Day 06 - Priene , Didyma, Miletus

This is our last day, we have been truly blessed and fulfilled to see all that we have. There is a note of sadness as we anticpate returning to the states and leaving behind the new friends, company, and adventures we have made here.

Priene:

We walked through the ancient site and I was struck. This city was different than the others in that I felt a type of monastic quality to it. There were great mountains and forests around and this smaller city seemed to be tucked within them. The temple of Athena was here and perhaps its inhabitants spent long portions of the day in the pursuit of wisdom and scholarly acumen, this was a feeling that I felt here. The backdropped beauty of the mountains and forests, with birds chirping was glorious and then strucutres of what had once been very beautfiul temples that were embroidered within an interesting community yielded intersting imaginations regarding what life was truly like here.

First we saw a hellenistic theater. There were special seats for distinguished guests. This is also the origin of the Prienien creed: “Providence has provided […] the Beginning of the good news for the world” regarding the emperor, the son of god, around 9 BCE,  which may have served as a source of inspiration or rebuttal for the gospel of Mark, “The Beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ”.

Heralds were the ones who were sent out with the creed to reach other parts of the empire.

The temple of Priene was built by Pythius and is considered a 99% perfect and accurate temple according to mathematical and structural engineering considerations.

Didyma:

This is where the temple of Apollo was located, a very large, unfinished structure with incredible size and artistry. The gate to the temple was unaccessible to people, only priests were allowed into the inner chambers. This is where people would bring sacrifices for prophetic insight and messages, the larger the sacrifice, the greater or more extensive the prophecy. The temple itself would eventually be converted into a church.

Didymos or Didyma is greek for twins and represents the twins Artemis and Apollo. The priestess is known to be possessed by pithonia, the spirit of the python, which is divination. This is exemplified in the story of the girl who follows Paul for many days, to which Paul finally rebukes the demon and those who are profiting off of the girl’s divining ability are deeply distressed because she no longer has the ability that was associated with the divining spirit, Pythios.   

Miletus:

This is the site where Dr. Henning would say goodbye to our group, as this is also where Paul said goodbye before his journey to Rome and ultimate execution. Dr. Henning told us that Paul is an incarnational preacher, apostle, and minister of God’s Word, not just delivering the Word, but also being among the people, the community, and the cities in which he spent time. He voiced that he has done the same in being among us, and getting to know us, which has truly blessed us all.