as well as Laodicea and Hierapolis, were destroyed by an earthquake around the year 61 (Tacitus) or 64 (Eusebius). The other cities rebuilt, Colossae apparently didn't.
Antalya (Attalia)
The rest of the day was mostly travel. We went back to 320, back west toward Denizli for a smidge, then south again on 585 toward Antalya, ancient Attalia. At some point it merges into 350 east, still toward Antalya.
We wanted to see the water where Paul and Barnabas left the region to head back to Syrian Antioch at the end of the first missionary journey (Acts 14:25). This lovely bay did the trick. There is a ruin in town called Hadrian's Gate, but the water was sufficient to cover this one verse in the Bible.
.jpg) |
| Antalya (Attalia) |
It's of course also possible that Paul, Barnabas, and Mark sailed into Attalia from Cyprus in Acts 13:13. Or they could have sailed into Side, just a little further east. Or they could have sailed up the Aksu River straight to Perga itself.
Perga
The Perga site was easy to find. Either the Garman didn't fail us on Perga (written Perge) or the signs were clear, but we didn't have any trouble finding the ruins. Looking at maps, it looks like you would go east on 400 out of Antalya toward Serik, just a little past your turn off north to Isparta (685). Then you would seen a sign to the left going north to Perge, which is Attaturk Road.
It is a fairly extensive site as such things go. Admission was 15 lira to the main site so we skipped it (our letter didn't help here--they'd already gotten to the printed ticket stage). We were still able to go into the stadium, and a ticket won't get you into the theater anyway, which is perhaps the best (Roman) theater intact from the ancient world.
 |
| Perga ruins |
 |
| Perga theater |
 |
| Perga stadium |
North
Our goal for the day was to go north up 685 in the direction of Isparta and stay somewhere for the night. We wanted to get a feel for Paul's trip north. There is actually a hiking trail I guess called St. Paul's Trail or some such that goes from Antalya to Yavach (Pisidian Antioch). I guess there is also a St. Paul's Center in Antalya. I heard that at one time there were two nuns running a church there in which you could worship.
 |
| Perga looking north |
We tried to get a feel for what John Mark would have seen if he had looked north from Perga. I suspect a lot more was going on than just a dread of climbing, but if you look at the picture above, you could at least understand one scenario in which Mark says something like, "That's it. I didn't sign up to climb mountains like that."
 |
| Lake headed north from Perga |
But it turned out to be quite a pleasant drive. It would be fun to hike it some day.
 |
| River headed north from Perga |
We ended up spending the night in Isparta. Paul's route likely went up the east side of Lake Eğidir, so we deviated from the path a little to get a room for the night. There were plenty of hotels on what seemed to be a main drag.
 |
| Hotel at Isparta |
Just as we got into town, we went to a Migros (like Wal-Mart), bought some bread and foodstuffs. Ross got some directions from some modern dressed women in the parking lot, and we found pay dirt in hotels.
I believe we stayed at the Otel Bolat, although I'm a little fuzzy on this one. It was a typical old school hotel. There is a string of hotels on "Mimar Sinan" Street. Here's a picture looking off the balcony.
Sunday, June 09, 2013
Turkey Day 4: Ephesus and Laodicea
Turkey in 10 Days
1. General Remarks
2. What to Bring
3. Day 1: Traveling There
4. Day 2: Troy
5. Day 3: Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna
6. Day 4: Ephesus and Laodicea
The benefit of driving on from Izmir so late was that we did not have far to go to get to Selchuk and Ephesus. The once loud gas station was very peaceful in the morning, and we had our usual breakfast fare of olives, cheese, tomatoes, bread, hard boiled eggs, etc. at the adjoining restaurant.
Not as many smiles from the man in charge there. In all my paranoid glory I always took note when the greeting between men was given in Arabic, "salam alekoom" instead of "merhabah" or "gunaidin" ("good morning"). I always wondered if that meant their primary point of contact was the mosque.
Ephesus
Sunday morning we found ourselves in Ephesus. Today we would hit the last two churches of Revelation. Ephesus is the crown jewel of all ancient sites in the Mediterranean. Once you get to Selchuk, the signs and tour buses will get you the rest of the way. You turn on 515 west off of 550, but it's not like the numbers are anywhere to be seen.
Very quickly after you turn you'll see the brown sign for the Temple of Artemis. The turn is immediate so it's easy to miss. Don't worry, you can catch it on your way back (although then you'll have to do a U-turn to get back). Pretty much all that's left is one large column in a swampy area. I like this picture because of the Ottoman castle and contemporary mosque in the background, giving layers of the history of the area.
You need to read Acts 19 before you go to the site. Ephesus is where the people rioted because Paul was cutting into their idol business. The Temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the World at the time, and the legend was that an image of Artemis (apparently a meteorite) had fallen from the sky. We'll see the theater in a moment where Acts says the mob was shouting praises to Artemis.
The amount of material they have unearthed at Ephesus is simply astounding. Took my breath away the first time I was there with Wilbur Williams.
If you come on a cruise ship, they will drive you down from Izmir and give you 3 hours to walk the thing, usually from about 10 to 1 I would guess. Buses let the people off at the top and let them walk down through the site. It's enough time if you don't have an in depth interest or need to space out the cramming. Buying a bottle of water to carry with you is not a bad idea. There are no shops or stands once you get inside. It's a 25 lira admission.
We got there early and decided to start at the bottom, go up to the top, have lunch, and come back down. The only problem here is that they don't really want you to leave the site until you are leaving the site. There is a cafe at the top, but the food I wanted was outside. I loved Turkish doner kebabs in Germany, but every one I had in Turkey was genuine lamb, which I don't enjoy so much. They will let you out and back in if you ask to use the restroom. Keith and Dave "used the bathroom" for about a half hour. :-)
If you enter at the bottom, you are immediately struck by the theater, where the riot of Acts 19 takes place.
Quite astounding to think that Paul was here in Ephesus for almost three years, that he walked these streets. This is the very theater of the riot in Acts 19. Amazing!
Straight ahead from the theater is the Harbor Road, which went down to the sea in Paul's day, although silt has filled in the bay now for miles. Paul walked this road coming or going on ships.
Perpendicular to Harbor Road and running south from the theater is the Marble Road. Leaving the theater, the lower agora, the marketplace, is off to your right.
You can either enter the agora from the theater side or, as I prefer, enter it from the Library of Celsus. Paul possibly would have sold his tents or leather goods here, although there are also numerous places for shops elsewhere in the city, as we'll see.
The Library of Celsus was not here at the time of Paul, but has been magnificently reconstructed. It is unmissable to the right at the end of the Marble Road.
Off to the right of this area is the south entrance to the agora/marketplace. The Mazeus-Mithradates gate was here at the time of Paul
There are several little things to see near the corner of the Celsus library. Along the Marble Road, maybe half way, you'll find a spot with a heart that, at least I've heard it say, was a place to solicit a prostitute. Occasionally you see the little circle game carved into the marble. It looks like a pie. On the northwest side of the Celsus corner, just starting up the Curetes Road to the left, are the famed public toilets. You could sit on them the last time I was here (Dave Smith has a picture of several of us sitting here) but, alas, no longer.
Perpendicular to the Marble Road is the Curetes Road, going upwards and westwards. Immediately to the right is an area where they are reconstructing some terraced housing for some very rich people, including a high priest. it was another entry fee to get into the area, maybe 15 lira? Ross and I did it.
I went in because I felt I needed to as a Bible teacher, but it is strictly optional. You'll see mosaics and frescos, plumbing, baths, and kitchens. It takes some time to justify the expense. Here's basically what's under the tent:
A good deal of the material as you go west up the Curetes Way dates from after Paul's time, although that is not to say that earlier versions weren't there at the time of Paul. There's stuff up there from Hadrian, Domitian, an odion (little theater). This upper part of Ephesus appears to have been the administrative district, from which the Romans ruled. Ephesus was the Roman seat of power from the time of Augustus in 27BC on.
According to tradition, Domitian was the emperor at the time John was here in the 90s. You might say there are two phases to the Christian presence in Ephesus, the Paul phase and the John phase. Paul was here in the mid-50s and, according to tradition, Timothy was the first bishop here. I personally don't think there were anything like bishops (as we think of them) that early, however, and the tradition surely is built out of 1 Timothy.
I believe many of those early traditions grew out of Christians mining the New Testament texts for details just like we do. In some cases, I'm not sure they had anything more to go on than we do, other than a much richer architectural canvas on which to imagine. If anything, I suspect they were quite credulous and uncritical in their construction of legends about these sorts of things.
So the tradition that Mary was here with John is fun but probably no more than an imaginative connecting of dots. John was here in the late first century, a tradition that I find more plausible. Jesus told John to take care of Mary in John 19. Therefore, John must have brought Mary here with him. Legend accrues upon legend.
Here is the Church of St. Mary, built by Theodosius in the late 300s. It was here that the Council of Ephesus in 431 took place.
The Council was called to address the Nestorian controversy. Nestorius almost saw Jesus as two persons, like conjoined twins, one divine and one human. This council affirmed that Jesus was one person. There was also a "Robber Council" here in 449 that was rejected two years later at Chalcedon (see Day 10). It suggested that Jesus only had one nature, divine. The orthodox position of Chalcedon is that Jesus is one person with two natures--fully human and fully divine.
There is some archaeology in this church of interest to Christian worship. For example, could you have immersed in this baptismal? More likely pouring.
Laodicea
We briefly hit the Temple of Artemis on our way out of town and headed south. It is striking to realize that the city extended all the way from the main site out here to the temple--at least a mile I would say.
We went back to Selchuk and took a south turn back on 550. The star to steer by is Denizli and the road to take east 320.
It was maybe 6 or later by the time we got to the site of Laodicea. It's right off 585 to the left as you get to the area of Denizli. Between the brown signs and the latitude/longitude we were now using the Garman for, we had no trouble finding it. This was the first site where our letter from the university paid off. It is a developing site--no tickets printed yet. Probably we would have had to pay something to get in otherwise (or not be allowed in?).
The "luke-warm" church of Laodicea was a big surprise. Keith has seen this place blossom over the last 4 times he's been there--from mound to road to ruins to the beginnings of reconstructed temples.
Behind the beginnings of reconstruction above is a neat glass roof through which you can see below to pillars and other things. They are really getting the hang of this reconstruction thing, I thought to myself. Below is another larger temple under reconstruction, and you can see the white rock of Hierapolis in the background.
There's also an unreconstructed (Greek style) theater there. The Greek style was to built theaters in the side of a hill. The Romans built them from the ground up with structure. It will be interesting to see whether these ruins get reconstructed in the days ahead.
Thus ended the seven churches of Asia in Revelation. You could do a class on them, spend a whole day at Pergamum, maybe two days at Ephesus. You might want to hit Colossae briefly since it's so close to Laodicea. You could go back up through Nicaea and do the councils. More on these sites in the days to come.
Hierapolis
We ended the day at the best hotel of the entire trip. The Özbay Hotel at Hierapolis, a little town now called Pamukkale. The signs are easy to follow and it is a left turn off of 585 again, only a smidge further east. The hotel was almost right across from the white rock of hot springs fame, on the road along the rock. The proprietor of this hotel (who looks like he's from California with pig tail and all) saw us driving and came out to our car.
"How did you know we were looking for a hotel?" we said.
"I've been in the hotel business for a long time," he said. "I know when someone's looking for a hotel," he said with a smile.
It was here that Ross' hotel price negotiation skills began to come to the fore. He tricked the owner down to 100 lira a night by "innocently" asking if the room he showed us was the 70 lira a night one instead of the 120 lira a night room. The guy knew he was beat, shrugged, and gave us the room for 100.
He then set us up with a table of free appetizers which, predictably, led to us paying for supper. He was just top notch at doing the hotel business thing.
The night ended with Ross and Dave dipping their feet in the stream by yet another wedding.
1. General Remarks
2. What to Bring
3. Day 1: Traveling There
4. Day 2: Troy
5. Day 3: Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna
6. Day 4: Ephesus and Laodicea
The benefit of driving on from Izmir so late was that we did not have far to go to get to Selchuk and Ephesus. The once loud gas station was very peaceful in the morning, and we had our usual breakfast fare of olives, cheese, tomatoes, bread, hard boiled eggs, etc. at the adjoining restaurant.
Not as many smiles from the man in charge there. In all my paranoid glory I always took note when the greeting between men was given in Arabic, "salam alekoom" instead of "merhabah" or "gunaidin" ("good morning"). I always wondered if that meant their primary point of contact was the mosque.
Ephesus
Sunday morning we found ourselves in Ephesus. Today we would hit the last two churches of Revelation. Ephesus is the crown jewel of all ancient sites in the Mediterranean. Once you get to Selchuk, the signs and tour buses will get you the rest of the way. You turn on 515 west off of 550, but it's not like the numbers are anywhere to be seen.
Very quickly after you turn you'll see the brown sign for the Temple of Artemis. The turn is immediate so it's easy to miss. Don't worry, you can catch it on your way back (although then you'll have to do a U-turn to get back). Pretty much all that's left is one large column in a swampy area. I like this picture because of the Ottoman castle and contemporary mosque in the background, giving layers of the history of the area.
 |
| Temple of Artemis at Ephesus |
You need to read Acts 19 before you go to the site. Ephesus is where the people rioted because Paul was cutting into their idol business. The Temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the World at the time, and the legend was that an image of Artemis (apparently a meteorite) had fallen from the sky. We'll see the theater in a moment where Acts says the mob was shouting praises to Artemis.
The amount of material they have unearthed at Ephesus is simply astounding. Took my breath away the first time I was there with Wilbur Williams.
 |
| Curetes Way looking toward Celsus Library |
If you come on a cruise ship, they will drive you down from Izmir and give you 3 hours to walk the thing, usually from about 10 to 1 I would guess. Buses let the people off at the top and let them walk down through the site. It's enough time if you don't have an in depth interest or need to space out the cramming. Buying a bottle of water to carry with you is not a bad idea. There are no shops or stands once you get inside. It's a 25 lira admission.
We got there early and decided to start at the bottom, go up to the top, have lunch, and come back down. The only problem here is that they don't really want you to leave the site until you are leaving the site. There is a cafe at the top, but the food I wanted was outside. I loved Turkish doner kebabs in Germany, but every one I had in Turkey was genuine lamb, which I don't enjoy so much. They will let you out and back in if you ask to use the restroom. Keith and Dave "used the bathroom" for about a half hour. :-)
If you enter at the bottom, you are immediately struck by the theater, where the riot of Acts 19 takes place.
 |
| Theater at Ephesus |
Quite astounding to think that Paul was here in Ephesus for almost three years, that he walked these streets. This is the very theater of the riot in Acts 19. Amazing!
Straight ahead from the theater is the Harbor Road, which went down to the sea in Paul's day, although silt has filled in the bay now for miles. Paul walked this road coming or going on ships.
 |
| Harbor Road |
 |
| Marble Road looking toward theater |
 |
| Lower Agora at Ephesus |
 |
| Library of Celsus |
Off to the right of this area is the south entrance to the agora/marketplace. The Mazeus-Mithradates gate was here at the time of Paul
 |
| Mazeus-Mithradates Gate to Agora |
There are several little things to see near the corner of the Celsus library. Along the Marble Road, maybe half way, you'll find a spot with a heart that, at least I've heard it say, was a place to solicit a prostitute. Occasionally you see the little circle game carved into the marble. It looks like a pie. On the northwest side of the Celsus corner, just starting up the Curetes Road to the left, are the famed public toilets. You could sit on them the last time I was here (Dave Smith has a picture of several of us sitting here) but, alas, no longer.
 |
| public toilets at Ephesus |
Perpendicular to the Marble Road is the Curetes Road, going upwards and westwards. Immediately to the right is an area where they are reconstructing some terraced housing for some very rich people, including a high priest. it was another entry fee to get into the area, maybe 15 lira? Ross and I did it.
I went in because I felt I needed to as a Bible teacher, but it is strictly optional. You'll see mosaics and frescos, plumbing, baths, and kitchens. It takes some time to justify the expense. Here's basically what's under the tent:
 |
| Terraced housing exhibit at Ephesus |
 |
| Shops by terraced houses on south side of Curetes Way |
A good deal of the material as you go west up the Curetes Way dates from after Paul's time, although that is not to say that earlier versions weren't there at the time of Paul. There's stuff up there from Hadrian, Domitian, an odion (little theater). This upper part of Ephesus appears to have been the administrative district, from which the Romans ruled. Ephesus was the Roman seat of power from the time of Augustus in 27BC on.
 |
| Temple of Domitian |
According to tradition, Domitian was the emperor at the time John was here in the 90s. You might say there are two phases to the Christian presence in Ephesus, the Paul phase and the John phase. Paul was here in the mid-50s and, according to tradition, Timothy was the first bishop here. I personally don't think there were anything like bishops (as we think of them) that early, however, and the tradition surely is built out of 1 Timothy.
I believe many of those early traditions grew out of Christians mining the New Testament texts for details just like we do. In some cases, I'm not sure they had anything more to go on than we do, other than a much richer architectural canvas on which to imagine. If anything, I suspect they were quite credulous and uncritical in their construction of legends about these sorts of things.
So the tradition that Mary was here with John is fun but probably no more than an imaginative connecting of dots. John was here in the late first century, a tradition that I find more plausible. Jesus told John to take care of Mary in John 19. Therefore, John must have brought Mary here with him. Legend accrues upon legend.
Here is the Church of St. Mary, built by Theodosius in the late 300s. It was here that the Council of Ephesus in 431 took place.
 |
| Ruins of Church of St. Mary at Ephesus |
The Council was called to address the Nestorian controversy. Nestorius almost saw Jesus as two persons, like conjoined twins, one divine and one human. This council affirmed that Jesus was one person. There was also a "Robber Council" here in 449 that was rejected two years later at Chalcedon (see Day 10). It suggested that Jesus only had one nature, divine. The orthodox position of Chalcedon is that Jesus is one person with two natures--fully human and fully divine.
There is some archaeology in this church of interest to Christian worship. For example, could you have immersed in this baptismal? More likely pouring.
 |
| Baptismal pool in Church of St. Mary at Ephesus |
Laodicea
We briefly hit the Temple of Artemis on our way out of town and headed south. It is striking to realize that the city extended all the way from the main site out here to the temple--at least a mile I would say.
We went back to Selchuk and took a south turn back on 550. The star to steer by is Denizli and the road to take east 320.
 |
| Headed east to Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis |
It was maybe 6 or later by the time we got to the site of Laodicea. It's right off 585 to the left as you get to the area of Denizli. Between the brown signs and the latitude/longitude we were now using the Garman for, we had no trouble finding it. This was the first site where our letter from the university paid off. It is a developing site--no tickets printed yet. Probably we would have had to pay something to get in otherwise (or not be allowed in?).
The "luke-warm" church of Laodicea was a big surprise. Keith has seen this place blossom over the last 4 times he's been there--from mound to road to ruins to the beginnings of reconstructed temples.
 |
| Laodicea, temple being reconstructed |
Behind the beginnings of reconstruction above is a neat glass roof through which you can see below to pillars and other things. They are really getting the hang of this reconstruction thing, I thought to myself. Below is another larger temple under reconstruction, and you can see the white rock of Hierapolis in the background.
 |
| Reconstruction under way at Laodicea |
There's also an unreconstructed (Greek style) theater there. The Greek style was to built theaters in the side of a hill. The Romans built them from the ground up with structure. It will be interesting to see whether these ruins get reconstructed in the days ahead.
 |
| Theater at Laodicea |
Thus ended the seven churches of Asia in Revelation. You could do a class on them, spend a whole day at Pergamum, maybe two days at Ephesus. You might want to hit Colossae briefly since it's so close to Laodicea. You could go back up through Nicaea and do the councils. More on these sites in the days to come.
Hierapolis
We ended the day at the best hotel of the entire trip. The Özbay Hotel at Hierapolis, a little town now called Pamukkale. The signs are easy to follow and it is a left turn off of 585 again, only a smidge further east. The hotel was almost right across from the white rock of hot springs fame, on the road along the rock. The proprietor of this hotel (who looks like he's from California with pig tail and all) saw us driving and came out to our car.
"How did you know we were looking for a hotel?" we said.
"I've been in the hotel business for a long time," he said. "I know when someone's looking for a hotel," he said with a smile.
 |
| Özbay Hotel |
It was here that Ross' hotel price negotiation skills began to come to the fore. He tricked the owner down to 100 lira a night by "innocently" asking if the room he showed us was the 70 lira a night one instead of the 120 lira a night room. The guy knew he was beat, shrugged, and gave us the room for 100.
He then set us up with a table of free appetizers which, predictably, led to us paying for supper. He was just top notch at doing the hotel business thing.
 |
| Chay at the Ozbay Hotel at Hierapolis |
Saturday, June 08, 2013
Free Wesleyan Commentary Online!
I was excited this morning to realize that the Asbury Bible Commentary seems to be available in its entirety for free on Bible Gateway here: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/asbury-bible-commentary/toc
A look at the authors reveals that they are Asbury Seminary authors from the 80s when I was there. What a rich resource from the likes of John Oswalt, David Bauer, David Thompson, and many more! This is an A team of scholars from the Wesleyan tradition at a time when I think Asbury was in a Golden Age. I heartily recommend it for Wesleyan pastors.
Another great resource on this site, believe it or not, is the IVP New Testament Commentary series: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/ivp-nt/toc/
What superb resources to have available for free online! I personally think the Wesleyan Church should put its commentary series online for free as well (it might actually bump sales as some people would want to buy them either in Kindle or book format). They don't come near the level of the resources above, but influence today comes by making things free online.
A look at the authors reveals that they are Asbury Seminary authors from the 80s when I was there. What a rich resource from the likes of John Oswalt, David Bauer, David Thompson, and many more! This is an A team of scholars from the Wesleyan tradition at a time when I think Asbury was in a Golden Age. I heartily recommend it for Wesleyan pastors.
Another great resource on this site, believe it or not, is the IVP New Testament Commentary series: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/ivp-nt/toc/
What superb resources to have available for free online! I personally think the Wesleyan Church should put its commentary series online for free as well (it might actually bump sales as some people would want to buy them either in Kindle or book format). They don't come near the level of the resources above, but influence today comes by making things free online.
Turkey Day 3: Seven Churches of Revelation 1
Turkey in 10 Days
1. General Remarks
2. What to Bring
3. Day 1: Traveling There
4. Day 2: Troy
5. Day 3: 7 Churches of Revelation 1
We hit a lot of sites on the second full day of our travels in Turkey, 5 of the seven churches of Revelation: Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, and (in a way) Smyrna. With modern car in hand, we were able to do in one day what would have taken weeks in the days of John the Revelator.
After leaving Ayvalik on a Saturday morning, we made our way back down 550 south in the direction of Izmir. We did have a lovely chay (tea) at this cafe on the left side of the road, as well as some delicious rice pudding (sutlach). One of the sons of the owner had studied "tourism" and spent some time on a cruise ship until he broke his foot. His father had no smiles for us, but the son was superb. (And his little sister got a big kick out of Keith breaking his tea glass).
Pergamum
To get to Bergama (Pergamum), you head south on 550 in the direction of Izmir, but you turn east at 240 in the direction of Bergama and Akhisar (Thyatira). These road numbers are not the way they think, so I am giving them to you more to help you get a sense of direction on your maps. When actually driving, it's most helpful to know what big city is in the direction you want to go. The big cities are the stars to steer by.
I think we were all struck by the looming hill that is ancient Pergamum, except for Keith, who'd been there before. It's on the northwest side of the existing city of Bergama.
Keith will tell you that Turkey is developing these sites as tourist attractions very rapidly. While you used to be able to walk up to the top, you will now pay 10 lira for a sky lift and then 20 lira to get into the site itself. Then they hit us for parking when we were leaving, something like 5 lira.
1. General Remarks
2. What to Bring
3. Day 1: Traveling There
4. Day 2: Troy
We hit a lot of sites on the second full day of our travels in Turkey, 5 of the seven churches of Revelation: Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, and (in a way) Smyrna. With modern car in hand, we were able to do in one day what would have taken weeks in the days of John the Revelator.
After leaving Ayvalik on a Saturday morning, we made our way back down 550 south in the direction of Izmir. We did have a lovely chay (tea) at this cafe on the left side of the road, as well as some delicious rice pudding (sutlach). One of the sons of the owner had studied "tourism" and spent some time on a cruise ship until he broke his foot. His father had no smiles for us, but the son was superb. (And his little sister got a big kick out of Keith breaking his tea glass).
 |
| Friendly cafe headed south from Ayvalik |
To get to Bergama (Pergamum), you head south on 550 in the direction of Izmir, but you turn east at 240 in the direction of Bergama and Akhisar (Thyatira). These road numbers are not the way they think, so I am giving them to you more to help you get a sense of direction on your maps. When actually driving, it's most helpful to know what big city is in the direction you want to go. The big cities are the stars to steer by.
I think we were all struck by the looming hill that is ancient Pergamum, except for Keith, who'd been there before. It's on the northwest side of the existing city of Bergama.
 |
| Pergamum from the southwest |
There were tour buses all over the place at Troy and then at Pergamum--Japanese, Germans, British.
Pergamum is the third city in John of Patmos' letter from Jesus to the seven churches of Asia. The letters proceed in a clockwise direction starting with Ephesus. Revelation is usually dated to the 90s, with John the son of Zebedee traditionally considered its author. We know the author is someone named John, but the style and tone are so different from the Gospel of John that even in the early church there was some sense that this might be a different John from the Beloved Disciple (e.g., Dionysius of Alexandria in the 200s).
I am personally fine with seeing the John of Revelation as John the son of Zebedee, with the Beloved Disciple behind the Gospel of John being John the elder, another figure in the early church (cf. Martin Hengel's, The Johannine Question). Traditions usually have a kernel of truth to them, although they also notoriously get twisted. There are aspects of Revelation that make me wonder if it was written in the early 70s, not least the "8 kings" passage of Revelation 17.
In Revelation, Jesus refers to Pergamum as the place "where Satan has his throne." Pergamum had been the Roman capital of Asia until Augustus moved the proconsul to Ephesus in 27BC. But that would have been a century earlier, so John probably isn't referring to it. Some think John was referring to a Great Altar that is now in Berlin. Others to the Asklepion that was there in the lower city.
It was a fairly large site at Pergamum. If you're like me, you think of these ancient cities as dinky. But they were the New York City's of their day. My sense is that many covered a square mile.
Turkey is in the process of reconstructing these sites. You can see where they have wed original marble with new marble sections. It's obviously painstaking work, like a massive jigsaw puzzle without any picture to go by.
Thyatira
To get to Thyatira from Bergama, you continue west down 240 to Akhisar. This is southeast of the Pergamum hill, so try not to go back into town on your way out.
Akhisar is a Marion sized city, I would say. What's left of Thyatira is maybe 2 city blocks tucked in the middle of town. It would be hard for me to give you directions except that it was about two blocks off to the left of the main drag headed east. It seemed to be in somewhat of the city's center.
You can walk all around the outside of the site on the sidewalk. Otherwise you'll have to pay to get in. The people were very friendly here. Bottled water is an essential piece of the Turkey puzzle and we all stocked up with large 2 liter bottles of water here for a lira each, as I recall. The shop owner was very friendly.
Revelation speaks of a false prophetess being in this city at the time of Revelation. We don't know who this woman was or exactly what she taught. It is significant that John does not criticize her for being a woman prophetess, which implies it was perfectly acceptable for women to be prophetic in the early church. John criticizes her for the content of her teaching and the practices she encourages.
Philadelphia
While Sardis is the next stop in the geographical rotation of Revelation, it fit better with our travel goals for the day to skirt it and go to Philadelphia first. You can do this in the twenty-first century with a car. You would absolutely have stopped at Sardis in the first century.
We took the smaller road 555 out of Akhisar toward Salihli. This is a fairly picturesque two lane road through the countryside. We stopped at a village not far from Salihli (Golmarmara, I think) and ate the bread, cheese, and other things we had bought at a grocery store the night we arrived in Turkey. The call to prayer went off while we were sitting in a lovely park in the village.
I took this picture as we left the village.
Near Salihli, we hit 300, the main road running east/west through the center of Turkey. But you quickly break off it onto 585 toward Alasehir, continuing southeast. If you were to stay on this road, it would eventually take you to Laodicea, but that was not our plan for this day.
Like Thyatira, all that is left of Philadelphia is tucked into the middle of Alasehir, this time off about a block to the right of the road going up the middle of Alasehir, about 2/3 of the way through the city. Alasehir is a smaller town than Akhisar, and there was lots of road work being done. Some people understood "Philadelphia," but we had quite a bit of trouble finding the site.
About a city block is left of the Roman city. If you go in and don't leave fairly speedily, someone will come out of a house adjacent to the site and ask for a 3 lira admission fee. There's hardly anything to see anyway.
There are the ruins of a church, here shown with the minaret of a mosque peeking through in the background.
The church at Philadelphia received only commendation from Jesus in Revelation. They faced opposition from some "synagogue of Satan." The reference to individuals who claim to be Jews but are not might point to conservative Gentile believers who were a little stricter in how much of the Jewish law they expected Gentile converts to keep.
Sardis
After Philadelphia, we headed back toward Salihli and Sardis. We retraced our steps back northwest up 585 to 300 west, steering by the star of Salihli. Sardis is to the west of Salihli, continuing along 300. The village in which it is located is called Sart.
It's easy to miss the turn off of 300 and go right past it. It is to the south (left side) of the road, but I think we had to turn right and go under 300 to get to that side. Construction often made the Garman inaccurate, and we often wondered whether it was more harm than good, although it was helpful at times to be able to plug in longitude and latitude for the sites (I hope to add those here eventually). There are signs, but you can easily miss them if you don't have an attentive eye.
Sardis was a great surprise. Lots of great stuff here. The main ruins are just to the right of the road and you can see the huge gymnasium if you are looking (we drove right past initially).
It's 8 lira to get into the ruin but well worth it. As always, there is a Roman road running through.
There is a great synagogue here from after the time of the New Testament, but it gives you a great sense of the lay out of such structures. They have reconstructed the altar, refreshed some mosaics, rebuilt the place at the far end where the Torah was stored. Excellent site.
Some young couple was taking their wedding photos as we arrived in the early evening, about 7 as I recall. It would not be our last wedding of the evening.
Further west along the main road about 100 meters was a left turn that took us up to the Temple of Artemis, about a kilometer in. There was a familiar brown sign indicating to turn there for the temple.
Artemis was the Greek god the locals matched with the goddess they worshiped before the Greeks came to town. Here are ruins of the temple of Cybele from those earlier times, on the right about 200 meters after you turn down the alley for the Temple of Artemis. It's probably a little less than a kilometer (3/5 mile) the rest of the way to the Temple of Artemis.
Smyrna
We had hoped to spend the night just east of Izmir, which is a huge city like Ankara and Istanbul. We did stop to ask at a fairly large hotel on the left side of the road before getting to Izmir. No doubt if we knew what the evening had in store, we would have taken it even though it was a little more expensive than we were used to paying. Our target price was quickly becoming 100 lira for a double room.
I think if we had gone straight to the site of the ruins of Smyrna, we would have found a hotel. On Google maps, they are all over the place. But we drove around and around without success, desperately ready to have a hotel for the night.
Our strategy was to go to the beachfront to find one, like at Ayvalik. But Izmir is a much bigger city, and a highway runs up and down the beachfront. It was late and it was very hard to negotiate turning around. The Garman was taking us down alleys of less than optimal character. We finally left Izmir to head south toward Selchuk and Ephesus.
The signs for the ruins of Smyrna were very clear from the highway along the bay. It looks like there are three reasonably priced hotels on the street just north of the ancient agora (e.g., the Vatan Hotel). But, alas, we didn't have wi-fi in the car and were exhausted.
Smyrna gets no critique from Jesus in Revelation. It did seem to face the same "synagogue" opposition that the church of Philadelphia did.
Exhausted, we headed south down 550 toward Selchuk, in the direction of Aydin. The Garman's quest for a hotel led us to someone's house tucked at the end of a driveway past a couple other houses. We finally asked.
The night ended somewhat comically at a hotel that was connected to a gas station where a wedding was taking place. The gas station was inundated with cars everywhere. We finally had to park behind a truck out on the main road, after having to move the car from the spot they initially put us in front of other wedding guests. Ross and I posted pictures/did Facetime from the one hall hotel hallway because the wi-fi wasn't good in the rooms. The beating of the music went well past midnight.
One of the funnest memories of the trip... probably the least pleasant evening of the trip. :-)
 |
| Pergamum looking northwest |
I am personally fine with seeing the John of Revelation as John the son of Zebedee, with the Beloved Disciple behind the Gospel of John being John the elder, another figure in the early church (cf. Martin Hengel's, The Johannine Question). Traditions usually have a kernel of truth to them, although they also notoriously get twisted. There are aspects of Revelation that make me wonder if it was written in the early 70s, not least the "8 kings" passage of Revelation 17.
 |
| Greek theater at Pergamum |
 |
| Great Altar of Pergamum, in Berlin |
 |
| Perspective on size of Temple of Trajan |
 |
| Temple of Zeus at Pergamum |
Thyatira
To get to Thyatira from Bergama, you continue west down 240 to Akhisar. This is southeast of the Pergamum hill, so try not to go back into town on your way out.
Akhisar is a Marion sized city, I would say. What's left of Thyatira is maybe 2 city blocks tucked in the middle of town. It would be hard for me to give you directions except that it was about two blocks off to the left of the main drag headed east. It seemed to be in somewhat of the city's center.
 |
| Thyatira ruins, in the middle of Akhisar |
Revelation speaks of a false prophetess being in this city at the time of Revelation. We don't know who this woman was or exactly what she taught. It is significant that John does not criticize her for being a woman prophetess, which implies it was perfectly acceptable for women to be prophetic in the early church. John criticizes her for the content of her teaching and the practices she encourages.
Philadelphia
While Sardis is the next stop in the geographical rotation of Revelation, it fit better with our travel goals for the day to skirt it and go to Philadelphia first. You can do this in the twenty-first century with a car. You would absolutely have stopped at Sardis in the first century.
We took the smaller road 555 out of Akhisar toward Salihli. This is a fairly picturesque two lane road through the countryside. We stopped at a village not far from Salihli (Golmarmara, I think) and ate the bread, cheese, and other things we had bought at a grocery store the night we arrived in Turkey. The call to prayer went off while we were sitting in a lovely park in the village.
I took this picture as we left the village.
 |
| Goats crossing street at Golmarmara |
Like Thyatira, all that is left of Philadelphia is tucked into the middle of Alasehir, this time off about a block to the right of the road going up the middle of Alasehir, about 2/3 of the way through the city. Alasehir is a smaller town than Akhisar, and there was lots of road work being done. Some people understood "Philadelphia," but we had quite a bit of trouble finding the site.
 |
| Philadelphia, in the middle of Alasehir |
There are the ruins of a church, here shown with the minaret of a mosque peeking through in the background.
The church at Philadelphia received only commendation from Jesus in Revelation. They faced opposition from some "synagogue of Satan." The reference to individuals who claim to be Jews but are not might point to conservative Gentile believers who were a little stricter in how much of the Jewish law they expected Gentile converts to keep.
Sardis
After Philadelphia, we headed back toward Salihli and Sardis. We retraced our steps back northwest up 585 to 300 west, steering by the star of Salihli. Sardis is to the west of Salihli, continuing along 300. The village in which it is located is called Sart.
It's easy to miss the turn off of 300 and go right past it. It is to the south (left side) of the road, but I think we had to turn right and go under 300 to get to that side. Construction often made the Garman inaccurate, and we often wondered whether it was more harm than good, although it was helpful at times to be able to plug in longitude and latitude for the sites (I hope to add those here eventually). There are signs, but you can easily miss them if you don't have an attentive eye.
Sardis was a great surprise. Lots of great stuff here. The main ruins are just to the right of the road and you can see the huge gymnasium if you are looking (we drove right past initially).
 |
| Sardis gymnasium |
 |
| Roman road going east/west at Sardis |
 |
| Sardis gymnasium, altar in front |
Further west along the main road about 100 meters was a left turn that took us up to the Temple of Artemis, about a kilometer in. There was a familiar brown sign indicating to turn there for the temple.
 |
| Temple of Artemis at Sardis |
 |
| Temple of Cybele at Sardis |
Smyrna
We had hoped to spend the night just east of Izmir, which is a huge city like Ankara and Istanbul. We did stop to ask at a fairly large hotel on the left side of the road before getting to Izmir. No doubt if we knew what the evening had in store, we would have taken it even though it was a little more expensive than we were used to paying. Our target price was quickly becoming 100 lira for a double room.
I think if we had gone straight to the site of the ruins of Smyrna, we would have found a hotel. On Google maps, they are all over the place. But we drove around and around without success, desperately ready to have a hotel for the night.
Our strategy was to go to the beachfront to find one, like at Ayvalik. But Izmir is a much bigger city, and a highway runs up and down the beachfront. It was late and it was very hard to negotiate turning around. The Garman was taking us down alleys of less than optimal character. We finally left Izmir to head south toward Selchuk and Ephesus.
.jpg) |
| Ruins at Smyrna (not seen) |
Smyrna gets no critique from Jesus in Revelation. It did seem to face the same "synagogue" opposition that the church of Philadelphia did.
Exhausted, we headed south down 550 toward Selchuk, in the direction of Aydin. The Garman's quest for a hotel led us to someone's house tucked at the end of a driveway past a couple other houses. We finally asked.
The night ended somewhat comically at a hotel that was connected to a gas station where a wedding was taking place. The gas station was inundated with cars everywhere. We finally had to park behind a truck out on the main road, after having to move the car from the spot they initially put us in front of other wedding guests. Ross and I posted pictures/did Facetime from the one hall hotel hallway because the wi-fi wasn't good in the rooms. The beating of the music went well past midnight.
One of the funnest memories of the trip... probably the least pleasant evening of the trip. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
