Miletus, Turkey
Today we visited another important Greek and then Roman city with ports on the Aegean Sea - ancient Miletus. Paul gave a speech in Miletus to the elders of the Ephesus church before leaving by ship for his last visit to Jerusalem (Acts 20: 17-38).
The site is now about 5 miles from the coast due to silting and upheaval from earthquakes over the centuries.
This site was a scramble through thistles/ thorn trees / marshy areas / flies and sheep but lots of fun! The remains of harbor buildings are still evident. The Roman baths along with a sculpture of the Greek god of rivers, Meandros, are still somewhat intact (Miletus lies at the mouth of the Meander River). The stadium is well preserved and has carvings on a few of the seats - sort of a “reserved “ seating - including an inscription that means “ place of the Jews and God fearers”. The stadium stage has a deep area that looks like an orchestra pit but was actually filled with water so that gladiators could act out ship battles.
We explored a cave that had been used as a church underneath the stadium.
The rest of the day was spent finishing drone footage around Ephesus and relaxing at the hotel pool this evening. Tomorrow we leave bright and early for Izmir and Bergama ( ancient Smyrna and Pergamum ,two of the 7 churches mentioned in Revelations).
