The Bible Brought to Life - Study Abroad 2013: Sardis - Philadelphia - Laodicea - Hierapolis

The fourth church to visit on our list was Sardis. We began at the remains of the old city of Sardis. In the middle of the city stood a tremendous gymnasium that was reconstructed and is absolutely breathtaking. It contained a swimming pool and a large courtyard. It also doubled as a place for class with the local university. It was so hard to imagine that all of the rocks we have seen once stood in comparison to this amazing building.

The only other building standing in this ancient city was the basilica. It was a very large basilica and had very impressive artwork on the wall. I imagine many people attended at this basilica because it was so impressive and large.

Next, we went a little ways down the street to the Christian church. The church was still partially standing and during its day, it would have been very impressive. It reads in Revelation that this church was dead and that they needed to wake up or the church would die out. It was such a magnificent church. I can only hope that these people listened to John. We also had a church service at this church since it was Sunday. For the rest of my life, I will never forget taking the Lord's Supper in one of the seven churches of Asia. What an experience!

The room where we had communion.

On to the fifth church of our journey, Philadelphia! Part of the Christian church was all that remained of this ancient city. This church had to have been magnificent from seeing what remained. While admiring these ruins, I was very disturbed though. Across the street from this ancient church, stood a Muslim masque. Every picture that I tried to take was ruined by the masque in the background. I wonder what God thinks about this. I imagine he is very disappointed.

Muslim masque

The sixth church of Asia that we visited was Laodicea. This archaeological site was just recently discovered and excavation has been going on for about years. They discover new things at this site every year. It was a very luxurious, rich town. They were so wealthy that they had two theaters!! John writes in Revelation that the church was lukewarm. What a coincidence! This city happened to be placed in the middle between two cities, one with the coldest water in Turkey and one with the hottest water in Turkey. The water in this city was all lukewarm due to how far the cold/hot water had to be transferred to come to the city. Is it just me or did John have a sense of humor?

Theater #1

Theater #2

Ancient Backgammon

Basilica

Christian Church

Temple of Zeus

After Laodicea, we drove to the city with the hottest water in Turkey, Hierapolis. This ancient city was not mentioned in the bible but just last year archaeologists discovered the tomb of Phillip the martyr there. We were the first study abroad group from Faulkner to see this tomb. I felt so honored and amazed to see this piece of extra-biblical evidence. Hierapolis has been very well reconstructed. The theater was absolutely incredible! Also, people have turned what archaeologists think was Cleopatra's swimming pool into a tourist attraction. It was pretty cool.

Basilica

Cleopatra's Swimming Pool

Phillip's Tomb

Theater

View

For our last stop of the day we went to Pamukkale, also known as the Cotton Castle. It is the side of a mountain that is completely white from calcium buildup over thousands of years. It also has the hottest water in Turkey that constantly runs over the rocks from the underground thermal springs. It was very trippy because my mind thinks it is cold but it is really hot. It was one of the few international landmarks across the world.

Then we spent the night at an amazing thermal hotel. It had springs and we swam in them the entire time we were there. The only downfall: we had to wear swim caps... Faulkner University's first swim team! Ashley and I also had little fish eat the dead skin off of our feet. It was so weird!! But it helped my sore feetsies so much!