Pamukkale, Hieropolis, Sardis and Philadelphia
We started our day at 6:30am at Pamukkale and the ancient site of Hieropolis. Pamukkale is an area of white travertine terraces because of mineral rich water and thermal springs. Above it lies the site of Hieropolis.
Hieropolis is one of about 19 Greek and then Roman cities surrounding the lycus valley (which included a large lake in antiquity). Hieropolis is mentioned in Colossians 4:13. These cities included Colossi ( the book of Colossians) and Laodicea.
Hieropolis was founded as a Greek city by the Seleucids in the 3rd century BC. We visited the ancient theater, the necropolis (graveyard of epic proportions used from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century AD) and the tomb of Saint Phillip and associated church which has Christian symbols on the arches and many small rooms at the perimeters for the days when religious pilgrims stopped there to honor the martyrdom of Phillip.
It is interesting to look at the infrastructure, particularly how they managed fresh water and how they developed a sewer system under the streets. Seeing all of the Greek and Roman structures dedicated to gods and goddesses impresses on us how challenging it must have been to have been the first Christians in this area.
After hiking and climbing around Hieropolis we dipped our toes in the mineral waters of Pamukkale and then we were on to Philadelphia- one of the 7 churches of Asia Minor mentioned in John’s revelation. This a small site, less than a city block in the town of Alasehir. The remains of a Christian church from the Byzantine period are there, right next to an 800 year old Mosque.
Our final stop was the site of Sardis, another of the 7 churches in Johns Revelations. There is a huge reconstructed Roman Gymnasium right next to the largest Jewish synagogue outside of Israel at that time, where the early Christians here would have worshipped initially. There is also a temple to Artemis and directly behind that is a small Byzantine Christian church from the 300’s AD.
Every one of these sites is surrounded by the most beautiful mountains! Because Turkey is at the intersection of 3 major tectonic plates and the intersection of Europe and Asia geographically, God has worked some pretty spectacular topography here and everywhere you turn your head is gorgeous.
On a side note, the dogs and cats in Turkey are like community pets. The municipality vaccinates and tags them, and people just randomly feed them, and the cities will have some feeding stations. Our guide carries dog and cat food everywhere we go and knows these animals. And which have had puppies recently. Marge now has more cute puppy pictures than she does pictures of ancient theaters or me - and that is saying something!!
