Turkey

Perga and Antayla

This is my second full day in Turkey, heading south to the Mediterranean Sea. The day started earlier than a day ought to start, since we needed to be on the bus at 5:30 AM. We had an early flight to Antalya (Turkish Air, great flight except I needed more coffee than they served). After the fifty-two minute flight we drove a short distance to Perga, a well excavated Roman city.

Roman Perge

Roman Street in Perge

Perga is the place Paul and Barnabas visited after Cypress in Acts 13:13. They do not appear to do any ministry at Perga at that time, traveling to Psidian Antioch. However, Acts 14:24-25 indicates they preached the gospel at Perga at the end of the first missionary journey, possibly resulting in a church (although Luke does not mention it).

The excavations at Perga are extensive and merit far more than the two and a half hour we could stay on this trip. I could have spent most of the day there, exploring the restored areas and examining the many inscriptions. Although not as extensive as Ephesus and many area are not restored, it is well worth the time.

Later in the day we visited the Museum in Antalya. The main feature of the museum is a collection of the major finds at Perga. The skene of the theater (which is closed to the public) contained statures of gods and other important figures, these are all in the museum, along with a large statue of Alexander the Great and several Hadrian statues. The major sarcophagi from the necropolis are housed in one of the galleries as well. Although there is far more in the museum than Perga, travelers to Perga ought to plan on visiting this museum for a few hours. At only 20 Lira (about $5), it is a bargain!

Before the museum we walked through the Hadrian Gate to Antalya’s Old City. Many of the old Ottoman houses have been renovated and now host trendy restaurants and artists. There are are Roman remains everywhere and Mark Wilson does a great job pointing out obscure bits that many will overlook. We walked to the port and had a nice view of the cliffs of the harbor.

For lunch we stopped at the St. Paul Cultural Center (soup, salad, chicken and rice, with drink, dessert and tea, $5.50), and I added a Turkish coffee, which was more or less medicinal at that point in the day. I will post some additional information about this very interesting ministry at some point in the future, they do far more than coffee and lunch.

Tomorrow we head north and east, to Laodicea.

Istanbul in the Rain

Blue Mosque

It was a cold and rainy day in Istanbul, but we were able to see all we planned. The day began at the Hippodrome and Blue Mosque. Nothing remains of the Hippodrome other than three obelisks. Of the three, the Obelisk of Theodosius is the most interesting. The obelisk was created by Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC) but moved to Constantinople A. D. 390 by Theodosius I. The Obelisk was erected on a marble base depicting the emperor awarding a victor’s crown (stephanos).

The Blue Mosque is the popular name for the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, named for Ahmed I who constructed the mosque beginning in 1609. The interior is lined with blue İznik style ceramic tiles (explaining the popular name of the site).

Next we walked to the Hagia Sophia. When John Chrysostom was patriarch he was based in the first version of the church (369-404) This church was Eastern Orthodox cathedral from 537-1453 when it was converted to a mosque. For most of that time it was the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The church was converted to a mosque in 1453 by Mehmet II, but in 1935 the first President Mustafa Atatürk converted the building to a museum. There is a great deal of restoration going on in the building, but there is still a great deal to see.

Hagia Sophia Pulpit

Hagia Sophia Pulpit

After an excellent lunch at the “World Famous Pudding Shop” (stuffed eggplant and lots of fresh bread and water), we walked to the Istanbul archaeological museums. On the way we visited Hagia Irene, a lesser know and smaller church which was never converted to a mosque as Hagia Sophia was. The church was partially destroyed in A. D. 532 in the Nika revolt and restored by Justinian in 548. Although never converted to a mosque, it was used as an ammunition store my Mehmed II in 1453. There is not much to see there ad much of the basilica is closed.

In contrast to Hagia Irene, there is too much to see in this collection of museums in a short afternoon visit. There is a museum dedicated to Ancient Near Eastern archaeology, a second with a huge collection of Greco-Roman sarcophagi and dedication stones (as well as a new room with artifacts from the temple of Artemis in Magnesia, and a multi-floor museum for Greco-Roman period artifacts.

There were three items of interest for biblical archaeology. First, the Gezer Calendar is is one of the earliest examples of Porto-Hebrew. Second, the inscription from Hezekiah’s tunnel was placed in the museum by the Ottomans. Third, one of the two warning inscriptions from the Temple in Jerusalem is here, displayed in a not-very-prominent place on the floor at the end of a hall. This inscription is in Greek (the one in Israel is in Latin) and it warns non-Jews to stay out of the Court of the Men under threat of death. This may be what Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:14. In addition to these items, there are three small altars dedicated to unknown gods (cf., Acts 17).

This is only a small overview of the museums. I did not walk through the hall dedicated to the archaeology of Troy and did not take much time in the sections on Istanbul simply due to time constraints. I took around 200 photographs, and that was not nearly enough!

Tomorrow we fly to Antalya, which I hope means better weather.

Reading Acts Goes to Turkey

This week I am on a short trip in Turkey, visiting many of the typical sites you might expect in Istanbul. I am obviously looking forward to Ephesus, but our short tour is packed. Usually these kind of tours overplay the “seven cities of Revelation” angle, but the group seems more interested in the Pauline studies aspect of these sites. Our guide Mark Wilson has an excellent article in the most recent Tyndale Bulletin on Paul’s second missionary journey, so I am expecting great things over the next few days.

I will try to post a few notes and pictures as I have the chance. I am relying on the WordPress app on my iPad, hopefully that works out okay.

I plan to return to the Second Temple period series next week.