Day 06 - Western Coast: Pergamum, Weaving Center

Day 6 was one that everyone was looking forward to because we were spending the day in Pergamum.

There was heavy rain during the night  but it was just drizzling slightly when we met in the lobby at 7:00 am to load the suitcases on the bus.

Breakfast was a lovely, smaller buffet. They had delicious pastries and fresh juices.

We were on the bus by 8 and for our morning devotion, Karleena reviewed the four churches of Revelation that we have visited so far. She connected Scripture by speaking from Luke when the woman poured the expensive oil on Jesus’ feet and Jesus told Simon the parable about the money lender. Karleena compared the churches of Revelation to the lessons taught in Luke. How can we be more like the woman in Luke honoring Jesus? She closed us in prayer, reminding us to love God and others.

Speaking of love, Gokhan taught us that seni seviyorum means ‘I love you’ in Turkish.

The fog grew more dense as we approached Pergamum and we could barely see the elevation in front of us.

We started out walking on a paved path but Gokhan said the path is for tourists and called us to the unpaved area so we could imitate the actual walk on the rocks that the pilgrims would have taken on the Via Tecta, the holy road.

This area existed at the time of the Hittites, 600-700 years B.C.

The first area we visited was the healing center, which was basically the Mayo Clinic of the ancient times.

We spoke about how the traditional symbol of medicine is snakes around a pole. This image came from Asclepius, who was a son of Zeus and an ancient healer. People came from all over to be healed at this center and it was said that no one ever died there. Indeed, no bones or graves have ever been discovered at this location. Gokhan joked that, like John Wick, they probably had someone to take care of the bodies.

Ralph began speaking as a light rain began to fall. He told us that the cult of Asclepius thrived from the 4th century B.C. through the early Christian times.

When the people came to be healed, their dreams would be interpreted to determine the best course of healing. They used a variety of practices to heal people, including: sweating, bloodletting, drinking water, water baths, mud baths, colonic irrigation, and herbal remedies. They would also use music, especially for mental illnesses. These are all rooted in science and have medical benefits. However, they also engaged in dark practices, like witchcraft.

There are two bodies of water mentioned in the gospel of John: the pool of Siloam and the pool of Bethesda. Scripture says that people went to these pools to be healed, which sounds like an Asclepion, like this one in Pergamum. In fact, an archaeological dig in 1964 at the Pool of Bethesda uncovered that it was indeed a Roman site. This would be where desperate people came to be healed. Jesus went there to show that false gods don’t bring healing and that Jesus was the one true God.  The man did not come to Him out of faith to be healed, Jesus went to him. Melinda added that is why the Jews would have been so mad because Jesus went to a Roman site to heal on the Sabbath.

A library was found at the healing center in Pergamum that contained only comedy, no tragedy. They also had a theater which only had comedy shows - the first comedy club of Asia Minor. As they say, laughter is the best medicine and it caused the people to feel better.

We walked onto the stage of the theater and Kristina recited Shakespeare and Cruzer used his walking stick to pretend he was a sword swallower. In modern times, they hosted concerts here but on one occasion the promoters wrote on the stone to have seat numbers and they would not come off, thus ruining the site.  It was the last concert they ever had there.

Gokhan can have his work cut out for him when we get to large spaces like a theater. At times our group can be like herding cats and we get very spread out, so people will say “take your time, hurry up!” But for the most part we follow directions!

The healing center was almost like a full hospital. It had incubation and sleeping rooms for the people receiving treatment. When you arrived, there was an underground tunnel where people would wait out of the sun for their turn to be seen for treatment.

Gokhan had us wait silently in the tunnel, and we heard the flowing water. It was very peaceful in the tunnel. There would also have been people talking to the people being healed while you waited to be called to the treatment center. We walked through the uneven terrain of the tunnel and Gokhan pointed out the clay pipes where they would have a voice say “get well” and the people would think the god of healing had spoken to them. It was an early form of psychotherapy with subliminal messages to the people who were being treated.

After exploring this section of Pergamum, we hopped on the bus to go across town, less than 10 minutes away. We passed the largest brick building of the Roman times on the way to the other section of the Pergamum ruins.

Once we arrived at the next location, we took a cable car up the side of a mountain with the view shrouded in mist. The cable car went up half way and then we hiked up the rest of the way. The fog gave all our pictures an eerie look that was actually quite beautiful.

Pergamum was called Satan’s throne by Jesus and it housed a large altar to Zeus with an immense throne. In 1864, a German engineer came and found the intact altar to Zeus and took all the artifacts to Germany. The Pergamum Museum in Berlin, which houses the altar, opened in 1930.

A model of that altar was later built and used for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis when they first spoke of what would become the holocaust. The word holocaust means burned sacrifice, something that would have been done here in Pergamum. In fact, there were 10 different places of worship to false gods here. Jesus called it the throne of Satan due to all the false worship.

We looked over the side of the mountain to where the theater is, but due to the fog it was completely hidden. Then we went  through a short tunnel that brought us out to the very top of the theater, which was known as the steepest theater. As Gokhan pointed out, there are no safety bars in Turkey, so we all made sure to watch our steps! We found spots to sit along the top with Nick only a few rows beneath us for safety purposes.

If you know Nick, he is a scholar of Revelation and eschatology (the study of the end times) and we were all looking forward to him speaking on the church of Pergamum.

Nick spoke of his theory of the 7 churches of Revelation representing 7 different things… not just the churches themselves but 7 different church ages as well.

He taught us that Pergamum was the capital of Asia Minor and was one of the wealthiest and most influential cities. It was 1000 feet above sea level, had 3 walls, and was nearly indestructible. The theater could seat 10,000 people and was carved into the side of the mountain.

Pergamum had a 200,000 scroll library connected to their school. It was second only to the library in Alexandria, Egypt in size. In fact, Egypt feared that the library in Pergamum would grow larger so they stopped selling them papyrus to keep the library from getting any bigger! In response, the people in Pergamum invented parchment.

In early Pergamum, all citizens were still required to worship the emperor. Where we sat in the theater, we had a clear view of the temple to the emperor Trajan. If you said Jesus was Lord instead of Caesar is Lord you could lose your business or even your life. But if you said Caesar was Lord you were denying your faith. Most of the Christians at the time compromised and chose Caesar. Those that called Jesus were forced to hide or face punishment.

Antipas, an early church leader, was publicly burned alive on the altar of Zeus in a brass bull to send a message to early Christians that did not put the emperor before God.

Constantine was the next emperor and he was all about compromise. He had a vision that if he became a Christian he would be protected in battle. He mixed Christian and pagan holidays for peaceful coexistence. The Christians could worship as long as they still said Constantine was the Lord.

Kristina read Psalm 119 to remind us that we are called to not compromise God’s Word. Jesus told the church at Pergamum to do the right thing and repent and not fall asleep but they didn’t. The following church ages after Pergamum were asleep and then spiritually dead.

Satan lives comfortably wherever the Word of God is compromised. Bottom line message is don’t ever let anyone force you to compromise your walk with God.

The book of Revelation is prophecy and we are not meant to understand all of it but the message is growing increasingly clear as we study the Scripture here in Turkey.

As Nick finished his talk and Pastor Ralph said some closing words, the sun came out and the fog lifted and we had an incredible view of the valley below. We prayed and thanked God for the opportunity to be here and for the change in weather.

We climbed from the theater towards the remains of the temple of Trajan. As we were entering the tunnel, a German group was coming out and we helped them on the steep steps down.

After finishing our tour we had some free time on our own to explore the shops at the top of the mountain and then take the cable car down. As we began our descent, we saw goats and a mule!

We left Pergamum and headed to lunch. Unlike our other lunches, this one was a buffet at the Bergama Restaurant. Two things that really excited the group was that they had pasta on the buffet and they had chicken soup after days of lentil soup!

After lunch we headed to a weaving center where an artisan taught us about the special Turkish art of rug making. The difference between Turkish weaving and that of other regions is that they double knot their fibers. We were shown how they dye and weave their rugs at this co-op of rug weavers that have been in business since 1975.

Because of the variations in dye, no two rugs can be exactly the same even if they are woven by the same artisan. There are also variations between rugs woven in different villages.

As we watched, we were served some more of the delicious apple tea we enjoyed the other day. Gokhan calls it ‘candy in a cup!’

The artisan taught us a cool lesson about planning where to put your bed when you move in a new place. In Turkey, they watch where the cat lies down, then put their bed there because the cat has the best judgment of finding a comfortable place to sleep!

We learned the art of making silk thread from cocoons and got to feel the thread as it was being wound on the loom. Given that we have members on this trip that quilt, embroider, and crochet, we were very interested in the process.

Weaving is a very intricate process. One square centimeter is 100 double knots on 10” x 10” rug. The more knots, the more detail they can make. They had rugs in geometric patterns but other super-detailed ones that have scenes from nature, animals, and one with the Last Supper.

The small silk rugs, which are meant to be hung on the wall, can take from 6 months to 2 years to make. When light is shown behind the silk rugs, it glows like stained glass. They turned out the lights in the studio to show us the amazing colors.

We moved to the studio where the women allowed us to sit at their looms with them and learn to make the knots.

Our next activity was taking our socks and shoes off to walk on the different types of textiles including lambs wool and silk. They showed rugs out of silk and wool that were woven and then the design was embroidered on top. They also displayed rugs from the different villages of Pergamum to show the variations between artisans.

They explained that they clean the rugs with just brooms or vacuums but for stains you use water, white vinegar, lemon juice, and salt. And if that does not remove the stain, you just hang the rug in the sun.

We then had an opportunity to walk through the showroom and view all the rugs. They had 5,000-6,000 different pieces. The smaller rugs started at $300 and went into the thousands.

Since we had a long bus ride to the hotel, we went to the restroom before we left.  The water closets (bathrooms) we have visited on this trip have varied from squatty potties to modern amenities. One thing that has been common was that they frequently do not have toilet paper. We usually grab a roll from our hotel and hand it out when we get to a restroom. At the weaving center they not only had toilet paper in every stall but it was very good quality toilet paper, so we joked that they made it from the silk worms!

We set out for our hotel for the next three days, the Charisma Deluxe. Gokhan got to go home to his family for the night because we were near his house. We may get to meet his family later in the trip.

On our drive, Gokhan pointed out Smyrna, present-day Izmir, which is now the 3rd largest city in Turkey with 5 million people. The ruins here are small like the ones we visited in Philadelphia and Thyatira and they are closed for the winter season, so this is the one site of a church of Revelation that we did not actually stop at on this trip.

You could tell we were near our first large city in several days because we hit Friday afternoon rush hour traffic, much like we would have home on I-4, which delayed our arrival at the hotel.

Çağrı, our driver, is so incredible and always keeps us safe on the road. He can also navigate small towns on streets where we barely have two inches of clearance on either side. He speaks limited English but always greets us with a smile.

We reached our hotel around 7:30. It is in a safe area so we were told we could go exploring if we chose to but most went right to dinner after dropping their bags in the room.

The buffet here was delicious and we were very happy and full by the time we left.

Our hotel is right on the Aegean Sea so we are looking forward to the views in the morning!

Thank you for your prayers  for Brooke yesterday - Michelle and Taylor were able to speak to her today and she is slowly improving!