Day 08 - Western Coast: Priene, Miletus, Didyma

Today we got an early start and headed to a fantastic site named Priene. It is perched high up on a mountain slope overlooking a beautiful fertile valley. Built by the Greeks in 300 BC, it featured a busy seaport at the time and had a fortified wall. It functioned as a village until 600 AD. Over that 900-year period, the sea receded many miles away due to silt deposited by the valley river. Of course once the seaport and water travel was lost the village became abandoned. Ruin highlights included a large theatre and an amazing temple built to Athena (goddess of war).

From there we traveled across the valley to Miletus and toured the Miket Museum. Here we saw many recovered artifacts from this huge Roman city.

Near by we visited the actual ruin harbor site (which is also now dry). This place is referenced in the Bible in Acts 20 where Paul summoned the elders of Ephesus to say goodbye after his 3 year stay prior to his plan to return to Jerusalem.

The highlight of Miletos was an amazing 15,000 seat theater where Marty taught from Acts 20 and spoke on how to say goodbye “well” to things in our lives.

From there we ventured to the ancient site of Didyma which was connected to Miletus by way of an 18 km Roman road.

We had a fantastic fish lunch at a local restaurant before touring the site. Didyma featured a massive Oracle temple built to Apollo. Over 120 100 ft high columns lined it four gigantic walls that largely remain intact.

Of course we were once again struck by the fact that massive amounts of money, materials and labor were expended to build these places with a level of awe & grandeur that is hard to describe. Yet the culture and the gods that were so worshipped have all faded away and only ruins remain.

Examining all of this really makes you stop & think how easily we tend to follow popular culture trends and/or false idols vs. the steadfast & lasting truth of the God of the Bible.

Think about where people tend to put their attention, passion, and money today and you will see that similar patterns still alive & well. They too are ultimately headed for ruin also.