Before continuing the travel adventures, let me tell you about Turkish breakfast. Turkish breakfast is wonderful. At the hotels they always
have a spread of about 10 different cheeses, 10 different breads, 10 different
jams and honeys, and then eggs, potatoes, sausages, cucumbers, and tomatoes. They also have many kinds of coffees, Turkish tea and
other teas, hot milk, cold milk, and many kinds of juices. It is definitely a delicious spread that I cannot get enough of. But I didn't take any pictures of it, as I was too busy stuffing my face.
The ancient city of Thyatira has little left, since the current city, Akhisar, has been built on top of it, just like Philadelphia. The one section that has been
excavated was part of the major road connecting Pergamum and Sardis. There were also ruins of a basilica from around 1000 AD. Originally,
Thyatira was a military outpost for the Lydian empire whose capital was Sardis.
Then, thanks to its location, it became a major trade city. It was very famous
for its trades like dyes, specifically purple and indigo, and textiles. Each of these textiles had a trade guild that all of the producers had to be a part of, similar to today's unions. These guilds would have a specific deity that they would pray to, sacrifice
to, and have festivals in honor of them. All guild members were expected to be
involved in these events.
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| The road at Thyatira |
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| The Basilica at Thyatira |
The Lord praises the church of Thyatira for their faith,
service, perseverance, and growth. However, many people were living a double life. They were Christian when they were with Christians, but
participated in non-Christian acts when they were with non-Christians, like
performing the guild rituals. The prophetess, who is called Jezebel in the letter,
was pulling people away from the Word of God. She may have reasoned with them
that there are some things that you must do in your line of work that go
against what God says, but you have to do them because you have to make a
living somehow. However, the Lord has eyes like flames of fire. He can see
everything. He tells the people to “keep my work,” meaning display God everywhere
you go in everything you do, even in your line of work.
Next we went to Pergamum, or Pergamos, in today’s city of
Bergama. Pergamos was the capital of the Pergamum kingdom. It was a very wealthy
city, not just in gold, but in knowledge. On the Acropolis of this ancient city
was the second largest library in the ancient world, only being surpassed by the library in Alexandria. In fact, the Egyptians got so worried that the Pergamos library would surpass
their own that they stopped sending Pergamos papyrus. So Pergamos invented a
new writing material called parchment. Pergamum actually means parchment (in German this city is called Pergament). Their parchment was originally made from leather, but this is the origins of our parchment and paper from. Much later, Marc Antony, in his love for Cleopatra,
stole many scrolls from Pergamos and carried them back to Egypt with him, where
they then burned in the fire in the library at Alexandria. The last King, Attalos III, did not have a worthy heir so in his will he gave his empire to Romans in 133 BC. Pergamos is the
place where emperor worship began in the Roman empire. They built temples not
only to Augustus, but to Trajan and Hadrian, also their pre-Roman
kings like Attalos I, II, III, and Eumenes I, II, III. in addition to
all of the Greek gods.
The Acropolis at Pergamos had two major temples, one to to Zeus
and one to Athena. They were excavated by a German team, and thanks to the
relationship between the Ottoman sultan and the German king, the
archaeologists actually carried both of these temples back to Berlin, where they
are now very well preserved and very much intact.
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| The Theater at Pergamum |
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| The temple to Trajan |
Pergamos also had an Ascelepion dedicated to Ascelepius, the
god of healing. A famous doctor named Galen worked here, assisting the ill. Ascelepions
were places dedicated to healing. They were the ancient hospitals. Their
remedies included some medicines, but also psychotherapy – thinking to yourself
that you can get better – and prayers to the gods. They would let the patients
sleep, then wake them up in the middle of the night to descend into this tunnel and one of the doctors
would dress up like Ascelepius and tell the patients to get well soon. This
would spur them on to work on getting better by reading books in the library,
making prayers to the gods at the temple, or even participating in plays at
the theater. Over the entrance to this hospital were the words "death shall not enter here,” a positive message for those entering the hospital. However, they did screen people and if people were deemed terminally ill, they were not allowed to enter the hospital, as the doctors wanted a good record.
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| "Death Shall Not Enter Here." |
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| The Tunnel for healing |
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| The Ascelepion at Pergamos |
The church of Pergamos is praised for their faithfulness as
they are in the “where Satan has his throne.....where Satan dwells.” However, the church of Pergamos had started
to compromise on some of their convictions. They were being pressured on all
sides to not follow the Gospel, as it was not popular. Some believers were even killed
for their faith in Pergamos. But the Lord gave them the sharp two-edged sword, which is
the Word of God. This is what they, and we, should stay true to, because, in the end,
the Word of God is the only thing that will remain. This world will pass away,
with all of its lies and pressures. So remain faithful to His Word, not to the
world. Never compromise on the Truth.
We next went to a carpet store where they demonstrated how
silk is made from the silk worm cocoons. The cocoons are boiled in regular hot water, then the woman grabed a few of the cocoons and
gathered the threads together. Each cocoon is made of one single strand and can
be anywhere from 300-750 meters long, depending on the size of the cocoon. She
set the threads on a spinning machine to let them unravel, which took at least
5 minutes. It was truly incredible to watch. They even let us have one of the
dry cocoons to take home. It is a little sad that all of those silkworms have
to be suffocated in order to harvest their cocoons. The Lord’s creation is
definitely diverse as silk is strong enough to cut marble, yet the most smooth and
breathable material. And it never seems to wear out. Praise the Lord for silk.
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Next there were women demonstrating how handmade carpets are made,
whether wool or silk. They take the dyed thread and weave a type of double knot
onto the carpet weave. They repeat this many, many, MANY times, using different
colors to create the different patterns on the carpets. It reminds me a bit of
crocheting or knitting as you perform the same action over and over to create a
large masterpiece. It also seems to be like cross-stitch or embroidery work,
using multiple colors to create patterns. It is also like creating a mosaic, as
you cannot really see the big picture until you have put hours into the work.
We were told that for the silk carpets, the weavers can only work on it for
about an hour at a time, because after that the silk cuts into their hands as
it is so fine yet strong, smooth yet sharp. This was extremely fascinating to me. Maybe I'll move to Turkey and make handmade carpets.
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