Day 02 - Perga, Aspendos

For some of us, our day started at 3am as game 5 of the World Series started in Arizona. For several hours we followed a close baseball game as the Texas Rangers won their first World Series Championship. What a great memory for some of us who have followed the Rangers for more than 51 years!

After breakfast we headed out with our guides east from Antalya and entered the ruins of a city called Perga. The first thing we see is an ancient 3-sided stadium that hosted athletics and later chariot races and animal events. The building codes seemed to call for stone arches that held up the entire stadium seating. 

Perga had about 150,000 people living there. Perga existed from 2500BC up to the 8th century as part of different conquering kingdoms. Like most cities, the acropolis was on a hill to the north. The Greeks expanded down the hill to the south, and later the Romans developed the lower plain area and gates. The Main Street runs South with a colonnade and shops to Roman forum with shops like butchers, tanners, bakers, etc.  

A shrine for idol goddess Fortuna is in the center of the forum.  

Entering Perga at the South Gate one would see and hear the water fountains, the Colonnade and Porticos where the people shopped, and a Roman bath with cold, warm and hot rooms lined with marble floors and walls.  

A cool drizzle started while we reviewed Acts chapters 18 and 9 and kept on coming while we climbed the hillside to the North and discussed Barnabas, Paul and John Mark and their efforts to share the gospel to the people here. What that must’ve been like is easier to imagine after having been here for a few hours. 

We stopped and had lunch at a local restaurant - the food is delicious. 

At Aspendos we toured an ancient theatre seating appx. 15,000 for dramas and comedies.  The rulers built these to entertain the citizens and keep them from revolting. 

Not far from there we saw the remains of an overhead aqueduct providing water from the mountains to Aspendos. Again, we see a common theme of water and its importance to people. 

We can see that ancient rulers provided both water and safety in the cities. This was a blessing to the citizens but also a tool for control as the citizens could not live without them. Similarly, Jesus said both living water and eternal life are provided through Him, and we will have both abundantly in the Kingdom of Heaven. We see the contrast between the heavenly kingdom, and the earthly kingdoms as we see explore the ancient cities.

- by Kyle Churchwell