Since Assos, we have been to the ancient sites of Troy, Pergamon, Sardis, Didyma, Miletos, Priene, Magnesia, Ephesos, Aphrodisias, Kanukkale, Hierapolis, Sagalesssos, Antalya, Perge, and Aspendus before Istanbul. That’s many Turkish towns, many ancient cities, and a lot to confuse when I study for my tests, think about Greek and Roman history, or finally try to blog! But I have learned so much and have lots to retell.
After reading the Iliad and watching “Troy,” visiting Troy itself was somewhat of a disappointment. Years of ancient cities were built on top of each other at Troy, so very little of any individual city can be seen at once on the site. Trying to depict conflicting histories on the same land is impossible, as evidenced to us at Troy. Troy was an excellent example of how archaeologists inherently destroy evidence as they go, and it differs from most of the other sites we visited because it was inhabited for so long. We had a class discussion in the Odeon, or small theatre, at Troy, and even though having discussion in an ancient theatre is typical on the Classics trip, I hope that I never cease to marvel as we relax on ancient politically heated stone steps. Troy also has its very own modern Trojan horse, and we all climbed up to take pictures. That almost made my day.
At Pergamum, in the modern city of Bergama, we encountered the strongest winds I have ever experienced. Due to the weather, we were not able to learn a lot but we still spent hours here playing in and fighting the wind for the strength to even stay standing. This was one of the best days of the trip. At this biblical site, I was overwhelmed with God’s power as so clearly manifested to me by the force of the winds. The city was also huge, and we ran around into all the different coves, rooms, and buildings to better see the acropolis or the modern town and scenery below.
Many of the sites we visit contain Roman baths. The concept of public bathing is foreign to us, so we all tend to marvel at these structures. These baths typically have three rooms: a cold water room, warm water room, and hot room, and I was always amazed by how huge the baths were. When we stopped at Kanukkale, we visited the (very touristy) hot springs. They felt great to stand in, but we all just took off our shoes and rolled up our pants. I must be very spoiled and/or vain, but I really appreciate private bathing! I cannot imagine, even if I was accustomed to it, being so free in public. Public baths still exist in Turkey, and they are apparently quite popular. Gülin, our Turkish tour guide, strongly encouraged everyone to experience a Turkish bath. Some of the other girls did in Istanbul and said it was a great experience.
At Ephesos, among other things, we discussed the story in Acts of Paul in the theatre at Ephesos. I sat on the very seats in the very theatre where this event took place! These biblical sites are fascinating, though I wish Dr. Krentz spent more time with us discussing Roman history and the early years of Christianity. He specializes in Greek history, and that’s clearly where most of his interest lies. We also saw the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. While I love to be able to say that I have been to another of the ancient seven wonders, there is not much to see of the Temple of Artemis. All that is left standing is one column (on top of which is a massive stork’s nest). The temple, however, was the largest ancient temple and was massive, as we saw by the area of land containing the remains of the temple.
We had a particularly fun visit to Aphrodisias, most memorable of which was our footrace in the stadium. The girls and guys (most of us at least) lined up along the start line at one end as Dr. Krentz counted down to a start. Rob and Reed stood at the far end of the theatre at the designated finish line and to declare the winners. Us Classics kids are competitive, and after a few false starts, we finally got a clean start and the race began. It was amazing to me how fast the guys were, and within a few seconds they were all far past the girls. In very impressive wins, Trent won among the guys and Sarabeth among the girls. As soon as Trent won, Rob and Reed came sprinting the other way screaming the victory, so the girls did not really know where to stop. The race was exhilarating, though the ground of the stadium is not flat as I hope it was for the races in the ancient days. I twisted my ankle, harmlessly, several times during the race. Trent apparently went all out on this race, and immediately after his win he collapsed on the stadium steps and stayed there for about twenty minutes. He was okay, but it took him quite a while to join the group at the temple of Aphrodisias.
We also had a particularly memorable time visiting Sagalassos/Heirapolis. Sagalassos is very high on a mountain, and there had been a massive snowstorm the day of our visit, so the site and the narrow, meandering mountain roads leading up to it were snow-covered. The most logical decision seemed to be to forfeit our trip to Sagalassos. But no. Gülin insisted on calling the governor to ask him to please plow the mountain roads because a group of serious archaeologists needed to see the site. This tactic worked, and the road was cleared foot by foot in front of our eyes as we followed the plow up the mountain. Then as soon as we got off the bus at the site, us serious archaeologists, including Gülin, Dr. Krentz, and our bus driver Kadir, broke into a massive snowball fight. The site managers watched us and had to patiently wait for us to finish before we even glanced at the excavations. We had an impressively long fight, and for those who can check, Kyle posted a hilarious video of it on Facebook.
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