April 27, 2010 (Tuesday)

Canakkale. Jerry woke me up at 4:45 am so we can get on the road. We took our bags to the car and came back for breakfast, which was supposed to be at 6 am, but we find out has been changed to later in the morning at the insistence of the Koreans. So, we skip breakfast and get on the road at 5:31 am. The day is rainy and messy. I really don’t know how Jerry has stood all this driving. I know I never could do the job. I probably would have pulled to the side of the road the first day and called Avis to pick up the car.

We pass close by the site of the Battle of Granicus (334 B.C.) near modern Biga, Turkey, where Alexander the Great defeated the Persians in the first of three famous battles with the Persians on his way to conquering the world. Unfortunately, we do not have time to stop for a picture or two. Our drive pretty much follows the southern shore of the Marmara Sea. We have to catch a different highway at Bursa and then another one later at Izmit. Eventually, seven and a half hours later (!), we arrive at the International Airport in Istanbul about 1:00 PM. We did not even stop for lunch.

As we got into the terrible crush of Istanbul traffic in this city where millions live, we easily could have missed the necessary turns, but we didn’t. While I usually am the one watching out for and finding road signs and directions where to go, this time we made our destination only because Jerry barely happened to catch two important signs out of his peripheral vision as they raced by for necessary changes in our route toward the International Airport. Even catching these two important signs, however, by the thinnest of margins, we still had the weirdest thing happen as we were making our way into Istanbul.

Istanbul Mystery. We get to the International Airport by miracle actually. Here’s what happened, but we still don’t know what really happened. We entered into town on D100. This superhighway is like a massive Interstate with six lanes of traffic each way, going at Interstate speeds, almost bumper to bumper. We are just humming along this superhighway in one of the middle lanes, when, ultimately—in some mysterious way, completely unfathomable to us how—the speed of the lane we are in gets steadily slower, and the other lanes on either side of us just disappear. Jerry asked, “What’s happening?” to which I only could respond, “I have no idea.” He then asked, “Well, where is this thing taking us? Where are we? I thought we were in the middle of a superhighway only a minute ago!” “Me too!” I exclaimed. We are going downhill and getting slower and slower. Eventually, the road we are on just simply dead ends at the bottom of the mountainside at the wharf right on the water’s edge! How did we move in less than a minute or two from Interstate-like speeds to an absolute dead end at the water’s edge? I have no clue. What to do now?

Never fear! Jerry’s unbelievable radar kicked in. Like he had been on this side route a hundred times, he got a visual fix on the superhighway, which we could see way up above us at the top of the mountain curving its way to the major bridge over the Bosphorus Straights. He found his way, somehow, weaving back up the mountainside thorough busy traffic, stoplights, one-way streets, and the like, without one wrong turn or having to retrace our steps to start over—right to an egress getting us perfectly back onto to the bridge we needed to get across the Bosphoros Straights, just as if he knew the way! Amazing! Praise God! [But, we still do not know to this day what happened that put us at the bottom of the mountain at the water’s edge when we were in the middle of a superhighway—Jerry.]

International Airport. Now that we are back again in that traffic carrying millions of people millions of places, we still have a tough time following all signs and maneuvering correctly for the right lanes and turns to get to the airport. We have to get to the airport to return the car. We do not know what we will be facing at the car rental place, as we have to return a vehicle that has somewhat hidden damage to the front bumper and clear damage on the right side rear door, all happening that terrible time arriving and leaving Antalya. We plan to take a taxi to the hotel after returning the car, so we do not have to fool with returning the rental car (with its unknown time frame for dealing with the return) and trying to catch our plane tomorrow morning early. The airport is confusing because the car rental return is on the 3rd floor of a parking deck without anywhere to park the car! We pull up to what seemed to be the Avis area, and several men came out of the Avis booth and motioned for us to park behind other cars in a line, so we do. Then, 5 or 6 men start walking around the car, pointing to the dent and front bumper, waving their arms and talking Turkish. We have car rental insurance, but we are not sure how they work all this in Turkey. Finally, one man says, “is OK,” and then, pushing a form in front of Jerry, says, “sign,” so Jerry signed the paper, and that was that. We never heard from the rental company. All our worries and fretting during most of the trip over returning a damaged rental car are gone in a moment. Having returned the rental car successfully, we’re now off to find a taxi, which also is confusing. A couple of nice guys sense our predicament and help us find the taxi stand down an elevator at ground level.

Lost Treasure. We finally get to the taxi stand and Jerry notices that his Tarsus poster, which he was carrying in its cardboard tube under his arm, is missing, so he goes back up retracing his steps frantically to try to find the treasure, but to no avail. It’s gone. Disappeared. He’s so sad about losing that particular poster, because the girl at the Tarsus museum gave the print to him especially, pulling the artwork out of a closed case. The poster was a special commemorative limited edition of the Vatican’s millennial celebration of St. Paul in Tarsus. The girl behind the counter had seen how intense Jerry was about the museum artifacts that she had given him the poster as a special gift. Jerry was very touched by the gesture and was going to hang the poster proudly in his seminary office. He had carried the poster carefully everywhere all over Turkey for weeks, and now the prized limited-edition print is lost forever. He thinks he might have left the tube in the bathroom right before we took the elevator down.

Empress Zoe Hotel. After Jerry returns dejected with no poster, we continue to the taxi stand. Two taxi drivers get into a heated exchange about who is next, that is, who gets to take us. What a rig-a-ma-roll! Reminds us of the two taxis that showed up in front of our hotel in Berlin, Germany the morning we were going to the airport to fly to Turkey who argued who was going to get the fare. Finally, we are on the long drive to the hotel. When the taxi driver goes past our Empress Zoe Hotel, I have to tell him to go back. Very good thing that I already knew what the hotel looked like, since we had stayed there before on our previous trip to Istanbul. The hotel is right in the middle of things. The famous Blue Mosque can be seen immediately in the background of the hotel.

We check in. Our room is on the top floor this time—quite a climb of narrow, spiral stairs! We get settled in quickly, because we need to get to the Istanbul Archeological Museum before the place closes for the day.

Istanbul Archeological Museum. We walk the few blocks to the Istanbul Archeological Museum, precisely why we love the Empress Zoe Hotel. We go through the museum and search for the Caesarea Pontius Pilot inscription, but do not find the stone that is our only historical documentation independent of literary sources of the existence of Pontius Pilate. We do find lots of very interesting artifacts, including inscriptions, such as the Hezekiah inscription and an inscription from the temple in Jerusalem. After finishing the Archeological Museum, we go across the museum plaza to the other building to take a quick view of the Ancient Asia Museum, wondering if perhaps the Caesarea inscription might be there, but the inscription is not there either. Jerry now is wondering if his information is mistaken; he thinks the inscription actually might be housed somewhere in a museum in Jerusalem.

The museum holds an important Hebrew inscription taken from King Hezekiah’s tunnel dated from 716–687 B.C., built to access a water supply from the Gihon Spring to East Jerusalem’s Pool of Siloam. The inscription records the work on the tunnel and is one of the oldest Hebrew inscriptions of its kind using the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.

Another inscription on limestone below dates from the 1st cent. A.D. and documents the prohibition against profaning the sanctity of the inner compound of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The inscription reads: No intruder is allowed in the courtyard and within the wall surrounding the temple. Whoever enters will invite death for himself. In the New Testament one can compare the mob riot against Paul when he was believed to have brought the Gentile Trophimus into the inner temple area (Acts 21:27–29) and Paul’s metaphor about breaking down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile (Eph 2:11–14).

The following image shows a fragment of a 1st cent. A.D. boundary marker found in Gezer in Palestine. The inscription bears the name of a governor, Alkios.

Most fascinating was a round table whose outer circumference displayed a band of reliefs depicting various biblical scenes, such as Adam and Eve, Abraham offering Isaac, and Daniel in the lions den. One in particular that caught Jerry’s eye was a relief depicting Jesus raising Lazarus. The table hails from Laodicea about the 4th cent. A.D.

Statuary from various locations in Turkey were well represented. These included: the supreme god Zeus found in Pergamum dating 2nd cent. A.D.; a beautiful 2nd cent. A.D. statue of a woman from Aphrodisias; Polemeanus, proconsul of Asia from 106–107 A.D.; a 2nd cent. A.D. statue of Euterpe from the Bath of Faustina in Miletus and another similar statue of Euterpe from Miletus; also from Miletus was a statue of Melpomene, dated 2nd cent. A.D.; the head of a woman, taken from 2nd cent. A.D. Ephesus; the head of the emperor Tiberius (14–37 A.D.) from Pergamum; the head of the emperor Claudius (41–54) from Izmir; a beautiful 2nd cent. A.D. statue of Cornelia Antonio from Antioch of Pisidia; a 1st cent. A.D. statue of the goddess Athena from Manisa (ancient Magnesia); and a 2nd cent. A.D. statue of the god Apollo in the Greek “heroic” fashion from Miletus.

A colossal statue of the emperor Hadrian (117–138) illustrates the style of Roman imperial propaganda. Hadrian is depicted as larger than life. He is dressed with regal robe draping his neck and decked out with the imperial military cuirass. He stands triumphantly, with his boot on the neck of the vanquished enemy. The enemy is portrayed in a humiliating style as pigmy in size, forced down on the ground in submission, prostrate before the Roman general. So much for the consequences of opposing invincible Rome.

The relief below depicts Trajan’s (98–117) victory over the Dacians. The relief hails from modern-day Romania.

The relief below shows prisoners bound at the neck. The relief is 2nd–3rd cent. A.D. from Miletus.

The god Hercules depicted in the relief below dates to to the 2nd cent. A.D. and is a rare artifact from Iconium (cf. Paul’s first missionary journey, Acts 13:51–14:6).

Aphrodisias yields a beautiful 2nd cent. A,D. relief depicting the goddess Athena in her quarrel with Poseidon, god of the sea, over possession of Attica. The style is overtly imitative of the great Altar of Zeus in Pergamum.

The 2nd cent. A.D. marble carving below was found in Ephesus. The wonderful workmanship depicts Oceanus, a concept held by both Greeks and Romans of a world-ocean, or global river that supported all inhabitable lands. He was personified as Titan in Greek myth, and after Poseidon later came on the stage of the Greek gods, Oceanus was understood to rule over the unknown waters of the Atlantic, while Poseidon ruled the Mediterranean ocean.

The museum has some mosaics. The scenes presented are the typical fare. The scene below is a gladiator with spear. In the following relief is another gladiatorial scene showing the early morning “warm-up” fights with beasts of various kinds. One is reminded of Paul’s strong metaphor, “even if according to human ways I fought with beasts at Ephesus” (1 Cor 15:32).

The millstone was used for grinding meal. The one below is from Polymyra, Roman period. The diameter is about finger to elbow. One can imagine how heavy this stone is and then recall the statement of Jesus: But whoever should cause to stumble one of the least of these who believe in me would be better for that person that the millstone of a donkey be hung around the neck and thrown into the depths of the open sea (Matt 18:6).

Several gravestones caught Jerry’s eye that were from the early Roman period. The first one below is from Thessalonica, 1st cent. A.D., of a Gaeus Cousonios Cusipus. The following one also is from Thessalonica, 1st–2nd cent. A.D., of one named Agathon. A painted limestone grave marker from Sidon of Lebanon has this inscription: O D [illegible] of Pisidia–Balboura, son of Exabous, the standard bearer of the allied forces, good man, farewell. His brother Ceraios had this erected. The final image shows a finely executed relief from a 1st cent. B.C. tomb monument that was done for Tiberius Flavius Miccaulus, who was both a prefect and priest. The monument and its almost life-size relief is rather large and imposing and displays military dress and armor with great detail.

One of the most striking exhibits at the Istanbul Archeological Museum is the so-called “Tomb of Alexander.” This sarcophagus is not really the tomb of Alexander the Great, but probably was a tomb monument for one of his successors. Alexander the Great is depicted in the elaborate reliefs surrounding the outside of the tomb, and, hence, the name. The following image provides a closeup of the far left of the relief below, and shows Alexander in the heat of battle. Many people do not realize that most of these great monuments would have been brightly painted. The museum provides a separate display on a wall close to the sarcophagus that shows how the same image would have appeared originally in its bright colors, which is given in the third image below.

Strolling Around. After finishing the museums, we walk casually back towards the hotel. The weather is turning cool again, and it’s windy! We are finishing our overseas adventure like we had begun in London—cool and breezy. We stop to eat at a very nice restaurant, which is our first meal of the day, since we missed breakfast because of the Koreans at Canakkale, and we drove hard all day without stopping for lunch to get to Istanbul. We have wonderful soup and salad. Jerry has shrimp casserole, and I have chicken spaghetti. Delicious. After eating, we shopped across the street and found some nice souvenirs for several people. The owner insisted on showing us carpets at his other shop across the street, so we looked. He was very nice, and we did enjoy looking at a very beautiful antique carpet in particular. Also, he had a picture of a beautiful cat in his shop window, and I asked about the cat. This feline is white with gorgeously blue eyes, and we find out the cat has just had kittens and is across the street at his other shop. The shopkeeper takes us back across the street to see her and the kittens tucked away in a cubicle with a small curtain entrance in the back part of the other shop. They are so pretty!

Back at our hotel, we use wifi to call mother, Cindy, John/Donna, Angela, etc., and post on Twitter and Facebook. The hotel comes with its own complement of cats, one for each floor. This one joined us for the Twitter and Facebook sessions.

Jerry went out onto the terrace veranda to see the ships moving through the Bosphorus Straights up into the Black Sea and back down out to the Marmara Sea. The city of Istanbul straddles both sides of the southern end of the straights. He caught a picturesque evening image of the purple wisteria blooms dancing on the ends of their limbs against the backdrop of the ghostly haloed moon rising above the shimmering water.

Jerry returns to the room and backs up his pictures from this last day of the trip, and we get ready for bed. We have to get up in only a few short hours at 3:00 am to head back out to the airport and—home!

So, thus ends our April 2010 adventure to Europe and Turkey. The trip has had a sort of Charles Dickens character—“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

For a video of today’s action in Istanbul, click here.

April 26, 2010 (Monday)

Up early and to breakfast, which is pretty minimal at the Iskender, with not even a bowl of cereal.  :(   Jerry still insists he is going to have a great day anyway. If you knew how much Jerry loves breakfast, you would know he was being a real trouper!

On the Road Again. After “breakfast,” we start off for Assos. Assos was a stop for Paul and company on the return of the 3rd missionary journey (Acts 20:13–14). We basically follow the main highway in this part of Turkey, D550, which also is E87, that runs on up to the major city of Canakkale. So we just keep following signs to Canakkale. We travel pretty much along the coastline with the big island of Lesbos on the sea’s horizon off to our left. Highway D550 eventually departs inland from the coastline to take a valley pass through some foothills that run to the edge of the seacoast. As we reach the city of Ayvacik, we are glad to see a sign directing us to turn left to go to Assos. The highway actually has a number, 17-51, but that is not to say this is a highway. Off we go down small streets, through several villages, where, without fail at each village, there’s at least one small café with a bunch of Turkish men sitting around doing nothing. What is that? Unemployment? Laziness? We noted the same thing in 2002.

Assos. We finally arrive at the “modern” village of Behran on the coast close to the ancient site of Assos. “Modern” is a relative term here. Let’s just say there’s one broken down car and no golden arches, so you get the picture. We notice that tourists are walking down a steep hill, so Jerry hikes up the hill to figure out where to go. In fact, this hill is the acropolis of ancient Assos. He finds the bilet (ticket) booth and comes back to get me. It’s a long climb up this hill, but we finally make the ticket booth with a few breaks for me.

Athena Temple. We go in the gate and climb some more. At the top of the acropolis is a temple to Athena and a view of the Assos harbor below. Too bad the weather is so grey today. The view on a sunny day would be spectacular. A nice display nearby educates visitors to the construction and significance of the Athena Temple, including a full-color drawing and a scale model.

The following panorama view of the Mediterranean Sea is from high up on the acropolis of Assos. To get this shot, Jerry, of course, is right on the edge of the acropolis ledge. (Where else?) The Assos harbor is the faint white jut out into the sea to the far left of the image.

Here is a shot of the Assos harbor far below the acropolis using the full zoom of the camera. You can see how the harbor is still in use today.

We watched a squirrel sitting on one of the boulders, so we can add an Assos squirrel to our animal collection for the trip (Laodicia lizard, Perge turtle, Derbe prairie dogs, etc.).

Assos Theater. After hiking back to the car, we drive down the steep hillside to visit the harbor. We travel along a narrow, treacherous, and winding road, which is rather nerve wracking to me. Jerry is quite the pro, especially at figuring out pullover spots anticipating when we need to let cars coming back up from the harbor get by us. On the way, we pass the Assos theater. We stop so Jerry can go take pictures of the theater. The theater is not that well preserved past its first section. However, you still can imagine how beautiful the Mediterranean navy blue made for a backdrop to this theater!

Harbor Lunch. We finally arrive at the harbor, which is beautiful and quaint. We find a restaurant, use their facilities, and eat lunch at a table by the water. The fish was freshly caught. I had brim and Jerry had a swordfish kabob. The food was delicious, and the scenery so picturesque—even on a cold, cloudy, windy day.

We are having lunch at the harbor where Paul would have joined back up with Luke and others for the trip on down to Miletus after walking by himself down the Roman road from Troas to Assos at the end of the 3rd missionary journey (Acts 20:13–14). Paul was here!!! Even with the inclement weather proving a challenge for getting the postcard-pretty pictures he always wants, Jerry could not have been more content.

After our main dish, we have the traditional hot Turkish tea, which is so wonderful in the chill of the air, and then pay the 85TL bill. The money was well worth the experience, and made up for our hotel back in Bergama this morning serving only a minimal breakfast (not even cereal). Jerry was right. We did have a great day anyway!

Roman Road. After lunch, we head off for Alexandria Troas, which is about 60 km to the northwest of Assos. Rather than going back up the little 17-51 road we came down to the coast on and then catching the D550 superhighway back at Ayvacik, we decide to take the scenic route running right near the coastline. This route, which is highway 17-52,  in part actually follows the old Roman road that ran from Troas to Assos. That decision turned out to be a great one—quite fortuitous!

As we are driving along, I remembered that our friend, Mark Wilson, during our harbor dinner at Izmir had said that a part of the ancient Roman road is visible between Assos and Troas, so I started looking to see if I could spot any remains as Jerry was driving. I suddenly catch a glimpse of what I think is the old Roman road. Jerry stops, backs up, pulls over to the side of the road, and disappears down the embankment to investigate the situation. He comes back up to announce excitedly, that, sure enough, what I had glimpsed is clearly a portion of the ancient Roman road! We know that Paul traveled overland from Troas to Assos by foot while his companions took a ship down to Assos (Acts 20:13–14), so Paul would have walked this road.

What a feeling to walk that road! The day is quite overcast, quite windy, and quite cold, but the experience of walking where Paul walked is definitely worth braving the elements.

Catching this unmarked Roman road was lagniappe fit for a king as far as Jerry was concerned. He relished the discovery and soaked in the moment thoroughly. Today was our last full day of touring, and Jerry finally got to walk a Roman road Paul had walked on this trip. We were locked out of the Roman road uncovered in downtown Tarsus, and we missed finding the Roman road on the way to Derbe, so this looked like the trip overseas where Jerry never would have the chance to walk a Roman road. Yet, here by the mere coincidence of a spontaneous decision to take the scenic route by the sea rather than the superhighway inland, we find a Roman road we know Paul walked. Yes, indeed, Jerry was right early this morning. We truly did have a great day!

Doesn’t matter whether anything is there to be seen, my Pauline scholar just wants to walk any road the great missionary to the Gentiles walked. I can tell his sense of indebtedness to Paul is keen. My devoted scholar mused that had Paul not walked this road, he might never have heard the gospel of saving faith in Christ. To be such an academic, Jerry sure has a devotional spirit.

We proceed along the mountain foothills following the meandering, narrow highway through small villages and pastoral scenes with sheep grazing. As we are traveling, we saw a man riding a donkey down the road. The sight provoked me to wonder out loud to Jerry whether perhaps Paul rode a donkey during any of his travels. I then immediately followed that up with a comment wondering if they had “Avis Rent-A-Donkey” available back then. We had a good laugh at that thought.

Dalyan. We got to Dalyan, a village on the Mediterranean coast close to Troas. We wanted to visit the beach where we had taken one of my favorite photos from the 2002 trip. This time however, the skies were heavily overcast, with a front moving in and the wind blowing stiffly, producing a serious wind chill factor. We take a picture on the beach, but the contrast from the 2002 picture could not be more dramatic! This time is absolutely freezing with the wind blowing really hard and no sun. In 2002 the day was sunny, warm, and beautiful when we were here. Compare for yourself below!

Troas. On to Troas, only a few kilometers inland form the Dalyan beach, where we find  a “car park” on this go-round—the place has developed just a little since we last were here. Jerry reveres the site of Troas, since, he points out, Troas is where Paul’s 2nd missionary journey really got kicked off in earnest after Paul had gotten off track in his fight with Barnabas over John Mark (Acts 15:36–40). At Troas, Paul received a renewed sense of call to mission and specific direction from God in his famous “vision of the Macedonian” (Acts 16:8–10). The stopover at Troas also is important because Troas is where Paul picked up Luke, his lifelong and trusted missionary companion. This connection of Luke to Troas is implicit in the Acts text, because the narrative shifts from third person to first person plural, “we,” right at this point in telling the vision of the Macedonian—the beginning of the first of three “we sections” in the text in Acts (Acts 16:10). So Jerry loves to visit Troas, even with hardly anything above ground to see there.

Just as we arrive, a man who is the attendant at the ticket gate is about to leave the site on a motorcycle, apparently at the end of his workday. However, though he probably could have driven on off, leaving us without assistance or direction, he stops when we pull up. He is kind. He offers to stay, even with the inclement weather. He gets back off his bike, and proceeds to show us all the newer excavations, which are very interesting. He even gives us a schematic of the archeological site, which is nice to have to orient to where various ruins are scattered about in the thick overgrowth. The schematic is in German, but Jerry gets his bearings with this resource.

The site is very overgrown, so we have to walk through tall grasses and weeds waist high at times. Our guide moved fast. Quite a tour—he even showed us some human teeth from a jawbone that they found during excavations. Just as we arrive back at the car, rain begins a steady, cold drizzle, so I wait in the car while Jerry dons his poncho and heads back to take some pictures. The “tour” the attendant led us on was so fast that Jerry had no time to compose pictures. He regrets that he cannot give much information about the significance of the finds, since he did not even have time to jot down any notes as the attendant talked while walking rapidly along. Jerry is glad to see this part of the site has had some attention since our last visit in 2002, but he wishes descriptive signs could be posted!

The terracotta piping so common to Roman period construction is evident now at Troas. One nicely preserved section was just sitting propped up on the ground. Jerry speculates the second image is a cistern fed by a terracotta pipe for collecting rain water.

The foundations of buildings and temples are evident now that we never saw in our first visit. The outlines of  the typical broad, collonnaded streets can be determined in conjunction with the remains of these buildings.

Below is pictured the remains of the odeon, which is the smaller theater intended for musical performances, poetry recitations, and other assemblies. The outline of the seating area is more evident in person than in the image.

Some of the lintels for the collonnaded streets or entrances into buildings allude to a former grandeur for Troas. Apparently, the archeologists do not have the columns that go with these lintels, or else do not have the necessary heavy lifting equipment and cranes such as we saw at the on-going work at Laodicea. That kind of machinery takes a boatload of money.

The rectangular base in the picture below has a Latin inscription. The pedestal probably represents an honorarium for a leading citizen or public official of Troas.

The levels of earlier occupations in centuries gone by that are hidden away just a few feet beneath the present ground level are apparent in these images.

Fortunately the structure below has been identified. A sign leaning up on a block to the right in the picture gives some information in German. These steps are all that is left of the Agora Temple that was next to the Troas market. The structure apparently had been misidentified in earlier work, because the description used to be the Temple of Augustus.

Down the road a little on the other side of the highway is the site of the Herod Atticus arches, the most visible ruins of ancient Troas left behind today, which we had explored before. This part of the site, however, now is very overgrown and hardly recognizable, and makes Jerry very sad that no one is taking care of the beautiful treasures. Herod Attitcus was a wealthy, 2nd century Greek aristocrat and Roman senator who also was a Sophist philosopher. He always was in good standing with successive emperors. Emperor Hadrian appointed him prefect of the free cities of Asia in 125, and emperor Antoninus Pius appointed him as a consul in 143. During his life, Herod Atticus was well known for his philanthropy and gifts to public works. One of these gifts was the aquaduct system at Troas that helped support a bath complex in the eastern part of the city. The arches for the aquaduct can barely be seen in the background of the picture below, as well as some surviving arches in the foreground of the bathhouse complex.

Canakkale. After finishing the Troas site, we retrace our steps back to Dalyan, catching 17-52 to head east over to Ezine, where we can pick up the main highway again (D550), turning almost due north to drive on up to Canakkale, our stop for the night. We will have a long, hard drive tomorrow to get all the way from Canakkale to Istanbul, turn in our rental car at the Istanbul International Airport, catch a taxi back out to our hotel, and still have an hour or two in the late afternoon to catch the Istanbul Archeological Museum before flying out of Turkey the next morning. This trip is jammed packed to the last minute!

Congested Canakkale. The Garmin takes us straight to congested downtown Canakkale where the hotel is supposed to be, but we cannot find the hotel anywhere. Major road construction is a problem again, making navigating the downtown area a mess. The Garmin keeps saying “turn,” and we cannot turn because of construction—and we cannot read the street signs. So the Garmin goes into an infinite loop of “recalculating.” Worthless. We find a tourist information office in bustling downtown Canakkale, so Jerry pulls over, and I go in to ask for directions. I learn that our hotel is not “in the city of Canakkale” but back out somewhere on the highway we came into town on! Oh, brother! Since we already have passed up the hotel somehow, even though looking everywhere for signs or the hotel name, then how are we supposed to find our hotel where our reservations for the night are? So, the Garmin was completely and totally wrong. Our hotel is nowhere near downtown Canakkale. It’s actually quite a way back in a different community, a suburb of Canakkale I guess you might say. Since the Garmin was useless, how did we find the hotel? A miracle, Jerry says, because Jean is “very observant” (an in-house joke between us).

Unidirectional Signs. By chance I just happened to see important signs that I recognize as the community in which our hotel is situated, and these signs finally lead us to the hotel. Curiously, though, we suddenly realize these signs are viewable only coming back out of Canakkale, the direction we now are traveling. These signs to the hotel are not viewable in the direction we came in on. Jerry was so glad I caught sight of the signs we needed to find the hotel (because I am “very observant”). I guess for our second to last hotel of the entire trip to be easy to find would have been too much to ask. Generally, locating our hotels has been a serious challenge on this trip.

We finally arrive at 6 pm. Fortunately, dinner is not until 7:30, and lots of Korean tourists are here. To be quite honest, we find Korean tourists everywhere in Turkey to be quite rude in general. These Koreans were no different. I remembered the remarks of our sweet Pammukale hotel owner, Judy, who had served us hot tea and allowed us to use her hotel wifi even though we were not staying at her hotel. Judy had stated in a rather matter of fact way as we talked about tourists from around the world that she would rather deal with anyone else besides Korean tourists. As a hotel proprietor, Judy found the Koreans to be extremely demanding, always driving too hard for room rates and meal prices that simply were beyond reason. She said she had to have other tourists just to support the Koreans, and if all she had were Korean tourists, she would be out of business in a month.

Fortunately in this hotel we are able to connect to wifi in the lobby so I can call mother. We go back to our room to repack everything for the final leg home and organize ourselves. We have to be up quite early to hit the road for a very long driving day to make Istanbul tomorrow.

For a video of the Assos and Troas action today, click here.

April 25, 2010 (Sunday)

Pergamum. We get up a little later today, since we are less pushed. Our schedule has only one objective, the acropolis of Pergamum, and we already are almost there. Since we have been to the Pergamum acropolis before, we are catching specific targets Jerry has mapped out to supplement what he already has for his classroom work. We get breakfast at the hotel, and then head to the Pergamum acropolis just outside the Bergama city limits. As we are leaving, the hotel manager asks if we would mind giving his daughter a ride to her school, which, he explains, is right on the way to the Pergamum acropolis, which we are happy to do. She’s a 9th grader and speaks only a little English, but is able to say “stop” when we need to let her out. Sweet girl.

Pergamum Theater. We drive up the steep grade to get to the top of the acropolis and get to the site just as it’s opening, so very few people are here. We go straight to the theater to do a movie. Oh my, I had forgotten how steep the theater is, and my vertigo is awful! We record a good “talking head” movie, and Jerry, of course, traipses all the way up and down the theater steps with ease. He does a movie from the bottom of the theater, and then we head to Trajan’s temple. In the image below, find the people moving back up to the top.

Can you find Jerry in the picture below? He is at the bottom in the remnants of what is called the skene, or backstage.

The boy has no fear and no vertigo. He is just a hustling up and down the steep, steep steps—and no handrails!

Trajan’s Temple. Though only a small portion of the temple itself survives, the platform area is just as beautiful as we remembered. We are at the very peak of the ancient acropolis, and the commanding view of the valleys below is magnificent. The temple stands as an important witness to the reality of emperor worship in early Christian experience and the powerful threat and constant challenge the imperial cult posed to gospel proclamation—the image that chisels the background to the book of Revelation into bold relief. The first picture below is looking up from the theater to the top of the acropolis past the foundational terraces constructed to support the entire Trajan Temple complex.

Inscriptions are displayed near the temple area, and, interestingly, even I now can read some of them after observing Jerry for several weeks! Jerry does a movie of me reading an inscription in Greek and then translating into English. How about that!! He says he is going to use the movie in his Introductory Greek class to tell his students that if his wife can do that after only a few weeks listening to her husband, surely they can learn Greek in a semester!

The first word in the inscription, Jerry says, is autokratora, the root from which we derive our word “autocrat.” In ancient Roman inscriptions, this word is translated “emperor.” In the imagery evoked by the word, the emperor claims to be the “self-powered” one, that is, the one who is more powerful than anyone else and stands secure on his own two feet under his own power. Interestingly, Jerry says, the most common name for God in the book of Revelation is pantokrator, or “all-powerful one,” which often is behind our English translation, “Almighty.” Jerry thinks this pantokrator term for God is oneupmanship on John’s part against the autokrator of imperial propaganda. This rhetoric for the name of God in Revelation is bold, political counter-propaganda, John’s deliberate broadside across the bow of Rome’s imperial ship of state. The one who truly stands on his own power with feet like burnished bronze is one like a Son of Man (Rev 1:15); this one is the true ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev 1:5). Indeed, the “self-powered” emperor to whom this inscription refers lies in his grave to this day. The grave of the king of kings, however, lies empty to this day. So, who really has the power? Jerry just loves to see this word autokratora beginning Roman imperial inscriptions. He says this relic of a once glorious and mighty empire is a constant reminder to him of one of the greatest ironies of human history and one of the deepest truths of Christian proclamation: the gospel of his Son, who was . . . declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead—Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 1:3–4).

Pergamum Aquaducts. After the inscriptions, we head north behind the temple area to find the water supply that Mark Wilson had told us about that we missed the first time here, and we are successful! We go further down the back side of the acropolis and are able to see the remains of the Roman aqueducts in the fields below! What an amazing water system the Romans used. Here at Pergamum, instead of gravity, the Romans designed a siphoning system that ran the water up tunnels into Pergamum.

Altar of Zeus. Next, we head over to the sparse remains of the foundation of the Altar of Zeus for a movie. (The reconstructed altar is in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. For a video of the Berlin display, click here.) About all you can see today perched on the point of the acropolis where the temple once stood with its commanding view of the valley is a small grove of trees. On the right side of the trees you can see the bare outline of the original steps of one of the wings of the “U” shaped entrance.

While Jerry was taking pictures of the Zeus Altar, I noticed the beautiful blooming flowers all around us. I got out my iPhone and took this picture. Truly lovely.

Pergamum Library. From the altar of Zeus, we next search for the famous Pergamum library, which proves pretty difficult to find, if not impossible. Finally, Jerry spots and translates a German sign about the library, which helps him locate the proposed site. No restoration work has been done, so telling much about the library is hard. Jerry does think that the German identification of the place of the library running the northern length of the main courtyard of the Athena Temple is correct, as this squares he says with information about the library from ancient sources, though these references are admittedly somewhat vague.

The ancient library at Pergamum rivaled that of Alexandria. Plutarch claimed the library held 200,000 volumes, but we really have no way of knowing, since no index or record from ancient times has survived. King Eumenes II of Pergamum ordered the library’s construction, but its future later was threatened when the Ptolmaic dynasty ruling Egypt eventually refused to ship papyrus, an ancient form of paper universally used for writing that was produced only in Alexandria from the reeds along the Nile River, to Pergamum in a severe case of library envy. As to be expected, necessity is the mother of invention. Eumenes II refused to bow the pen. He put his scientists and inventors to work, and parchment was their miracle product. Parchment is a thin sheet of sheep or goat skin that is highly durable. This Pergamese invention of parchment, in fact, changed history. The long-standing Egyptian monopoly on the raw materials of writing was broken, and the eminently more durable and lasting form of books caused knowledge to advance much more rapidly throughout Europe and Asia.

Now, Jerry actually is in the picture below. Can you find him? As a hint, let me just say that, as usual, to “get the shot,” he is walking a wall.

And here are the shots he wanted. He said he was looking for that “long angle” running the length of the library. As I have said before, I am lucky to have him in one piece after any of these trips of ours.

Jerry thinks the regularly-spaced holes in the stone walls might have been for the support beams of the roofing, but he is not sure.

Hellenistic Houses. From there we head off in search of the famous Hellenistic houses with their wall frescos and mosaics. No signs exist to show us how to get to these homes, so we wander around a little. We eventually determine the path that we need to take actually leads down the steep slope away from the theater and on past the Altar of Zeus, and so we’re off down that path to find House Z (Bau Z).

We found House Z, and the residence was worth the search, for its beauty is truly amazing. The mosaic floors are original to the site and are more complete than any we saw in the archeological museum in Hatay (ancient Antioch of Syria; for that blog post, click here) or in the terrace houses at Ephesus (for that blog post, click here). Jerry was delighted. He took pics and did a movie.

The first picture below shows what Jerry at first thought was like a mini-odeon, only this one inside a private home. In contrast to a large theater, an odeon was a smaller public structure for more intimate musical performances, poetry recitations, and other cultural assemblies. We later learned, however, that this structure was part of a heroon to Diodoros Pasparos. A heroon was a shrine either to commemorate or to worship a hero. Both Greeks and Romans had a pervasive cult of heroes tradition. The strength of this type of cult was the association of the welfare of an ancient city with the heroes attached to that city. Often, the bones of the hero were preserved in the heroon, but not always. In some sense the hero was thought to be present in the cult activity, and the cult activity was thought to insure the hero’s allegiance to the city. The heroon hall is in the second picture. The corner artwork of this hall symbolizes military and gladiatorial themes.

The picture below is quite instructive for the history of the house. The archeologists intentionally have left the bare remnants of the original Hellenistic period mosaic floor of the house. This level would be the slightly larger white stones just above the middle of the picture. The Roman period mosaics are the smaller stones making up the geometric shapes. These stones simply were laid on top of the earlier Hellenistic floor. The next picture shows the entire walkway.

This design in the picture below features Dionysus. The figure of Dionysus was very common in Roman mosaics.

In the design below, the outer octagonal frames are comprised of theater masks. The inner group of four octagonal frames have two pairs of images facing each other; one is a pair of leopards, and the other is a pair of roosters. These represent gladiatorial themes. Thus, the floor is designed with a theme of two of the most common forms of public entertainment of that culture: the theater and gladiatorial combat.

Divided Paths. Jerry decided to take a hike further down the steep mountainside to find another Hellenistic house mentioned in the Reddish resource book. Some people are heading back up the path to the main site, so Jerry tells me to follow them rather than trying to keep up with him, because he will have to move quickly to span the distance all the way down and back up, so I return back up to the main site with this group. Unexpectedly, though, I discover only later that this path I am following with this group instead of returning to the main site at the top of the acropolis where the theater and Trajan temple are, rather brings me right out at the bus parking area at the entrance to the Pergamum site! I make the assumption that Jerry realizes that this path winds up at the main parking area, and that is why he told me to take this route, because we are pretty much done with our visit. The path is pretty steep and hard to climb, but I make it back up and go to a restaurant to get a Coke light and buy a big bottle of water for Jerry, because I know he’ll be burning up and thirsty when he finally gets back, since we were out of water in our backpacks.

Jerry eventually did find the second house, called the House of Attalos, but he was most distressed to witness its state of decay and inattention. The frescoed walls had all but disappeared, and overgrowth of vegetation was infiltrating and breaking up what remained of the mosaic floors. So sad, Jerry thought. He had no clue why the structure had become so neglected as to be near complete ruin—risking loss forever.

Pergamum Miscue. After a very long while (well over an hour), I think Jerry should have returned by now, so I go up to the entrance and look around for him, but I don’t see him. I continue trying to find him, so I look down the path I came up and still don’t see him. Suddenly, I see him coming down the main road from the main entrance into the Pergamum site and call out to him. Jerry is shaken and quite visibly upset. I find out that he’s been looking for me inside the Pergamum site for the last hour, and, not finding me anywhere on the site (he had run all over the entire site calling out my name) had gotten very worried something awful might have happened to me. Obviously, to say that he is extremely relieved to see me would be an understatement. In fact, he had feared the worst and was very upset. For a while he was just overcome with emotion. He took about 20 minutes to regain control. I feel terrible since I thought he knew the path he told me to follow the people up was different from the one we came down. I’m so glad we’re safe and back together. After resting a while at a restaurant near the ticket area, Jerry finally settled down, and we head back to our car.

We make our way back down the acropolis mountainside. We stop along the way and take more pics of the Roman aqueducts that can be spotted off in the distance from the access road. Jerry’s large zoom lens does an amazing job pulling in the aqueducts.

Red Basilica. We also look down in the valley into the suburbs on the outskirts of Bergama and spot the famous tourist stop called the “Red Hall” or “Red Basilica,” originally a 2nd century temple probably built to the Egyptian god, Serapis, whose construction often is associated with emperor Hadrian. The temple later was converted into a Byzantine church in the 4th and 5th centuries dedicated to the Apostle John, considered to be the author of the book of Revelation. (Pergamum was one of the seven churches in the book of Revelation.) However, association of the spot with the original 1st century Christian community in Pergamum is tourist misinformation often promulgated by tour group leaders, Turkey travel guides, and websites—but completely absent any historical basis. More interesting and factual is the amazing engineering feat the Romans accomplished in building this temple by spanning the Selinus River with a huge bridge 643 feet wide and directing its waters through two massive channels under the temple. The superstructure is still used today for modern buildings and a roadway across the river.

ATM Miscue. We are running short on cash so we stop for gas and find an ATM. My card did not come out after I put it in, and I almost had a heart attack. Fortunately, a lady cleaning around the ATM area interprets my problem, comes over, punches a couple of buttons, and out pops the card! Whew! Jerry and I both had near heart attacks for different reasons on the same day.

FBNO Worship. Back at the hotel, we get cleaned up and go downstairs so we can try to log in to FBNO for church for the live Internet broadcast, and it works! The service is at 9:30 AM in New Orleans but late afternoon for us in Pergamum, Turkey. Hearing is a little difficult with the puny computer speaker system, but we can hear enough to hear the music, with Robert leading the praise band and David preaching his heart out! How wonderful! We have not had Christian fellowship in many weeks, and were really feeling spiritually starved. Brucie Bear, my friend since we were children, who lives in Jackson, is attending the service online too! What a great thing to see everyone online. Like water in the desert.

After church, we walk to the restaurant next door for a change of cuisine for supper, but it’s closed, so back to our hotel to eat. Tonight a different cook is working because a large tour group has arrived since we checked in, and the dinner is much better.

We return to our room to back up all the pictures taken today and charge all the batteries, etc. We are running out of storage space on Cindy’s backup gadget. Fortunately, we think we can get by, since we are nearing the end of our adventure. We have only one more full day of touring, our trip tomorrow to Assos and Alexandria Troas, and then 1 travel day up to Istanbul, a quick afternoon visit to the Istanbul Archeological Museum, and then 1 travel day home the next day!

For a video of the Pergamum action today, click here.

April 24, 2010 (Saturday)

We slept a little later this morning, since the Manisa museum we are here to visit does not open until 9 am. Breakfast is good, with omelets and cereal. The spoons they give you for cereal are as large as serving spoons! After breakfast, we get our bags and luggage and check out.

Manisa Museum. The Garmin leads us straight to the museum! What irony this rare success with the Garmin turns out to be that the Garmin for once gets us straight to a museum. Why? Well, the only time the Garmin gets us straight to a museum, we will be hugely disappointed.

Manisa Mosque. We were confused at first by the large mosque to which the museum is immediately adjacent. At first, we think the old mosque has been converted into the Manisa Museum. After Jerry explores the block, though, he is convinced the building actually is a functioning mosque.

Museum Entrance. Jerry finally finds the museum’s entrance gate. Walking all around the entire block, he discovers what looks almost like an alleyway off to the side of the mosque, but that is the museum entrance! We step in and see a ticket booth just inside and to the left of the entrance gate.

Museum Status. We go to buy a ticket at the ticket booth, but we are told the museum is closed for renovation!! Closed?? At dinner last night on the harbor at Izmir, Mark had told us that, after a serious theft a year or so ago, the museum curator had “put away most items worth seeing,” such as the original and famous, unusual eagle table from the synagogue in Sardis. We still wanted to see what there was to see in the museum. Unfortunately, Mark didn’t know that the museum also was closed. The caretakers at the ticket booth had indicated the reason as “closed for renovation,” but we saw absolutely no evidence whatsoever of any renovation work going on anywhere—for quite some time, if ever! We conclude this place must be closed indefinitely, perhaps even for years—who knows with labyrinthine governmental bureaucracy?

Museum Misery. What a disappointment! The museum at Manisa was the second most desired item on Jerry’s to-do list for the trip, and the only one specifically mentioned in his Lilly grant application. So, the great irony of this sabbatical travel has been that the top two items on Jerry’s list for the trip—seeing the gladiator burial grounds at Ephesus and researching the museum at Manisa—were a complete bust. I can tell immediately that Jerry is devastated—I mean, really devastated. That persistent, mischievous twinkle in his eye vanishes. I feel terrible for him. We are finding that the hardest part of any research of museums in Turkey is getting accurate information! No one had said a new museum was under construction in Miletus, yet we found an almost complete new building out just as we were leaving that site. (For a reminder of that visit, click here.) Not even the Turkish government website says anything about the Manisa museum being closed (and certainly no official admission that this closure most likely means closed indefinitely for the foreseeable future as far as we can tell). Ugh!

Courtyard Tour. Jerry has a dogged determination. His self discipline is intensely focused on meeting goals. That is to say, he is one determined old cuss. I can see him forcing himself to move on through the disappointment with a set jaw for the rest of our day and the trip’s itinerary. After being stunned temporarily by the unexpected and unpleasant news of the museum’s closure, Jerry pushes himself into action. He asks permission, and we are allowed to look around in the garden/patio area where some artifacts are lying around, including statuary and inscriptions. Jerry takes pictures. We do find some interesting items. Later in the day, when we toured the museum at Bergama (ancient Pergamum), we took some consolation in being able to see items that came from Manisa, including four grave stele, an osthotec (a small box for holding the bones/ashes of the dead), and inscriptions. Here are a few pictures of the courtyard and its items of the Manisa Museum.

Jerry says this inscription below is about the worship of the the revered god, Apollo. The emperor Domitian liked to compare himself to Apollo, and scholars speculate the name for the king and ruler of the Abyss in Revelation, “Apollyon” (Rev 9:11), is a play on words for this connection to Roman imperial propaganda.

This Roman sarcophagus has the traditional Medusa head on the side. The representation was intended to ward off evil spirits.

This closeup below shows a word that appears often on grave stele and grave memorials. The word is chaire, which is akin to our “Farewell.” This is the goodbye to the deceased loved one.

This grave stele below with a relief depicting family members records an epigram for Asklepiades and Stratonike (Demirei). The date is 2nd century B.C.

The following inscription, dated A.D. 235–236, is an elaborate confession to Zeus by a man whose name was Theodoros. In the confession, Theodoros calls himself a “sinner.”

The following inscription is a record of the letter of a priest from Sardis to the proconsul of Asia Minor written about A.D. 188–189. Although almost a hundred years after the book of Revelation, this letter illustrates the continuing strength of pagan and imperial worship in the very area where the seven churches of Revelation were located.

The following relief memorializes four named gladiators. The first two names are Hermes, and Kuros, but Jerry could not quite make out the names of the other two.

The following inscription is an “honorific,” that is, a decree by the people of Mysia Abbatis (Gordes) dated 130 B.C. to honor a leading citizen or public official, probably for some special public benefaction.

The inscription below is written in small but very neat letters and records the testaments of Epikrates (2nd or 3rd century A.D.). The inscription is written on both the front and back sides of the monument.

This image below of a military officer and his attendant is a relief inset closeup from an honorary inscription by the Lakimenoi, Hodenor, Mokadenoi, and Ankyranoi (Demirci) sometime after 129 B.C. The soldier is depicted in standard military parade dress. Jerry was not sure, but the very small figure on the left could be either a dependent heir of the military nobleman or possibly a conquered people. The small proportions would be appropriate for either the dependent heir or as a sign of humiliation for the conquered. The relief has been defaced; the individual faces have been scratched into anonymity and the head of the smaller figure knocked off.

Jerry was fascinated with the following incomplete inscription. He had read that the process of preparing a stone for an inscription included scoring the stone with parallel lines that later were erased when the inscription was finished. However, he never had seen these scoring lines before. Because this inscription was not completed, the light scoring lines are still visible. This image was a pleasant surprise and find for him. Yea!

Jerry forced a smile for our traditional self portrait at the museum entrance. He is a real trouper.

Ahkisar (Thyatira). We leave Manisa and head to our next destination for the day, Ahkisar, which is ancient Thyatira, one of the seven churches of Revelation. The Garmin is some help in putting us in the right direction.

Sehir Markez. Modern Ahkisar is actually quite large, a busy city with lots of traffic, pedestrians, and one-way streets. Jerry has a hard time negotiating the congested downtown area. We head toward what looks like central city and then see a sign to “Sehir Markez.” Jerry guesses this means something like “downtown market” and heads that direction. We drive right up to the site of ancient Thyatira, which is a whole block in the middle of the Ahkisar market district! So the modern market literally is right on top of the ancient market! Our problem is, in this crowded, busy downtown business district—where to put the car? We drive around the perimeter of the excavation several times looking for a place to park, but the area is jammed. We finally find a place to park on the street about a half block from the site of the excavation area. We decide that I should wait with the car to be sure it’s okay. Good decision. A “meter man” comes by shortly after Jerry has left and asks me for 2 TL to pay to park, which I pay and get a ticket for the windshield to show we paid. I actually have fun people watching and observing the “regular” routine of downtown Ahkisar.

Ancient Thyatira. Jerry walks back up to the site of the excavation and pays the small entrance fee at the gate. I saw him disappear beyond the gate to explore the site. The original excavation work was done in the 1974–1975 season. As was typical in Roman Anatolian cities, the main street into the downtown area was collonaded on both sides of the street with 100 columns topped with Ionian and Corinthian captials, interspersed with 25 statues or reliefs of Eros. The surviving basilica, which shows the area excavated was in fact the ancient agora, or market, dates to the late Roman age, but only the brick superstructure remains of the original marble façade. When he got back Jerry said that he had gotten some good photos and a movie. Yea! Success! I can tell he is a little encouraged actually to find the archeological site of ancient Thyatira in the middle of a busy Turkish city. The faint hint of that twinkle in his eye seems to return.

Bergama. Our third and final destination for this busy day is Bergama, which is the modern city next to the acropolis of ancient Pergamum. Pergamum is another of the seven churches of Revelation. Road construction made the drive to Bergama difficult and dusty! As we are getting closer to Bergama, Jerry commented that from now on he’ll always think of dust when he thinks of Turkey—to which I spontaneously replied, “Yeah, if I were still a child who liked to eat dirt, I’d be in heaven.” We both laughed so hard that Jerry had tears in his eyes and could hardly drive! I guess I’d better not be so funny. But dust and dirt are ubiquitous with Turkey!

We get to Bergama, and, surprise! The Garmin can’t find anything. Yet, Jerry (alias “Radar”) follows his nose straight to the museum! Not one wrong turn. How does he do that? We parked across the street, checked the museum hours, and then had a little lunch in a line of small bistro restaurants across the street from the museum entrance. The museum is open until 6:30 pm, which is later than other museums typically and gives us time to get lunch. OPEN is a very important word in Turkey.

Bergama Museum. We get lunch at one of the little bistros. After eating, we record the Thyatira pictures there at the restaurant, because I had not been with Jerry to make records as he was shooting away like I normally do. We then went back across the street into the Bergama museum. The museum has some new additions since last we visited in 2002. So sad to me that they only have a model of the altar of Zeus and a piece of one horse from a relief—The Pergamon Museum in Berlin has it all, and the reliefs on display in Berlin are so beautiful. In the Bergama Museum, a new room for Islamic culture has been added, which is very similar to the display in Antalya. Our museum visit is about 3 hours. Jerry had me record the following information from a nice description of the ancient Pergamum School of Sculpture.

Pergamum School of Sculpture. The ancient city of Pergamum politically and economically was a powerhouse in the Hellenistic period of Anatolia and a leading city in science and arts. This distinction in science and arts was energized by the Pergamenese kings’ interest in science and arts and support of artists. As a result, Pergamum developed a strong tradition as a cultural center. In style they absorbed 4th century Greek realism and naturalism that replaced the 5th century grotesque style. In this new style, the gods were depicted with personality and natural body movement–vivacious figures with facial expressions–all closer to reality. Specific features of this style included detailed body anatomy, but exaggeration on muscles, with a richness of motion, yet severe and sharp manner of the body. Body motion was suggested by shadows in drapery. Facial expressions sometimes were exaggerated to reveal emotions; the most common was suffering. Related emotions commonly depicted were excitement and enthusiasm. Male hair often was disheveled, with a strong contrast of light and shadow by carving deep parts in the hair.

Significant examples of this Pergamum style are the bronze statues of Galatians ordered by king Attalos I to commemorate his victory over the Galatians. While we do not have the originals, we do have marble copies from a later period. The famous Altar of Zeus is the most important work of the Pergamum school, which also was in remembrance of the battle against the Galatians. On this altar, the scenes depicted in the gigantic friezes in high relief symbolized Pergamum’s foundation myth, especially in the inner friezes of the altar. Their foundational myth is the story of Telephoros. This monumental Altar of Zeus does not reside in Turkey. German archeologists spirited the original material to Germany, which is now housed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. (For our visit to this museum earlier in this trip overseas, click here.) Portraits also have an important role in the Pergamum school. The most renowned is the famous Bust of Alexander that now resides in the Istanbul Archeological Museum.

Museum visitors are looking at the description of Pergamum’s great Altar of Zeus with black and white photos of the original friezes that are reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. We were sad that all the Turkish people had to see of their own archeological artifacts were black and white photos from a museum in another country. A model of the altar is in the left foreground of the picture. (For a link to the blog on the Berlin Pergamon Museum, click here.)

The image below is a model of the Trajan temple complex that sat on the very top of the Pergamum acropolis. We will visit the temple site tomorrow. The temple illustrates the strength of the imperial cult religion and provides background for understanding the context of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation.

Torso of a man in Roman armor found at Pergamum. Probably imperial.

This table leg of the Hellenistic period is from the Pergamum acropolis. The artifact was found in the house of the Consul Attalos.

Roman sundial. This one is similar to the one we saw in the museum at Side. (For a link to the Side blog, click here.)

A statue of the emperor Hadrian in the Greek “heroic” style (in the nude). The statue was in the library at Asklepion (the famous healing center associated with the god Asklepios that was adjacent to ancient Pergamum). The toga of the nobleman is draped over the left arm, and the military dress of the general is next to a missing right arm.

A finely-executed statue of the goddess Fortuna discovered in the lower city of Pergamum.

This Roman sarcophagus is from Kestel. Besides the traditional Medusa heads, the relief indicates a person of equestrian rank.

The museum has a nice display of Roman pottery from various periods.

We saw more children’s play stones than we’ve seen anywhere. They are approximately the size of nickels and dimes.

The museum has an osthotec from Manisa. An osthotec is a small box for holding the bones and ashes of the dead. The garland and bull denote sacrifice.

This Medusa head mosaic is very similar in design to the one that we saw at the museum at Corinth in 2002. This mosaic is approximately 4.20 x 4.45 meters.

Below is a display of medical instruments, probably associated with the Asklepion that was near Pergamum. When he sees these kinds of archeological artifacts, Jerry says he always thinks of the New Testament description of Luke as “the beloved physician” (Col 4:14).

The votive inscription below is from the Demeter Sanctuary of Pergamum. Jerry says the dedication is to Aristinos, who was a Roman city magistrate, or local provincial official.

This image is another Roman honorary inscription. The honorarium was found in the theater area and dates from 37 B.C. to A.D. 14 during the reign of Augustus.

Another honorary inscription is from the theater area, dated a little later to A.D. 114–123, that is, somewhere toward the end of Trajan’s reign and into the reign of Hadrian.

The head below is a copy of the famous Pergamene Head of Alexander the Great. The original is in the Istanbul Archeological Museum.

Another item from Manisa is a grave stele of Greco-Persian origin. The traditional royal lion hunt is displayed.

We saw a whole series of grave stele and osthotecs from Manisa.

Wall insets house four grave stele of Roman origin from Manisa. Jerry thinks the inscription on the stele on the far right has a mistake, but to be sure, he needs to research this later when he has time. A closeup follows of this supposed mistake, and then an image of the second stele from the left, which is the nicest of the four.

The museum has a very nice assembly of Roman glassware. These small and delicate pieces probably were used to hold oil and ointments. Even thousands of years later, one can imagine how subtle and beautiful the original colors were.

This gladiator stele was found in the Roman basilica area (commonly called the “Red Hall”). The relief shows one particular aspect of fighting with wild beasts. Paul uses the imagery of fighting beasts as a strong metaphor of his missionary struggles in Ephesus (1 Cor 15:32). (Some speculate that Paul literally might have been subjected to beasts in the theater at Ephesus, but this scenario is highly unlikely.)

Pottery from the Greek Archaic Period is on display. The geometric designs and shapes are traditional.

Votive offerings were made at the Asklepion near Pergamum for healing received. The part of the body healed was the typical form of the offering. The votive below apparently was for the healing of an ear or for the sense of hearing. The inscription reads, To Asklepios, Savior, Fabia Secunda, according to her strong desire.

Jerry called this wing “the bronze room,” because almost all the display cases had bronze objects. Most of the objects were Roman of the Early Bronze period. The following image is a bronze statue of a soldier.

The museum, of course, had a display of the typical oil lamps one sees everywhere, but this lamp below is distinctive in design and incorporates two lamps together.

This relief depicts Demeter making a typical sacrificial offering. The Roman relief is from the terrace level of the Pergamum acropolis.

Jerry was fascinated with this piece. He is not sure of the exact nature of its description as a “corner acroterium,” but the 2nd century artifact is from the Asklepion.

The coin exhibit is limited. The bee image hails from Ephesus, dated about 387–295 B.C. The poorly preserved Seleucid coin is Antiochus III, dated about 222–187 B.C.

The chariot relief below has fine detail, but the accompanying inscription is incomplete. Jerry speculates this might be a depiction of the sun god, Helios (Roman: Sol), in his traverse of the heavens. Note what appear to be sunbeams emanating from the hands. The horses’ hooves look to be trampling upon a serpent. Jerry says the identification would be stronger if the imagery had four horses; traditionally, Helios had four steads (Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon).

One rarely sees the actual molds that were used to create iconic impressions. The image below shows a ceramic mold used to make such impressions.

The Roman statue below represents the mythological creature, Centaurus, who had the torso, head, and arms of a man, but the body of a horse. This statue was found in the Asklepion.

The following inscription is dedicatory to the emperor Caracalla (198–211). He is honored as “Father of the City.”

A jewelry display included bracelets, necklaces, and beautifully detailed gold earrings.

Iskender Hotel. After finishing the museum, we got to our hotel, the Iskender, where we’ve stayed before, and check in. The room is nice enough, and best of all for Jerry, two oranges and a knife to peel them await him on the table! We discover that wifi works in our room with no password needed, and we called several people: Robert Comeaux, Cindy, Pops, Janice. We eat in the hotel restaurant, and it’s okay, but nothing to write home about. Then, we use the hotel Internet computer to check email, etc. Tomorrow we’ll be heading to the Pergamum acropolis right on the edge of modern Bergama.

For a video of the Manisa, Thyatira, and Bergama action today, click here.

April 23, 2010 (Friday)

Izmir Morning. Before checking out and hitting the road, we think we might get in a quick visit to another museum Mark Wilson had recommended at the harbor dinner last night. We get up early to catch a 7 am breakfast and then walked to a nearby park area to try to find the museum. Unfortunately, everything is closed, and a note on one museum window said the museum had been moved to the Konak area. We realize Mark’s information is out of date, so we head back to the hotel and check out.

Sardis. Off to Sardis, another of the seven churches of Revelation. The Garmin does not help much, but we manage to find our way out of Izmir toward Sardis. We meet Jerry’s goal of making Sardis in the morning to get a lot of good morning pictures of the Marble Hall at Sardis. We were here in 2002, and not a whole lot has changed, but Jerry now has better pictures than before.

Marble Hall. Below is a schematic of the entire complex of the bathhouse, palestra (open court exercise grounds), and Jewish synagogue. Notice carefully how the synagogue, one of the largest ever discovered in the ancient world, is housed as an integral part of the Greco-Roman bathhouse complex. The Jews were incorporated fully into the Greco-Roman cultural and social world of Sardis.

You have to look carefully to see Jerry standing in the two pictures below! This Marble Hall entrance to the bathhouse complex is built on a grand scale. Very impressive in person.

In the picture below you can see what the archeologists had to reconstruct of this originally all-marble column using supplemental material. The bricks comprising the walls were really the Roman form of our 2x4s we use as the superstructure for our walls. On top of the brick support structure the Romans would overlay marble. So, you have to imagine the whole structure covered in beautiful marble, hence the popular name “Marble Hall.” The second image shows that the marble used in this construction was veined and multi-colored, so probably gorgeous when the building was completed.

The inscription in the lentil below is dedicated to the Roman emperor. The first word in the inscription is autokratoron, which is the word “emperor.” The first line begins, “Emperor and Imperial Majesty over all the inhabitants.”

The inscription below was in the pool area of the bathhouse complex. Jerry has not had time to translate, but he says he does recognize verbal forms. Jerry says inscriptions are much more difficult to translate than normal text because they incorporate dialectical peculiarities of a region and have some unique grammatical conventions of their own. Plus, as you will notice in the image below, they use all capital letters, no word divisions (sometimes continuing part of the same word on the next line), and no punctuation!

Sardis Synagogue. The Sardis synagogue is one of the largest ever discovered from the ancient world. The building could accommodate 1,000 people standing (as was the custom in ancient times). Most unusual among the items discovered at the synagogue was the “eagle altar table.” The forms of eagles make reliefs on either side of this Jewish altar table. Eagle figures were common in depictions of Roman military and Roman rule. The use of the eagles on the Jewish altar table design is most unusual and ambiguous in meaning. The table at the Sardis site is a replica. The original table is in the archeological museum in Manisa, which we will visit tomorrow. We record a good movie at the synagogue where I am the “talking head” of the movie. Be sure to catch detailed information about the Jewish synagogue at Sardis in the video link at the bottom of this post. While at the synagogue, we meet a couple from Izmir who are very friendly. We chat with them for a good while, and he gives us his business card insisting that if we visit Turkey again, we must contact them and stay with them. The Turks really are such nice people. The picture below is from the vestibule area leading into the synagogue assembly hall. Jerry liked the angle because you can see the entrance into the Marble Hall bathhouse from the middle doorway of the Jewish synagogue. Jerry thought that image was symbolic of how the synagogue was an integral part of the architecture of the entire complex of buildings in this hub of Sardis life. Beautiful marble inlays adorned the synagogue walls in the assembly hall, evocative of the marble inlays of the bathhouse.

The floors had beautiful mosaic inlays with colorful geometric patterns. Only bits and pieces outline the remain today, but if you used your imagination to fill out the picture of the outlines, you could get some idea of the expertise and craftsmanship that went into the design and construction of the synagogue.

Here is the eagle altar table replica, behind which you see a semicircular seating arrangement at one end of the long rectangle that made up the actual assembly hall. The next image shows the eagles that are in bold relief on each end of the altar table legs.

A statue of two lions back to back also was found as a part of this front area of the synagogue. Their exact meaning, significane, and use is unclear.

Inscriptions on the top portion of the walls of the synagogue at the other end opposite the altar table bear witness to Jewish benefactors and patrons, not only of the synagogue, but of the city of Sardis as well. Even one Roman procurator is among the names memorialized.

Artemis Temple. After finishing at the main Sardis site, we head over to the temple of Artemis down the road a short piece, across the highway, and up a hill. After the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, the temple of Artemis at Sardis fell into disuse. This temple now has only two columns left of the twelve known to have survived into modern times at the site. The ruins of the temple were used for quarry material for later construction projects. We intersect again with the couple we had met and talked to for a while earlier at the synagogue, and we chat a little more. The temple has huge columns! Find me in the second image to get an idea of the size of these columns. The third image shows the almost impregnable Sardis acropolis rising up in the background that was the famous defense of the ancient city of Sardis.

Alesehir (Philadelphia). We get back to the car and head on down the same highway to Alesehir, or ancient Philadelphia. Philadelphia is another one of the seven churches of Revelation.

Archeological Site? We arrive at the modern city of Alesehir and immediately work our way on through the downtown area. Alesehir has all kinds of traffic jams. You see one in the picture below.

We get through downtown traffic and head up the mountainside at the foot of which the modern city has developed. In going on up the steep mountainside, we are attempting to follow Mark Wilson’s directions from last night’s harbor dinner in Izmir on how to get to the acropolis excavations of ancient Philadelphia. Unfortunately, we do not find anything, even though driving a long way, and then Jerry hiking around in all directions on the steep hillside. We finally give up, and Jerry is disappointed not to find the ancient site remains. Below is a panorama of the hillside leading down to the sprawl of the modern city. The second image is a closeup of the modern city of Alesehir from the mountainside.

St. Jean Church. We went back down the mountainside into Alesehir to find the Byzantine remains of the St. Jean Church, which is the only remaining building from earlier centuries. Inside the church grounds, which are fenced and gated, we see an inscription in an area dug down below the street level in the church compound. No telling what is under all these modern streets! Very interesting that the two Byzantine columns perfectly frame a Moslem minaret—so, there’s the answer to whatever happened to ancient Philadelphia.

Manisa. After finishing at Philadelphia, we backtrack most of the way down the highway we had come from Izmir this morning in order to get to Manisa, which is ancient Magnesia.

Anemon Hotel. We are hitting Manisa because this city has a museum that Jerry did not know about on our first trip in 2002, so he wanted to get in a visit with this museum. The Manisa museum has a good bit of material from the excavations at Sardis, including the original of the famous eagle altar table from the synagogue, as well as from other sites in the area, such as Laodicea, Philadelphia, Thyatira, and Pergamum. Our reservations are at another Anemon property like we stayed in Izmir with accommodations secured by our travel agent and friend, Levent, who treated us to our wonderful harbor dinner in Izmir last night. For once in a blue moon, the Garmin actually finds the hotel for us! Yea! The Anemon hotel at Manisa is very nice, and this time, the air conditioner is working. Yea again! We checked in and actually relaxed a while, setting up Jerry’s nightly charging station and watching BBC news on TV. We then have a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant, although we are the only patrons. Our table was by a huge, floor-to-ceiling picture window facing the mountainside. Very picturesque, but Jerry’s camera was left tucked away in the room charging batteries. I had a wonderful Turkish tomato soup, and Jerry had a salad. Then, we shared a chicken shish dinner—all for only 38 TL. Delicious!

Manisa Shepherds. As we were eating, we watched through the picture window a shepherd bring his goatherd down the mountainside. Those goats were amazingly agile and quick, balancing on even the smallest crevice or ledge. They picked their way down the steep mountainside, taking shortcuts no other animal could manage. The shepherd was very bent over from the weight of a large pile of brambles he was carrying on his back. We assumed he would use the collected brambles as a fence to secure the goats  in a closed-in area for the night. A few minutes later, we saw another shepherd coming down the cliffs with his flock of sheep. The sheep took the longer route down a switchback pathway. Such a solitary life being a shepherd, I thought. My moment of reflection then naturally turned to our Great Shepherd and Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Heart Attack Parrot. After dinner, we drifted over to the hotel lobby and used the hotel computers to surf the net and do a little Facebook. With a wireless connection in the hotel lobby, I am able to use the iPhone and Skype to make phone calls back home. I called mother, and she was surprised to hear from me two days in a row. Suddenly, as I am sitting all relaxed on a lobby sofa chatting away, I am startled by a very loud screech! After recovering from the recoil and my palpitating heart, I look up to discover a parrot is in a cage right next to me that I never noticed! That screech almost made me jump out of my skin. Back at the room, I reorganized the suitcases and watched a little BBC news and a Smallville episode. These days, anything in English will do.

For a video of the Izmir action today, click here.

April 22, 2010 (Thursday)

Selçuk. We catch our final breakfast at 8 am on the roof of our pleasant, boutique hotel that took us in after the Crisler Institute housing fiasco when we first arrived in Selçuk late on a Sunday afternoon. Ephesus is a major stop, so we have spent several days here. After breakfast, we get our bags and hit the road for the modern, sprawling metropolis of Izmir. This modern city of several million is built over the ruins of ancient Smyrna, one of the seven cities in the book of Revelation. The drive is pretty easy—good for Jerry.

Izmir (Smyrna). The city of Izmir, or ancient Smyrna, is important to us for several reasons. One is because Smyrna is one of the seven cities of the seven churches in the book of Revelation. Another is because one of the most famous martyrdoms of early Christian history was that of Polycarp (69–155), bishop of Smyrna, who was burned at the stake in the theater at Smyrna. The church father Irenaeus (d. A.D. 202) tells us that in his youth he heard Polycarp speak and that Polycarp had been a disciple of the Apostle John. Thus, Jerry and I are glad to be able to visit this important city of early Christianity.

Once in the major metropolitan area of Izmir, the Garmin actually did find our hotel (with the inflection of Gomer Pyle: “Surprise, surprise!”). The hotel is nice, but as we are checking in, we learn that the air conditioning is not working, so our room undoubtedly will be warm. We get our car parked in the hotel lot and our baggage upstairs. To get a jump on our brief time in Izmir, we immediately put our museum itinerary into action. We decided the most efficient action was to take a taxi to the Archeology Museum of Izmir. As soon as we get in the taxi, the driver tries to sell us a “taxi tour” and shows us pictures of sites, etc. We politely refuse his offer. On the way to the museum, he does stop at a scenic overlook of Izmir’s harbor bay for Jerry to take some nice pictures of the harbor area, including the panorama image immediately below.

Izmir Arkeoloji Müzesi. We arrive at the Izmir Arkeoloji Müzesi in short order and work our way through the displays methodically. We are quite a team now, Jerry taking pictures and dictating information, me following like a shadow recording data and enhancing entries with extra information from museum description plaques next to displays. I have gotten pretty familiar with what catches Jerry’s attention in these museums, and sometimes I even help him “spot” exhibits or artifacts he will find interesting. We view the museum in about 1 ½ – 2 hours. We are learning that every museum, whether large or small, has something unusual to offer. We found the most interesting exhibit at the Izmir museum to be the painted clay sarcophagi. Also, this museum has good representation of items from many of the ancient sites we have visited.

Miletus. The following items are from Miletus. They include classic stirrup vases about 13th century B.C., a statue of a woman about 2nd century A.D ., another statue from 150–30 B.C., a statue of the Hygeia and one of Asklepios about 2nd century A.D., a beautiful mug from the 12th century B.C., and the head of Satryos about 2nd century A.D.

Smyrna. The following items are from Smyrna, which is today’s Izmir. They include a Lebes Gamckos vessel of 580 B.C., statues of a woman and a man about 2nd century A.D., a statue of two girls found in the bouleterion, a rhyton pouring vessel from 6th century B.C., a beautiful oinochoe vessel about 630 B.C., oil lamps found in the agora area, head of a woman about 2nd century A.D., and the head of Athena about 2nd century B.C.

Sardis. This statue of a woman below is from Sardis, which we will be visiting soon. Sardis is one of the seven letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. The statue dates from 300–30 B.C.

Ephesus. The museum had a number of items from Ephesus, which we just had left. These included a statue of a woman from 2nd century A.D., an elegant statue of Hera dated 100–200 A.D., a statue of a man about 2nd century A.D., a partial statue in the nude of Dionysios and Satyros about 2nd century A.D., Antinous as Androclos from 138–161 A.D., and a fine relief expertly detailed of Dionysus visiting the Athenian actor Ikarios.

Thyatira. The ancient city of Thyatira represents another of the seven churches that received letters from the risen Christ in the book of Revelation. We will be visiting Thyatira soon. Remains from Thyatira before the Byzantine era are quite rare. The Izmir museum, however, does have a nobleman statue from Thyatira dated 2nd century A.D.

Side. Side today is a modern resort community on the southern coast of Turkey that is adjacent to the remains of ancient Side right on the shoreline. We already had visited the ancient site. The museum at Side was rather small, but had interesting examples of Roman burial practices. Here at Izmir we  saw a very well-preserved statue from Side of a priest dated rather broadly from 30 B.C.–A.D. 395

Manisa. The modern city of Manisa is the ancient site of Magnesia. We plan to visit a museum in Manisa that we had missed on our visit in 2002. Here in Izmir, we saw a statue from Manisa of some Roman emperor, dated 2nd century A.D.

Pergamum. We also will visit Pergamum in a few days. Pergamum is another of the seven churches of Revelation. The Izmir museum had the head from a statue of Hercules about 130–150 A.D that was found at Pergamum.

Didyma. The site of ancient Didyma is on the southwest coast of Turkey. The main tourist attraction is the temple of Apollo complex, whose construction never was completed. This head from a statue was found at Didyma and dated 140–160 A.D.

Other Items. Other items in the Izmir museum were not necessarily connected to a particular city, but were of note. Of these, Jerry was most interested in the statue of a Roman imperial priest, which was quite well preserved and illustrates the strength and popularity of the  imperial cult throughout Asia. A chair with griffin sides and winged back caught Jerry’s attention, since this was a seat of honor from either a theater or a bouleterion Jerry surmised. The clay sarcophagi were unusual, since we had not seen many, and in fantastic condition. The intricate artwork was impressively executed with geometric precision. Ornaments and medical instruments from the 1st–2nd century A.D. were right in our target date range. A nice mosaic was displayed on a wall. A old example of a lekythos vessel was from the 6th century B.C. A grave urn, burial figurines, and burial offerings all were dated to 1st century A.D., so Jerry studied them closely. Finally, Jerry said the display showing all the basic shapes of ancient containers and their names and descriptions of use was the best he had seen anywhere.

Roman Agora. After the museum, we caught another cab over to the Roman Agora. (This taxi driver also tries to sell us a taxi tour.) We had visited the Roman Agora in our previous visit to Turkey on the last sabbatical. Roman agoras were built as the hub of the ancient city. Here is where all administrative, commercial, political, and judicial business was conducted. Alexander the Great originally had built the Smyrna agora, but almost all of those structures were destroyed in the devastating earthquake of A.D. 178 that nearly wiped out the city. Generous help from the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and his wife, Faustina, were crucial to the rebuilding of Smyrna, and what remains to be found today date to this Aurelian period after this earthquake.

The agora is quite changed from our visit in 2002. The ticket office/booth area has been remodeled and upgraded. Flowers are planted in the entrance area near the ticket booth, etc.—much nicer. Nearby, a schematic of the site now assists visitors in the layout of ancient Smyrna as well as the location of the agora in the city plan. Another schematic shows the ancient agora itself, with the two major remains of the West Stoa and the Basilica area.

West Stoa. The West Stoa of the ancient Roman Agora at Smyrna presents the bulk of what is to be seen on the site today. On the ground level, the Faustina Gate on the west side represents the main entrance to the ancient agora and has been erected since we were here in 2002. The keystone of the gate has a relief of the bust of Faustina, the wife of the emperor Marcus Aurelius who was instrumental in the rebuilding of the city after the great earthquake of A.D. 178. The only columns erected on the site are a part of the west portico of the agora along a line parallel to the West Stoa support arches of the basement below. The subterranean vaulted arches viewable today supporting the three-story superstructure of the agora represents what we would have considered the basement of the complex, housing water pipes and access to all parts of the agora. Some of the terra cotta piping system is still viewable today, and a fresh water fountain still supplies water to this very day (incredible Roman engineering). The Roman Agora of Smyrna is one of the few places where the visitor not only can see, but also is allowed to walk in this subterranean basement of an ancient agora, which is very neat.

Basilica. The Basilica area is perpendicular to the West Stoa on the north side of the site. Roman basilicas were multi-purpose rooms usually found on one side of an agora where speculators, businessmen, banking and other activities were conducted. The basilica at Smyrna is completely intact, although currently you are not allowed entrance. This area also has a run of the subterranean vaulted support arches, similar to the West Stoa, and you are allowed to walk in this basement area. Archeologists have set up an inscription that apparently was a part of the ground-level columned portico.

Earthquakes. The history of ancient Smyrna, as for many cities of Asia, is defined by earthquakes, which were not uncommon in this region of Turkey in ancient times. One particularly devastating earthquake in A.D. 178 required huge resources and finances for rebuilding Smyrna. The inscription below is to honor one major benefactor and patron of the city. The inscription reads: Praise to Damokkaris O Judge Damokkaris, famous with his skill! This success also belongs to you: After the awful (mortal) disasters of an earthquake, with very diligent work you succeeded in the making of a city out of Smyrna again.

Open Square. We look over the whole site of the open square from ground level. The archeological remains of excavation are gathered and stored in sections of the open square, apparently grouped by common connections. We do not know if plans include assembling these remains as a part of their original location and purpose. We also saw a pretty woodpecker while there. As we were walking the grounds of the open square, Jerry spotted a beautiful brown woodpecker on the gravel road. Jerry used his zoom lens and just barely caught a picture before the bird took to flight and disappeared.

Turkish Walking. When we were done, Jerry asked the ticket agent about getting a taxi to our hotel. The man says the hotel is “not far, and you can walk it,” which, we are learning, distance suitable for walking in Turkey is a matter of opinion. Evidently the Turks walk everywhere, so nothing is “too far” in their estimation. A man was walking by, and the ticket agent spontaneously subpoenaed the man to walk us part way to our hotel so we wouldn’t get lost, and the man agreed to do so. As usual, we find that the Turks are most hospitable. “Not far” means something entirely different to us than to the Turks. In fact, the hotel really “is far.” When we reach a street that is the main avenue of our hotel, we thanked our temporary guide, and he takes his leave.

We finally get back to our hotel, and the room is warm, as we suspicioned. While looking out the window across the busy boulevard, we saw some men across the street about 5 stories up trying to hand off a Turkish national flag from their office window to an adjacent office window. They were attempting to string the flag for display. The flag is huge. They had great difficulty throwing a string attached to the flag from window to window. Funny scenario. After taking showers and cleaning up for our evening out with friends in Izmir, I take a little nap while Jerry sets up his “charging station” for all his electronic gadgets.

Izmir Harbor Dinner. We get ready for our dinner with Levent, our Turkish travel agent who helped me with some of our accommodations, and Dr. Mark Wilson, founder and director of the Asia Minor Research Institute, who is an American but lives in Izmir. Levent and his wife, Natalie (from Ukraine), picked us up at 6 pm. Natalie is learning English. They take us to a mall area by the harbor to an Italian restaurant right on the water. (The owner is a friend of Levent’s.) Very picturesque area, and we sit outside to enjoy the view, even though the air temperature is pretty cool. We enjoyed an appetizer while waiting for Mark and Dindy Wilson, who arrived about 10 minutes later. We find out that Mark and Dindy live in the central city of Izmir and take public transit everywhere—thus, the late arrival. Dindy is very outgoing and I like her a lot. Mark is more reserved and very nice about answering my questions about Roman roads and travel from Antioch of Pisidia to Attalia. Mark estimates Paul could have done the journey in a week, but to me that amount of time still seems very fast—I must do some research on Roman road travel. We have wonderful gelato for dessert. The sun sets while we are dining, and the harbor view is gorgeous.

We finally get back to the hotel around 9 pm after a very nice evening. We learned from Dindy that the flags being hung all over the city were in connection with a national children’s holiday tomorrow, so now we know why those men were trying so desperately to hand the flag to each other outside the building. (You might pick out several of these huge flags on the sides of buildings in the background of the harbor shot above.) Back at the hotel, I try to give Angela a call but missed her (our NOBTS student who is house sitting for us). However, I was able to reach mother and talk to her for a bit.

For a video of the Izmir action today, click here.

April 21, 2010 (Wednesday)

We woke up to thunder and lightening this morning! Oh, I do hope the sun will pop out later. We get ready to go. Jerry called our friend, John Crider, and finally got to talk to him; found out Lauren had a great time at her high school senior prom, which was answered prayer, since for a long time she did not have a date to the event. Also, Lindsey was named Sophomore English Student of the Year at Samford.

Didyma. Leaving Selçuk for our long haul daytrip down to Didyma on the coast, we stopped by a little market to get some orange juice, two apples, two oranges, etc. for breakfast/lunch. As we drove along, the sun did start to come out! The drive was very nice whenever we came along the Aegean Sea. The shot below was taken on the map where you see the highway first comes out to the coastline past Miletus.

We finally arrived at Didyma. The two main sights to see are the huge but unfinished Apollo temple and the colossal Medusa head that is at the site. Spent a good bit of time there. The Apollo temple, had the project ever been completed, would have been the largest in the world, dwarfing anything ever attempted. Here is an artist’s rendition of the temple in construction.

The shot below is an aerial from directly overhead. (No, Jerry did not climb somewhere to get this one!) The grand foyer entrance is on the right. The temple proper is in the middle, with the  interior courtyard to the left.

The intricate carvings and detail on the base of the columns was stunning. These designs were not the same from base to base either.

Inscriptions indicate “reserved” seating in the temple compound area.

I was particularly happy to find the giant Medusa head, since I had seen this figure on so many brochures and other printed literature and advertisements.

Jerry thought this column capital was significant, as the carvings indicated the principle activity of sacrifice for this temple complex, especially the bull’s head with draped garland.

Miletus. We next retrace our steps and head back up to Milet, ancient Miletus. The city of Miletus is where the apostle Paul stopped on the return trip of the Third Missionary Journey in order to speak to the elders of the Ephesian congregation, whom he had called down to meet with him in Miletus (Acts 20:17–38).

Miletus Theater. We saw the Miletus theater again. The image below is the front of the theater, in which the middle portion, which would have been the back part of the stage, has been lost. The other two images provide perspective to show how large the theater is.

This time around we looked for and found the important inscription, “place for Jews and godfearers,” in the fifth row of the theater in the section to the right of the emperors seating. This inscription indicates that the Jewish population in Miletus was an integral part of the cultural and social fabric of this important Greco-Roman city.

Faustina Baths. We moved past the theater to the area to the west that we missed the first time around. There we were able to find the Faustina baths, which we had missed before.

In particular, the caldarian, or hot bath area, is well-preserved. The original stone carvings of the god Meander and the lion are in the museum in Istanbul. The figures in the bathhouse are accurate reproductions.

Harbor Market. We also surveyed the old market area adjacent to the harbor, the acreage of which is pretty much totally covered in shallow water these days. (Miletus, like Ephesus, had a significant silting problem for its harbor due to the slow-moving river.)

South Agora. The south agora (marketplace) was a significant part of the entire market area of Miletus, and is perhaps the largest ancient marketplace ever found. The warehouses connected to the south agora can be dated to the second century B.C., which means the apostle Paul would have seen them on his entry into the port of Miletus.

Miletus Synagogue. In this general market area is also the speculated location of the ancient synagogue in Miletus. This possible synagogue identification is the middle of the image below, not the ruins on top of the hill.

Miletus Harbor. After catching an overview of the market area and south agora, we next went looking for the old harbor, where Paul and company would have pulled in to port. We found the harbor area. As we walked around, Jerry was able to find the famous harbor monument with its image of Neptune mentioned in ancient sources that refer to the Miletus harbor. The monument originally celebrated the success of Pompey in ridding the Mediterranean of pirates. Later the monument was dedicated to Augustus, who inaugurated and managed Rome’s transition from republic to empire. We studied the harbor monument area and got pictures.

Miletus Lion. However, Jerry also wanted to locate one other famous archeological remain related to the ancient harbor at Miletus—the sole surviving Harbor Lion statue, one of two lion figures that stood guard over the entrance to the Miletus harbor. We started surveying the site for the lion. Jerry knew the lion would not be perched up on a pedestal easy to spot across the fields, because the entire site is submerged as part of a giant bog these days. So, how were we going to have any chance to find the Harbor Lion of Miletus?

As we were pondering our predicament, a wizened old shepherd of small stature must have caught sight of us before we caught sight of him. This shepherd somewhat catches us off guard because he already is hurrying toward us when we finally catch sight of him. He seems to be motioning for us to follow him, so we did. Wow! This little guy walks fast! Jerry was having a hard time keeping up, and I began to lag further and further behind. Jerry later said that he began to get worried about the distance beginning to separate us, but he felt like as long as he could kept me in his line of sight he would keep following the shepherd, who was moving at a furious pace. (We later figured two reasons why he was moving so fast. One reason was the lion was a long way away from where we were, which we did not know at the time. The other reason was he had had to leave his flock behind to come help us, and the good shepherd was not going to leave his flock for long.) We had no clue where he was taking us. He spoke no English, and we spoke no Turkish language. Yet, having only seen us at a distance, he seemed to divine our need immediately and came to help us post haste.

Miletus Shepherd. In some areas, you move around simply by walking the ridge of an embankment, almost like a levee system. Our Miletus shepherd led us down the ridge of one of these levees straight to the lone remaining lion figure that had stood at the old harbor entrance. We never would have found that lion, one, because his shape was almost unrecognizable, worn and rounded after so many centuries unprotected from the elements, and, two, because he was almost totally immersed in the swampy water.

After getting us to the spot he knew we were looking for, the shepherd pulled out of his worn and tattered overcoat a crumpled cache of old pictures. They were pictures he had accumulated over the years of himself with others he had shown around the harbor area of the Miletus site. He’s a cute little man. I took a picture of Jerry and him, and we gave him some Turkish lira for his trouble. He bid ado and headed on his way back to his sheep.

Occasionally we could hear his sheep bleating as they paused from their grazing to look up anxiously, not seeing his familiar figure nearby. He would call out to them with a very distinctive tone and pitch, and, even though the shepherd was far away, the moment the sheep heard his voice, they calmly went back to their grazing, reassured once again all was well—“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Jerry already was conjuring devotional thoughts based on this wonderful experience. The Miletus shepherd: he knows your need; he knows the way; he leads you there; he makes your day.

Miletus Museum? The journey back to the theater area where we started is a long hike. We finally get back and retrieve our car from the parking area. As we are leaving the Miletus site, we pass by a new building. We stop to find out that this new facility is supposed to house a new Miletus museum. Jerry sees some personnel on the premises, apparently guarding the area, and inquires when the museum will open. One of the attendants understands a little English and responds that the museum should be opening in the fall. Hurray! Another museum to visit—but that visit has to await another trip to Turkey and another journal.

Priene. Now, we’re off to our third and final goal of this long day: the classical site of Priene. We are able to find the site without too much trouble at all. Priene is in the same large valley area as Miletus but right on the ridge of a mountain range. However, getting up to the site is another story altogether. Priene is most unusual, as the site is located pretty far up a steep mountainside from the valley floor. Though the hike up the steep mountainside from the parking area is quite a climb, after several rest stops to give me a breather with my blood pressure problems, we finally arrive. Once up to the top, the hill levels out and getting around the site is actually easy. We visit the small theater that seats around 6500. The theater seating is in very good condition. From the top of the mountainside above the theater, the view of the valley is awesome. Jerry wondered if Miletus were visible down the valley to our right, if he knew exactly where to look, but he was not sure. In any case, this “city on a hill” provides a breathtaking and beautiful view of the vast expanse of the Meander Valley below.

All ancient theaters had an altar to Dionysius. Before special plays and commemorative events, sacrifices were conducted. The name of Dionysius is recognizable in the last line of the inscription on the side of the theater altar at Priene.

Other sights to view are the Athena temple, an agora, and other features typical of an ancient city. The Athena temple is situated dramatically on the hillside because the sanctuary was perched right at the foot of the acropolis, whose sheer walls create quite the stunning backdrop for the temple.

As we are getting ready to leave the site of Priene, we discovered an interesting water “junction” with clay pipes going out in five different directions. The design of a city’s water system was one of the great engineering feats of the Roman world. Unfortunately, the day now is getting long, and we still have to drive back to Selçuk, so we finally have to leave.

Amazon Bistro. We did it! We visited three ancient sites in one day! We headed back to Selçuk. Finally back at our hotel, we take time first to record our pics into the database I am keeping. This database is the premier tool Jerry will use to catalog what images he has and what illustrations they provide and to incorporate those pictures into his classroom lectures. So, the first task at any point in the day and at the end of the day is to keep this database updated. After concluding the database task, we finally can relax. We decide to go to dinner at the Amazon Bistro again, that restaurant near our hotel where we ate the first night and had that wonderful Greek salad. Of course, Jerry had Greek salad again.

Background Music. While we’re eating, a CD is playing tracks for background music. Jerry is quite taken by one particular song beautifully arranged with a gentle tango feel and Greek lyrics. After we eat, Jerry asked our waiter, who also was the proprietor of the establishment, the name of the song. The waiter pulled the CD out of the player, and we can see that the CD has no names—the compilation is homemade. The restaurant owner, however, insisted on giving the entire CD to Jerry. The Turks are very giving. Jerry was somewhat embarrassed. He had planned to find the song on iTunes or somewhere. You almost hate to say you like something, because your Turkish hosts will try to give it to you.

Back in the States Jerry later discovered the song was entitled To Tango Tis Nefelis, performed by the Greek female vocalist, Haris Alexiou. The translation of the lyrics is a little weird, Jerry says, but he still loves the song. Here is a YouTube music video of Haris Alexiou’s arrangement that had struck Jerry in the restaurant at Selçuk.

Perpetual Photographer. On the way out of the bistro, Jerry asked for my iPhone, and at first I did not know why. Then I saw what he saw, the sun setting gloriously over the Artemesian complex of Ephesus, and I realized Jerry had left his camera back at the hotel. I also remembered that the rain that the early morning had threatened never came the entire day. Hooray for my photographer! The day’s ambitious goals fully met, the bistro’s background music in our hands, and the sun’s beautiful goodbye on our minds, we enjoyed the casual stroll back to the hotel.

For a video of the Didyma, Miletus, and Priene action today, click here.

April 20, 2010 (Tuesday)

Ephesus. Up early to head to the Ephesus site, just a few kilometers outside the city of Selçuk where we are staying. We have visited ancient Ephesus two other times, both times on our 2002 sabbatical. While touring Turkey in 2002 on our own by car, we made a stop at Ephesus; later, on that same trip, when in Greece we took a cruise excursion from Athens that included a brief stop at Ephesus along the way. Thus, Jerry already had lots of pictures of various attractions at Ephesus, such as the famous theater, the market, the Acadian Way, the Marble Street, Curetes Street, and the Celsus Library. This time around Jerry wanted to catch two main attractions we had not had time for in earlier trips. One was the recently-discovered gladiator burial grounds, which we failed to see this time as well due to Janet Crisler not performing on her promises to Jerry as he was making sabbatical plans. The other attraction was the famous Roman elite terrace homes along Curetes Street, which we were happy to catch this time around.

Terrace Homes. We arrive at ancient Ephesus just as the site is opening. Ephesus is so beautiful, and the Celsus Library at the foot of Curetes Street is as magnificent as ever. More excavations have taken place since we were here 8 years ago. We headed straight for the terrace homes, paid our fee, went inside the covered archeological dig area, and they are stunningly beautiful. Hollywood does not exaggerate the sets of movies in Roman times. The homes are palatial, exquisite! One of the ongoing and very amazing projects is the largest “jig-saw” puzzle in the world—120,000 pieces of marble are being pieced together to put the dining room walls back in their original decoration. The aristocracy of Rome had the best of everything.

The wall frescoes are just beautiful, even in their deteriorated condition. One can imagine the color and striking impression these would make to visitors.

Marble and mosaics are in such abundance that they seem to be treated like common plaster. Geometric designs are quite popular. The colors are nowhere as rich as in the originals. One cannot tell in these images, but a thick layer of excavation dust has settled over every surface, so what you see as “faded” really is not, even many centuries later.

Famous scenes from Greek mythology are a common theme of mosaic art. Below you see Poseidon, god of the sea, riding the waves.

Here is a closeup of the marble being reconstructed from 120,000 pieces back into its original position on the walls of the Marble Hall.

After taking a good while at the terrace homes, we toured the rest of the site, enjoying many of the sights we had seen before. To illustrate my scholar’s tenacious focus on his objectives, even though we have been here twice before, we wound up staying at the Ephesus site for 5-6 hours, practically the whole day. We concluded our visit by doing some shopping for souvenirs, and got some things we like. We ate a sandwich at an outdoor café, and Jerry got some fresh squeezed orange juice, which he loved.

In the inscription below, Ephesus claims the title “first city” of Asia, meaning the most important or the highest honored city with the highest status. One reason for this claim would be receiving from Rome the title of “temple warden” or official representative of the imperial temple in a region.

The inscription below relates to the emperor Nero, whose name appears at the end of the first line in the letters NEPOY. The word before his name is the word autokratora, which means “emperor.”

Columns comprising the entrance of Hadrian’s Gate had been erected since Jerry and I were there in 2002. This gate stands at the bottom of Curetes Street in its juncture with the Marbled Way just in front of the Library of Celsus.

The bouleterion is the chamber council where the elders and leaders of the city met to decide municipal questions on behalf of the city’s welfare. Only the elite with high social status participated in the meetings at the bouleterion. The best shot of this city chamber actually is from far away at the same level of ground standing in the platform area of the temple of Domitian. Jerry used his high zoom to get this shot.

Jerry then hiked all the way across the site and up the hill to the bouleterion to take the second shot below looking back on the platform area of the temple of Domitian while perched on the top wall of the bouleterion (there goes that monkey again). The broad, flat expanse of the temple complex foundation with its supporting arches can be seen in the middle of the picture.

A closeup of the platform support arches of the Domitian temple complex reveals two solitary columns that have been erected by archeologists. The Domitian temple in Ephesus is important evidence not only for emperor worship in the Roman empire in general but for illustrating the popularity and acceptance of the emperor cult throughout the province of Asia. The strength of the emperor cult in Asia is the historical background for the book of Revelation.

Turning the camera westward from another observation area further down Curetes Street reveals the swampy marshland that now surrounds Ephesus and was the reason for her eventual demise. The Mediterranean sea is now several miles away. The ancient harbor of Ephesus was just to the right of where you see the blue marsh water in this picture.

My favorite spot at ancient Ephesus is the Library of Celsus, whose façade is one of the most recognizable tourism pictures of Turkey. In the picture below, the Library of Celsus is in the top left part of the picture. The Gate of Hadrian is visible just to the left of the library façade. The market place where the silversmith riot took place in Acts 19 is to the right of the library. Just in front of the marketplace is the collonaded Marble Street that runs in front of the Ephesian theater (to the right just out of range of the picture).

Akay Hotel Supper. Back to the hotel to record pictures, charge up everything, do email, call mother, etc. We had dinner again on the roof restaurant at the hotel across the street from ours (Akay Hotel) and ran into Nora from the Crisler library, who is so nice; too bad she doesn’t administrate the Crisler programs. We inquired if Janet Crisler ever was able to put together plans to get out of Europe, of which she had been foiled Monday due to the huge air traffic problems over most of Europe created by the recently-erupted Iceland volcano. Nora said Janet had taken a ferry to the island of Samos in hopes of catching a plane to Athens. From Athens she was hoping to catch an overseas flight to the U.S. to try to make her U.S. appointments. Nora loved my Target hat.

Back in our room, we review the maps for tomorrow’s ambitious day trip trying to take in three ancient sites, starting first at the farthest end on the southern coast of Turkey, Didyma, then back up to Milet (Miletus), and then the classical site of Priene, before finally driving all the way back into Selçuk. Whew! Hope we make it!

For a video of the Ephesus action today, click here.

April 19, 2010 (Monday)

Ephesus Museum. Breakfast at 8 am then off to the Ephesus Museum, not that far from our hotel. The museum has been rearranged and enlarged a little since we last were here in 2002. But, sadly, we learn that the famous gladiator exhibit showing material from the recently discovered gladiator burial grounds of Ephesus has been closed. Oh no! Jerry is devastated. Studying the gladiator artifacts at Ephesus was tops on his list for the whole trip. We still enjoyed the museum’s holdings, especially material related to the emperor Domitian, as well as the contributions of the Pollio family, one of the most famous patron, benefactor families in the history of Ephesus.

Below is the famous goddess, Artemis, worshipped at Ephesus, who had the most famous Artemesian complex in the world. The temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The silversmiths, whose main business was selling silver Artemis figurines, rioted against Paul and his associates in Ephesus (Acts 19:23–40).

Ephesus had an elite society of the wealthy who lived in the terrace homes along Curetes Street. These homes have been excavated, revealing the opulence of Roman aristocratic life. We will visit one of these terrace homes tomorrow. The museum had a nice display that gave the feeling of the interior of one of these homes.

In one of the terrace homes were found exotic ivory carvings depicting military scenes, which were a new addition to the Ephesus museum. Below is just one panel of this beautifully executed work of art.

One of the most popular decorative styles in elite Roman homes was the mosaic floor. Images reflected social values, typical scenes of elite life, famous philosophers, characters in Greek and Roman myths, and other traditional portrayals.

A coin from Ephesus of the Augustan period depicting Caesar Augustus (27 B.C.–A.D. 14) is followed by the partial remains of a statue of Augustus, the Caesar who ruled the world when Jesus was born.

Friezes from altar area of the Domitian temple in Ephesus are pictured below. The latter part of Domitian’s reign (81–96) is the likely context for the book of Revelation.

The head and a hand is all that survives of a colossal statue of the Flavian imperial dynasty erected in the Domitian temple complex, thought to be either that of Domitian’s brother, Titus (79–81), or of Domitian himself.

The Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis were worshipped at Ephesus, popular among Romans throughout the empire. Isis is depicted in the first image below, then Serapis in the next image, both found in one of the terrace homes.

Medical instruments illustrate a fairly sophisticated knowledge of the healing arts in the Roman world. One is reminded of Luke, the “beloved physician” (Col 4:14).

Stone ossuaries were a common form of burial.

Jerry stands by the base of friezes showing a rare Roman defeat of the Parthians, a highly celebrated event because the Parthians were the great fear of the Roman army on its eastern boarders. Parthians were responsible for one of the most disastrous defeats the Roman army ever endured in the battle of Carrhae (53 B.C.).

Romans used terra-cotta and lead for their pipes. The lead pipe below with its stone sleeve sockets was found in the altar area of the temple of Artemis.

The few remains of a scene that decorated the entrance to the Pollio Fountain, one of the important water sources for the city of Ephesus that was fed by the Pollio Aqueduct we later visited in the afternoon.

Crisler Library. On the way back to the hotel, we stop at the Crisler Library and ring the bell to make our contact we somehow missed yesterday afternoon. A lady finally answers the gate, whom we later find out is called Nora, and Jerry introduces himself. He asks if we might see Janet, explaining that he’s been in email contact with her. Nora shocks us with the news that Janet is in a rush, about to leave for the airport! However, she said she would “check.” Janet comes out in a flurry and welcomes us, but that she has no idea who we are and no memory of making arrangements for us to stay at the Crisler apartment soon becomes obvious. We are silently stunned. All our arrangements were worked out in detail months before we left the States. Jerry can document an email trail with Janet, including the exact cost of the apartment! Though she was supposed to be ready to help us with special permission to see the gladiator graveyard and to get a VIP tour of the Terrace Houses and to put us up with room and board, Janet seems to have not even a smidgen of memory of any of these discussions or arrangements. Instead, she’s supposed to fly to Boston today. All European flights are a mess, however, because of the Iceland volcano issue—she won’t be flying today she finds out!

Jerry and I both seemed to realize immediately without saying a word to each other that no purpose would be served trying to remind Janet of her commitments to us. She is totally preoccupied, completely consumed with trying to make alternate arrangements for getting out of Europe and across the Atlantic to Boston. Janet does take time to offer to show us around the grounds of the Institute (after all, we are there), and we have coffee and cake on the patio. She totally has no idea she’s messed us up royally! Jerry mentions the gladiator exhibit, and she explains that the new curator of the Ephesus Museum inexplicably took the exhibit down! Janet has a young archeologist working for her that she asks to call to see if our seeing the gladiator items in storage can be worked out. (All of this she had told Jerry by email would be arranged before we arrived.) Basically, we have determined that she’s a certified ditz who should not be trying to administrate the Crisler Institute!! She just has no administrative skills and no memory. She showed us a handwritten card catalog she has a staff member working on—yes, handwritten, no less! No computerization of any of her library records!! This Institute obviously is not a well-run place. She also showed us some rare books that she took out of a regular cabinet (not from any kind of fireproof safe). Whew!! What a risky place to keep them. We left our email address in case the viewing of the gladiator items might be worked out, but, actually, we entertain little hope that Janet will get us anything, except recommending that we go off the beaten path to find the Pollio Aqueduct, which we did not know about so had no plans before we came to try to see the site.

Pollio Aqueduct. Janet gave us directions to the Pollio aqueduct, an architectural span over a river bed in a small but steep and deep ravine that few tourists ever see. The remains are located about 5 kilometers outside of Selçuk off the Aydin highway just beyond the upper entrance to the site of Ephesus. Off we go on our own for an unplanned side trip to find an aqueduct unmarked with no trail. Jerry would just love to find this site, as he loves anything Roman, and its direct tie to a major New Testament city would be icing on the cake. It’s a cloudy day—I pray God gives us a little sunshine for Jerry’s sake for taking pictures, since the Janet Crisler debacle over the last two days has left him stunned and near speechless—heartbroken really. We find the path as Janet had described just off the Aydin road and hike down to the aqueduct. It’s really amazing. As we are taking pictures, the sun pops out—thank you, Lord! The aqueduct is called Pollio because an inscription on the aqueduct states that the system was paid for by the Pollio family, one of the great patron families of Ephesus. So beautifully engineered. Of course, Jerry finds a way to climb up the very steep ravine wall to get on top of the aqueduct!! That little monkey! He gets good pictures.

We head back to the hotel and check our email on the lobby computer, hoping against hope to have news from Janet that we will get in to see the gladiator artifacts. Sadly, we only read confirmation that seeing the gladiator artifacts is a “no go”! What a huge disappointment. While we were with Janet earlier, she and Jerry talked about how bringing students to the Institute works, but we are disappointed to learn that she herself handles all those arrangements—that kills that! We are now gun shy and not a little nervous about trusting her for “arrangements” for anything. As long as Janet handles the arrangements, Jerry realizes he is not going to be bringing any student groups to the Crisler Institute and Ephesus as he once had dreamed.

Artemesian. From our hotel, Jerry walked down to the Artemesian, the site of the ancient temple for the worship of the patron goddess of Ephesus, Artemis, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. I stayed in the hotel room to rest, record expenses, etc. A good while later, Jerry returned, hot from his late afternoon, long hike. He said he got good pictures in the late afternoon sun. The site is hard to visit because the entire area is swampy, which historically always was the problem Ephesus had with the slow running river constantly silting up her bay. Expensive dredging was a continual battle against the forces of nature. Over the centuries Ephesus finally succumbed.

Part of the modern city of Selçuk is in the background. In fact, our boutique hotel is on the first row of buildings a little to the left of the solitary column.

Archeologists erected one of the original columns of the temple to give an impression of the huge dimensions of the temple complex. The apostle Paul would have walked past this column in his coming and going while ministering for 2–3 years in the city on the Third Missionary Journey.

After Jerry cooled down, we go to dinner at another boutique hotel across the street on the backside of our hotel. Over dinner we muse about Janet and try to make sense of this disappointing let down. Paul spent two to three years in Ephesus, so the site is such an important place for our understanding of Paul and the early Christian movement. Working out something for students to spend time here studying at the Crisler Institute and visiting the site of Ephesus would be great, but we decide working with Janet is just too risky.

After dinner, we walk back across the street to our own little hotel and checked our email one more time on the lobby computer. I then go upstairs and wash out Jerry’s shirt, etc. from today—pretty grimy from the hard climb up the aqueduct ravine wall and the later hot hike to the Artemesian. I then write in this journal, which takes a little while, and it’s off to bed. Jerry, my little monkey scholar, already has fallen asleep.

For a video of the Ephesus action today, click here.

April 18, 2010 (Sunday)

On the Road Again. We checked out of our Hotel Tripoli in Pamukkale (Hierapolis) early in the morning in order to carve out some time from a long drive getting to Selçuk (Ephesus). We plan to stop off at the ancient site of Aphrodisias along the way.

Our drive time estimate is sound. We get to Aphrodisias just as the archeological site opens. We stayed at the site about 6 ½ hours.

Aphrodisias. The site is wonderful. Due to the way the site is situated in its topography, you gain a very realistic feel for an ancient city. The reason is because the theater is up high on a hill, and this vantage point offers a great 360 degree overview of the entire site. From the theater overlook, you can see how the city was laid out in the Hippodrome Greek pattern like most cities of the ancient Greco-Roman world, and even like our cities today. The temple of Aphrodite off in the distance is easily spotted from the theater. The majestic entrance to the temple of Aphrodite, called the Tetrapylon, or Monumental Gateway,  is seen. The swampy area of the Agora is not immediately evident from the top of the theater until one gets near the location on foot. This Agora must have been beautiful, as the remains show that the entire middle of the interior court was a long pool with fish and aquatic plants fed by a freshwater spring. Just behind the Agora was the Bouleterion, also now filled with water in the middle. The Bouleterion still has the bases of the statuary at the front that honored prominent citizens of Aphrodisias who were generous benefactors or who held important civic offices.

Stadium. The most impressive remains were the stadium (an oblong running and racing track—not the same as a theater) and the Sebastion (Emperor Temple). The stadium was interesting due to being able to see its evolution in use over time. Stadiums originated with the Greeks for their festival games in competitions between cities, serving for foot races, discus throw, etc. At Aphrodisias, the Romans modified the original Greek stadium’s east end in 400 AD for gladiatorial games. In the evolution of the use of the stadium over time, the difference in Greek and Roman cultures is so evident. The Greek stadium represented cultural Greek ideals and athletic prowess. Roman usage turned this stadium and its cultured symbolism into the violent bloodlust of Roman gladiatorial games.

Sebastion. The Sebastion formally was a temple dedicated to Augustus, but more broadly at Aphrodisias was a long, three-storied portico courtyard of the Imperial Temple complex used for Roman imperial propaganda through its reliefs, statuary, and imagery. The Sebastion portrayed Roman propaganda about the Roman Empire in full, powerful expression. The Sebastion of Aphrodisias stands as another reminder of how strong the emperor cult in Asia Minor was at the time the book of Revelation was written. A new wing of the Aphrodisias Museum now houses some of these statuary, reliefs, and images from the Sebastion. Below is an artist’s rendition looking through the entrance gate into the Sebastion porticos and temple at the far end. In the following picture, Jerry is standing in front of the first level of one wing of the Sebastion reconstruction project, which, at the time of our visit, was scheduled for completion sometime in 2011.

Aphrodisias Museum. The Aphrodisias Museum is wonderful. The museum is full of artifacts, especially statuary. In addition, a new room full of first-century AD reliefs from the Sebastion had recently been opened—Jerry was in heaven! The reliefs and artwork had carefully documented descriptions. Jerry takes pictures galore to show Roman imperial propaganda and ideology.

Statuary. The museum had a number of statues that Jerry enjoyed, because some of the dates were first century. First-century anything always cranks his motor. One statue represents a leading citizen of Aphrodisias dated to the first century. He is depicted wearing a priestly crown, a high civic honor, and, hence, a symbol of great status and achievement. You see me taking notes at another honorarium statue, including a priestly crown. Not all statuary is of leading men. One statue of a lady named Domitilla shows she had high status and rank. A statue of Aphrodite does not have the multi-breasted form of the famous one from Ephesus. One of the reasons we take a while to work through these museums is that Jerry wants to translate most of the inscriptions, even if that puts him on the floor.

Most people do not know that the ancient Greeks painted their temples and statuary bright colors. What we see today is just the marble surface with all the paint long gone. The Aphrodisias Museum has a statue of a young athlete done on the scheme of Polykliton Diakophorous that was found in the theater area and dates from the first century B.C. to early first century A.D. Just a hint of the original polychromy still survives in the eyes and the hair.

Sebastion Reliefs. Jerry said the reliefs taken from the porticos of the Sebastion now on display in a new wing of the museum were an incredible treasure trove illustrating Roman imperial propaganda. The new wing is huge. We take a while to work through all the descriptions. I am recording data constantly as Jerry shoots away.

Imperial Propaganda. How did the Romans use statuary and reliefs for imperial propaganda? The images depicted were crucial in their precise content and disposition. For example, in one scene of these reliefs, the god Hemera (Day) has a dramatic billowing cloak framing the head. This billowing cloak forms a type of halo and was standard relief imagery intended to be evocative of a divine ephiphany. The gods reveal themselves to mortals in these epiphanies. No accident, then, that Roman emperors also are pictured with such a billowing halo of the cloak as their victories on the field of battle are depicted. The battlefield victory is interpreted by the imperial propaganda machine as a partial divine epiphany revealing the true nature of the emperor. The early reign of Nero, for example, was associated widely throughout the empire with the sun god Helios. How images are combined also have meaning. For example, the combination of the god Day and the god Night into one image signified the eternity of Roman imperial rule. Again, the combined image of the god Ocean with the god Earth together represented the empire without end, Rome as lord of land and sea.

Victory. On the third story of the south portico of the Sebastion, the subject of the reliefs are the Roman emperors in the context of imperial victories with backgrounds of the Olympian gods. The association with the Olympian gods was to portray the emperors as powerful, warring deities intentionally mixed with the old gods as near-equal partners. The inscription is labeled “Theoi Sebastoi Olympiori,” or “Olympian Emperor Gods.” The main emperors for such imagery were Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero. (The madman Gaius, better known as Caligula, conveniently was by-passed.) These emperors’ most important achievements were their victorious wars over the barbarians. The wild, chaotic elements of the world on the edges of the empire are subdued by imperial might, and the Roman civilization that follows brings order, peace, and stability to ever-greater reaches of the world.

Six of the inscribed panels on display in the museum are related specifically to the victories and world empire of Claudius (A.D. 43–54) and Nero (A.D. 54–68). In particular, Claudius is pictured conquering Britannia, and Nero is pictured conquering Armenia, both in the Hellenistic “heroic style.” Britain was considered the “signature” victory of Claudius, and Armenia the “signature” victory of Nero. Together, these two victories represented the imperial conquest to the furtherest east and furtherest west of the empire’s boundaries at the time. The inscription for such images often is “Nike Sebastin,” or “Victory of the Emperors.” Jerry said he could not help but think of so many New Testament passages using this very word for victory, the noun, nike, or the cognate verb, nikao, “to conquer,” such as Paul’s bold words to the Roman believers, “we are more than conquerors” (Rom 8:37), or the dramatic declaration in 1 John 5:4, “for whoever is born of God conquers the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.” Thus, a key attribute of imperial rhetoric is victory, and New Testament authors seem intent on coopting this imperial rhetoric.

The second story of the north portico had a series of 50 personifications of places and people from East Africa to Western Spain. These personifications were designed to look like statues between columns of the portico. An example of an inscription would be, “Ethnos Dakon,” which would be, “the people of Dacios.” The idea was a visual listing of the Augustan world empire and places and people who were brought into the empire under Augustus. The concept was borrowed from a monument in Rome. The selection particularly emphasized the wilder people on the edges of the empire. Few in Aphrodisias ever can have heard of many of them. Example places and people are Egyptians, Ethiopians, Andizeti, Arabs, Besse, Bosphorans, Dacians, Dardani, Iapodes, Judeans, Callaeci, Piroristi, Phaeti, Trumpilini, Crete, Cyprus, and Sicily. Jerry particularly was struck by the actual inscription for Judeans, who were subjugated under the general Pompey in 63 B.C.

In the image below, the naked warrior (i.e., Greek “heroic” style) is Claudius, who is about to deliver the death blow to the slumped figure of Britannia. Claudius wears the military symbols of a helmet, cloak, and sword-belt. Britannia wears a tunic with one breast bare (imagery modeled on the fabled, warring Amazons). The inscription reads, “Tiberius Klaudios Kaisar-Bretannia.”

Another relief depicts the direct relationship conceived between the emperor and the Roman people.The emperor is understood as the premier patron of the empire. All citizens are obligated to him for his generous benefaction of peace, security, and prosperity; they should be his adoring and grateful clients. In the relief, the emperor, again, is pictured as a naked warrior (Greek “heroic” style), but here being crowned by a personification of the Roman people wearing a toga, the stately, civilian dress of Roman citizens. The emperor is being crowned  with an oak wreath, depicting the “corona civica,” or “civic crown” awarded for saving citizens’ lives by protecting them from the barbarian hordes on the outer fringes of the empire. The emperor is setting up a battlefield trophy. Beneath the trophy in abject humiliation kneels an anguished barbarian woman captive.

Abundance. Another imperial propaganda theme is prosperity and abundance. In this theme, Rome and Earth often are pictured together. In the relief below, Rome holds a spear and wears a crown in the form of a city wall (civilization). Earth reclines, half naked, leaning on an abundance of fruit and holding a cornucopia full of fruit. A baby is climbing up the horn of the cornucopia. Thus is depicted Earth’s fertility and abundance overseen and guaranteed by Rome. In stark contrast, Paul wrote to the Romans and declared that, instead of a cornucopia of abundance, human empires such as Rome had pillaged the earth, and that all of creation was “groaning” for deliverance from futility (Rom 8:19–22).

Notice in the relief below how Claudius is depicted as Master of Land and Sea. In the imagery, the god Claudius strides forward in a divine ephiphany with the drapery billowing around his head. Claudius receives the cornucopia with the fruits of the earth from a figure emerging from the ground. The idea is clear. The god-emperor guarantees the prosperity of land and sea. What is remarkable about this relief is how transparently is portrayed the local appropriation by the inhabitants of Aphrodisias of the emperor’s asserted role as universal divine savior and protector. This city has bought into the imperial propaganda completely—heart, soul, and mind.

Aeneas Legend. Romans used the Greek story of Troy in Homer to explain their origins, thereby arrogating to themselves ancient connections, high status, and great honor. In the image below, the three reliefs from left to right depict the story of the Trojan hero, Aeneas, son of Aphrodite. The first image is the divine conception of Aeneas as son of prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. The second image is Aeneas’s flight from conquered Troy with his son Iulus helped by the goddess Aphrodite. The third image is the arrival of Aeneas and Iulus to Italy to found the city of Rome. Thus, in the Roman telling (Virgil’s Aeneid), the story of the fall of Troy is amplified into a story of Roman origins, because, as the Romans tell the story, Aeneas not only founds Rome but is claimed as the ancestor of Julius Caesar, and, hence, of the entire Augustan imperial family. Since Roman legends of their origin evoked a special relationship between the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the city of Rome, and the Roman imperial family, Roman favoritism toward and benefaction to the city of Aphrodisias throughout her history was assured.

Other Items. The Aphrodisias Museum has the partial remains of a unique blue marble horse. This representation of a large galloping horse in marble is unique among ancient statues. (The usual material used for such statues is bronze.) The subject behind the imagery is the story of Troilos and Achilles.

Outside the museum were grave stele, especially commemorating gladiators, including their personal names. One of these stele had the name “Eurotas” inscribed. Several nice inscriptions were preserved, one of which Jerry found the name of the emperor Claudius in the third line. As we leave the museum grounds, Jerry takes a parting shot of a pretty violet tree in profuse bloom, another reminder from nature of our spring visit to Turkey.

On the Road Again. After we finish the museum, we leave the Aphrodisias site about mid-afternoon, around 3:30–4:00 PM. We head west in a long drive for Selçuk, which is the modern town near the ancient site of Ephesus. We actually have a contact in Selçuk due to Jerry’s networking at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. At the SBL annual meeting, Jerry had discovered the Crisler Institute, based in Selçuk, formed by Janet Crisler in honor of the lifelong work of her husband at the site of Ephesus. The Crisler Institute houses the Crisler Library and has lecture halls, study rooms, and accommodations for overnight lodging. The Crisler Institute is where we have our accommodations for our visit to the site of Ephesus. Jerry has been promised great help from Janet for our visit to the Ephesus site and the Ephesus museum. Jerry had asked for a special tour of the elite terrace homes off Curetes Street and to be able to go to the actual site of the recently discovered gladiator burial grounds.

Anybody Home? After several hours driving (that Jerry is a real trouper), we finally arrive in Selçuk. We had no problem finding the Crisler Library address and its entrance gate—but the gate is closed and locked!  We ring the bell several times, and wait a long time, but no one answers! Jerry is flabbergasted. He had had numerous email correspondences indicating clearly our expected arrival time in Selçuk, and we had arrived right in that time frame.

Poor Jerry. He feels so bad about our predicament. He is thoroughly confused. He had worked out all the details with Janet Crisler through numerous emails and confirmations. Unfortunately in all this correspondence, Janet never had given Jerry a cell phone contact number. Since the Library obviously was closed, he knew no one to call. Our only contact in Selçuk is nowhere to be found, and we have no backup plan for a place to stay! No one in the world would have thought we would have needed a backup plan. Evening is fast approaching now. So here we are, late on Sunday, the sun soon to set, with no room for the night and not a clue where the nearest hotel might be.

“And now, the rest of the story . . .” Fortunately, help was just up the same street the Crisler Liberary is on. Would you believe, in the very next block of the same street is a small, boutique hotel right next door to the Library? We walk up the street to inquire at the front desk, and, voila! They have a room available. What a huge sigh of relief came from both of us, but especially Jerry. The third-floor room we are shown turns out to be very nice, with a large balcony overlooking a part of ancient Ephesus, the sparse remains of the temple of Aphrodite complex. The bathroom also is nice. Yes! So, we’re okay for tonight. Thank you, Lord. We’ll try to get in touch with Janet Crisler tomorrow when the Institute opens to find out what happened and to move to where we had planned to have our room and board for the entire time we are in Ephesus.

Amazon Bistro. We get a recommendation for dinner from the hotel proprietor. He says straight down the same street of our hotel on past the Crisler Library is the Amazon Bistro with excellent food. We go there and find the restaurant to be very good, including a wonderful Greek salad. You never can go wrong serving Jerry a good Greek salad. After dinner, we walk back up the street to the hotel and head to bed after a really long day. We toss and turn for a while, because we are bursting with curiosity as to what in the world happened to Janet Crisler and the failed Crisler Library connection today that we thought was so secured.

For a video of the Aphrodisias action today, click here.