Thursday, December 04, 2008
This was another busy day in our tour of Turkey.
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We started today by driving inward from the coast. Our first trip was to the location of Colossae, to whom the book of Colossians was written, where Paul helps them sort-out the character of Jesus – whether he was an ordinary man who attained spiritual enlightenment or whether Jesus was actually God, as Jesus claimed. Not much remains of the city today, just another raised “tell” where the city was built and re-built over successive generations. Still Jackson did a good job of explaining things and making it relevant. It’s also interesting to catch little hints as to what might lay under the surface, waiting to be excavated. Drop a rock to the ground, and you hear a distinctly hollow “thud.” Walk past a rocky outcropping, and you realize those rocks are actually part of a building’s wall – it’s all kind of surreal.
From there, we traveled to the town of Laodacia, a massive Roman city built along a major trade crossroads known for banking, clothes of glossy black wool, and a special eye cream for ophthalmological use. The city is laid out with a very long street, flanked by covered sidewalks on other side, and lined with marble columns that would have been adorned with statues. History tells us that the city was so wealthy that when a major earthquake struck in 60 A.D., the citizens informed Rome that that city would fund the full rebuilding themselves. Despite their wealth, the city lacked one key thing – a nearby source of water. Instead, they had to rely on aqueducts to send water from hot springs in an adjacent valley. For this reason, the water was only lukewarm by the time it reached the city and prone in cause vomiting due to its mineral properties. This lead to the city’s eventual decline once the trade routes closed down.
Laodacia is also mentioned in the Bible and I’m starting to see things in a whole new light. It starts to make a ton of sense when Jesus says “You are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” and (loosely translated) goes on to say “For you say, ‘I am rich and have need of nothing.’ Instead, you should buy from Jesus….white garments so you don’t have to be ashamed…and salve that you may see.” Before visiting this place, I thought all that language was just artful prose – I never knew it would have such a literal meaning to the people living here.
One of the interesting things we saw here was a column that had Jewish carvings, with Christian cross extending from it. The guide said this was indicative of people identifying their Christian views with their Jewish heritage. It’s interesting to see things like this, dating back to a time when the two faiths didn’t feel so different.
After Laodacia, we headed to the next valley. What I thought was a large modern-day quarry turned out to be something quite different…hot mineral springs, covered in chalky white calcium deposits! This site, called Hierapolis, was a popular destination for injured Roman soldiers, where they could rest and heal. As the water cools, the calcium deposits solidify and coat the rock in a white chalk. When the rock is left exposed to the air, it takes on yellow and red hues.
This is also the site of an elaborate church, where an early Christian was martyred for failing to pay honor to the Roman emperor as deity (in the years prior to the Roman emperor becoming Christian). At that time, there was a large statue of the emperor at the city gate, and everyone who passed was to stop and pay their respects. While returning from a wedding in Laodicea, this martyr tried to avoid the situation by walking around the gate. The soldiers took notice. Years later, following the Christian conversion of the Roman emperor, a large church was built in this martyr’s honor. I managed to capture a few photos of this gate.
As you might expect, not all of these soldiers who came here got better and there is a massive graveyard of elaborate burial chambers here as well. Unfortunately, the light was fading and I wasn’t able to get any photos of this area.
Published by Jace Mouse
on Thursday, December 04, 2008 at 11:05 PM.
View Larger Map
We started today by driving inward from the coast. Our first trip was to the location of Colossae, to whom the book of Colossians was written, where Paul helps them sort-out the character of Jesus – whether he was an ordinary man who attained spiritual enlightenment or whether Jesus was actually God, as Jesus claimed. Not much remains of the city today, just another raised “tell” where the city was built and re-built over successive generations. Still Jackson did a good job of explaining things and making it relevant. It’s also interesting to catch little hints as to what might lay under the surface, waiting to be excavated. Drop a rock to the ground, and you hear a distinctly hollow “thud.” Walk past a rocky outcropping, and you realize those rocks are actually part of a building’s wall – it’s all kind of surreal.
From there, we traveled to the town of Laodacia, a massive Roman city built along a major trade crossroads known for banking, clothes of glossy black wool, and a special eye cream for ophthalmological use. The city is laid out with a very long street, flanked by covered sidewalks on other side, and lined with marble columns that would have been adorned with statues. History tells us that the city was so wealthy that when a major earthquake struck in 60 A.D., the citizens informed Rome that that city would fund the full rebuilding themselves. Despite their wealth, the city lacked one key thing – a nearby source of water. Instead, they had to rely on aqueducts to send water from hot springs in an adjacent valley. For this reason, the water was only lukewarm by the time it reached the city and prone in cause vomiting due to its mineral properties. This lead to the city’s eventual decline once the trade routes closed down.
Laodacia is also mentioned in the Bible and I’m starting to see things in a whole new light. It starts to make a ton of sense when Jesus says “You are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” and (loosely translated) goes on to say “For you say, ‘I am rich and have need of nothing.’ Instead, you should buy from Jesus….white garments so you don’t have to be ashamed…and salve that you may see.” Before visiting this place, I thought all that language was just artful prose – I never knew it would have such a literal meaning to the people living here.
One of the interesting things we saw here was a column that had Jewish carvings, with Christian cross extending from it. The guide said this was indicative of people identifying their Christian views with their Jewish heritage. It’s interesting to see things like this, dating back to a time when the two faiths didn’t feel so different.
After Laodacia, we headed to the next valley. What I thought was a large modern-day quarry turned out to be something quite different…hot mineral springs, covered in chalky white calcium deposits! This site, called Hierapolis, was a popular destination for injured Roman soldiers, where they could rest and heal. As the water cools, the calcium deposits solidify and coat the rock in a white chalk. When the rock is left exposed to the air, it takes on yellow and red hues.
This is also the site of an elaborate church, where an early Christian was martyred for failing to pay honor to the Roman emperor as deity (in the years prior to the Roman emperor becoming Christian). At that time, there was a large statue of the emperor at the city gate, and everyone who passed was to stop and pay their respects. While returning from a wedding in Laodicea, this martyr tried to avoid the situation by walking around the gate. The soldiers took notice. Years later, following the Christian conversion of the Roman emperor, a large church was built in this martyr’s honor. I managed to capture a few photos of this gate.
As you might expect, not all of these soldiers who came here got better and there is a massive graveyard of elaborate burial chambers here as well. Unfortunately, the light was fading and I wasn’t able to get any photos of this area.
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