Day 05 - Aphrodisias and Philadelphia

Day 5 - Aphrodisias (the City of Beauty) and Philadelphia (the City of One Who Loves His Brother)

Our day began with a 90 minute drive from our hotel to the city of Aphrodisias.

Aphrodisias - “The City of Beauty” was named after the goddess Aphrodite whose cult image was in this city. The city is located in southwestern Turkey in the upper valley of the Morsynus River. 

The city is not mentioned in the Bible. However, our time on the city helped us to better understand the life that people lived at the time of Paul - the ever present Roman Empire, its culture, and the spread of Christianity. 

The Roman emperor Octavian visited the city and called it “the one city in all of Asia to be my own”. Aphrodisias was a wealthy city. Its wealth came from 2 sources: its marble quarries and art produced by its sculptors. Its sculptors were well known in the Roman world. It also had a school of philosophy.

The Sebasteion

We began the tour of Aphrodisias  by entering the street that contained the Sebasteion. The name means “great” and is the only building of its kind outside of Rome. It is an imposing place, located on a street, beginning at the northern gate and ending at a theater. The street is lined on both sides with large columns. Above the columns are two rows of reliefs (180 in all) that are dedicated to and tell the story of Rome. These reliefs show different images of gods, Caesar, and man, and their positioning serve to remind the people of Roman history, who they are, their position in society, and that Caesar is god.

After viewing the Sebasteion, Pastor Josh led us in a discussion from Ephesians 2. In this passage we are reminded of who we are in Christ, and that we are saved by faith- not by works. We compared the “Roman message” to the Christian message. The Romans are “protected” by their god Caesar and the empire was built by a ruthless army and slave labor. Compare that to Jesus’ message, where we are saved by faith in God, it is a gift, and the “empire” is built by changed hearts.

The Pool

We next walked toward the only “park” in the Empire. The park contained a massive pool that would have been lined with palm trees. It was used as a decoration but may have also been used to drain water from the high water table in the area. 

We then toured a number of other structures:  the parliament building, the Roman fountain, and buildings that housed the sculptor school.

The Building of a Church and Cancel Culture

At the time, Christians were against sculpting because sculpting often resulted in the creation and display of pagan idols. As a result, at some point in time Christians built a church over the top of the sculpture school. 

The group then had a discussion of Christian’s and “cancel culture” in ancient times and today. As Christians, we are often guilty of canceling things when we should be focused on redeeming things. For example, there is nothing inherently wrong with sculpting. It is a question of how it is to be used and rather than cancelling it, we should work to redeem it for Christian/ positive purposes.

The Stadium

Aphrodisias has the best preserved stadium in the the world. It was a large stadium, one of the most impressive structures we have seen, with seating for 30,000 people. 

The stadium held chariot racing and athletic events for the local citizens. It later had an end partitioned off for gladiatorial combat (4th century).

While seated and overlooking the stadium, Josh lead us in a discussion centered on “running the race”.

Our scripture for the discussion came from numerous passages including Acts 20:24; 2 Timothy 4:7; I Corinthians 9:24-27; Hebrews 12 

After reading the scriptures, our discussion centered around comparing and contrasting physical training, running the race, and working for the prize with spiritual training and spiritual discipline in order to win the prize.

We had to ask ourselves, are we faithfully running the race, are we preparing diligently, are we developing spiritual discipline?

We then walked to the floor of the stadium and Josh had us form two parallel lines in the middle of the stadium. We each individually took turns walking toward the end of the stadium, each contemplating what holds us back that we need to give up, and then turning back to run back through “the cheering “cloud of witnesses” on the stadium floor.

Lunch

We left Aphrodisias and went to lunch at the Anatolia restaurant, a local restaurant owned by our tour guide's friend. 

Philadelphia

After lunch we headed out for the city of Philadelphia - one of the seven churches of Revelation (Revelation 3:7-13). 

There is not much to see of the ancient city as the modern city of Alasheir (translated multi-colored town) is built on top of it.

The city was founded in 189 BC by the Pergamene king Eumenes. He built the city and named it Philadelphia, which means “one who loves his brother” to express his love for his brother. In 133 BC the last Pergamene king died and transferred the whole of his kingdom to the Romans. As a result, Philadelphia became part of the Roman Republic. Philadelphia suffered much hardship from natural disasters and persecution, as well as name changes as the rule of this city passed from one emperor to the next.

Jesus Letter to the Church- Revelation 3:7-13

One of two churches that received only encouragement. To the church that has persevered through hardship and persecution, meeting in a city whose name has constantly changed at the whim of the emperor, a city destroyed by earthquake, Jesus says they will be given a permanent name and identity as He will write on them the name of My God.

We were all challenged by the testimony of the Philadelphia church - what are our works, are we persevering with patient endurance, how will we be known…

We had another great day. It’s amazing how the ruins of these ancient cities can teach us so much that is applicable today and make the New Testament come alive in new ways.

We are off tomorrow to experience the ancient cities of Sardis and Pergamum.

-by Mike Housewright