Day 05 - West Central Turkey: Aphrodisias, Philadelphia

This morning began with a great view of the balloons rising up over the horizon at sunrise. Knowing what they were seeing as they soared above Hieropolis reminded us of what we had learned and seen the day before.

Our day began at Aphrodisias. The story of how this ancient city was discovered in 1958 by Ara Gular is absolutely incredible. You can read a brief synopsis of it here: https://asia-archive.si.edu/ara-guler-and-the-lost-city-of-aphrodisias/

This site contains portions of a recreated Sebastion (a building the Romans used to influence the populace by making sure they knew their place), engravings showing how the Roman Empire controlled the cost of goods, an ancient temple that was later converted to a church, and the best-preserved stadium in all of Turkey.

One of the things we talked about was Paul’s use of metaphors throughout his letters and how he compared life to running a race (as well as other athletic endeavors). As we explored that idea and showed where Paul got his imagery from we could not pass up the opportunity for a race of our own.

This year, Ethan defeated me in a race at the Hippodrome in Caesarea Maritima in Israel. He had a crown to defend and I wanted another shot. It turns out, he’s just flat-out faster than me in a sprint and he rightfully won the crown of olive leaves that was quickly (and masterfully) assembled by our group!

We ate lunch at a restaurant we lovingly refer to as the "Parrot Restaurant" for obvious reasons and thoroughly enjoyed our meal there.

Having visited a single site today, we will make up for it tomorrow.

- Jared