Day 08 - Priene, Didyma, Miletus

A week ago, today seemed so far away. But here we are on our last day visiting the last three sites of Asia Minor. We could not have asked for a better guide, driver, weather, and teachings.

We started the day by driving south from Ephesus to the town of Priene. Priene is not mentioned in the Bible, but it was in the region of the Seven Churches and was a significant port city. Unfortunately for them, over the years the harbor continued to fill in with silt and turned into a swamp. Swamp brings mosquitoes, and mosquitoes bring malaria, malaria causes them to abandon the city by 1300 A.D. The city itself was designed for 5,000 people but it grew to be over 20,000 people.

When they excavated the town, they left it “insitu“, meaning that except for the columns they placed up to show the height, everything else was left as it was excavated.  We walked down into the residential area. That area was marked by a street that had freshwater flowing down the middle and then stone homes on each side of it. In 1896, they found an inscription to Alexander the Great saying that you must be dressed in white when you enter his home. It is recorded that he was here hanging out in this home while his armies attacked nearby Miletus.

As a group, we talked about how one of the miracles of the early church is that the gospel message survived in a culture that was diametrically opposed to it... how the message of treating others with dignity & respect, putting others first, loving your enemies, sexual purity, Jews, Greeks, and Gentiles working together side-by-side, the flattening of the Roman social hierarchy, the rich, the common people and slaves all dining together at the table, the notion that all people had equal value in the eyes of God ALL ran countercultural to Hellenism. All of this contributed to 80% of Asian Minor becoming Christ-followers within 150 years!

When people began to experience life with those calling themselves Christ followers, they tasted a life that was so much better. They experienced people living life towards the betterment of other people… people who are honestly loving and serving others. 

Each day, we have a choice to serve or be served. It’s a choice that’s more than a Sunday decision… it’s a choice we must make each and every day.

Sticking out into the main road of the residential area were some steps. If steps protruded into a road, archaeologist deemed that they must lead to something important. So they begin excavating beyond the steps and found something significant. At the end of the steps was a fourth-century synagogue. 

Attached is a photo of Brady on the bench/seat where the head of the agora ruled the merchants. He was in charge of all the commerce that happened in the agora and he had to approve any changes or out of ordinary exchanges. He also insured that only the right people (with the right marks) did business there.

Unexpected fun: A mule and some horses then followed us for the rest of the journey through the town.

Then it was back on the bus where Ibo, our awesome driver and Elvis impersonator, took us to our next stop, Didyma.

There is a 4,000-year-old paved road that that runs for 10 miles, connecting Didyma and Miletus. At the Didyma end was the temple of Apollo. It was - the third largest ancient temple ever found. It is made up of 120 pillars, each of them 64 feet tall plus the roof. It is estimated that one column took 20,000 hours to make (approximately 9 years of labor).

If one had to make an important decision in life, they would make the treck to Apollo‘s temple and consult the Oracle. The Oracle would then give you a "yes" or "no" (or occasionally a short answer). Here’s how the process would work: you would ask a question of a priest and then you would wait. And the more important you were, the less you had to wait. The priest then takes your question to the Oracle. The Oracle stood over a crack in the earth where gases came up that made her high. They believed that she was then speaking on behalf of Apollo. She would then give her answer and the priest would deliver it back. If the Oracle began to tremble (probably from the poisons of the gas), they knew that she would die soon and so they went and found another young teenage virgin to replace her. Families considered a great honor to have their teenage virgin daughter used in this way.

It seems people have gone through great lengths all throughout history to hear from God.

We then talked through the shift that happened when Rome legalized Christianity. Churches moved from gatherings and groups in homes to buildings… And in doing so, inadvertently restored some of the old temple model and the phrase “we go to church” began to replace “we are the church” (Eph. 2:19-22, 1 Corinthians 6:9-20, 1 Peter 2:9).

Back on the bus and then to our last stop of the day which was the town of Miletus. We gathered in the theater there which happened to be the widest theater that has been found so far. By now, we all recognized it as a Roman theater because it was freestanding and had a vomitorium. (Greek theaters were built into the side of the hill). In case you were wondering, a vomitorium is the arched exits through which people exited the theater.

The city was also abandoned due to the harbor filling up, turning to swamp, mosquitoes, and then malaria. Paul was at the city at least twice. The last time, is an important time for Paul. He sent for the elders of Ephesus. As he waited a few days for them to arrive, Paul had a lot of time to think about what he wanted to tell them. He’s been through a lot. He has seen many things. He ran his race very hard and kept the faith. Paul was ready to share his heart with them. It was in that background that we read Acts 20. I would encourage you to do the same.

That motivated us to ask the question, "Where am I in life right now? And what does it look like for me to finish well?" We noted that since our last trip to Israel as a group, two of us have already finished their race.

As Paul sailed away from this port a couple thousand of years ago, we too are leaving this port today as we wrap up our trip to Turkey. This site was a fitting end to a wonderful journey. Tomorrow, we will catch a flight from Izmir to Istanbul, see some sites there and then begin our way home.

Some of us will be continuing on to Greece and then Uganda to visit Dr. Betty and the awesome work that she is doing in her village of Nebbi. They will be loving on the young mothers and their babies. Please keep them in your prayers too.