Sardis - Philadelphia - Laodicea - Hierapolis - Pamukkale

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

Basilica

Cleopatra's Swimming Pool

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! 

Tomorrow is our last day in Turkey. Seventh church, Ephesus, here we come!

Pergamum - Thyatira

Saturday, we began our tour in the ancient town of Pergamum, one of the seven churches of Asia as mentioned in Revelation. Pergamum was built on a hilltop so we had to take a cable car ride up. The view was spectacular!

Once we reached the top, the hill was covered in ruins of this ancient town. Pergamum was a large, luxurious town. They built the third largest library in the world in this city. They were very smart people due to the fact that they built s temple on the side of a hill with an arch support system. They wanted to build a large temple to Trajan but they needed a flat service. By building multiple arches, they were able to make a large enough surface to build the temple on. Their system reminds me of how our foot is arched and our whole body's weight is supported by the arch. 

Ancient Agora

Arch system under the temple

Library

Library

Mausoleum

Room for Prostitution

Temple to Dionysos

Temple of Trajan 

Temple of Trajan

Temple of Trajan

Next, we went to a very unique theater. It is the steepest theater in the ancient world. It was huge and the acoustics were amazing. 

The last place we went to in ancient Pergamum was to the Temple of Zeus. Scholars believe that this temple was the Throne of Satan that John mentions in his letter to the church in Pergamum in Revelation 2. How cool is that?!

View from Pergamum

Next, we went to Askelpion, the ancient hospital in Pergamum, Turkey. In, fact, it was the only one in Turkey. The closest one besides that was in Greece. This hospital was started when a man fell of his horse and hurt his leg terribly. He had to go to Greece to get the treatment. When he returned, he decided to build a hospital in Turkey and chose Pergamum as the place. The ancient doctor, Galen, who first discovered different diseases and wrote them down in books, worked in this hospital. 

To finish up the afternoon, we went and visited the site where the church of Thyatira was found. Thyatira is also one of the seven churches of Asia as mentioned by John in his letters in the book of Revelation. The church was all that was left of this town because more towns were built on top of the ancient one over the years. 

Three churches down, four to go!