Day 05 - Aphrodisias & Philadelphia

Today we left the area of Heiropolis and headed to the ancient city of Aphrodisias with a possible population of 60-70,000. Aphrodisias is a city that honors Aphrodite the goddess of beauty and love. One might wonder why do you visit an ancient city that isn't mentioned in the Bible. While walking through the ruins of the city, we see a city with a large marketplace, a huge swimming pool, a stadium that could seat 30,000. In the center of this city is the Temple of Aphrodite. At the stadium ruins Dr. Hill taught from 1 Corinthians 9 and Hebrews 12 about Paul comparing our faith walk to a race. It is amazing how scripture comes to life when you are sitting in an actual 1st-century stadium and hear it read in the context in which it was first written.

After a delicious lunch, we continued to the ruins of the city of Philadelphia. In the middle of a city block we see a small area of ancient ruins. This is all that has been excavated of Philadelphia. At this site Dr. Hill read Revelation 3:7-13 which is the letter to the church of Philadelphia about being faithful in our obedience to God's word. Standing on the tiny site of Philadelphia and reading the letter to the church was more meaningful to me than seeing the grandeur of Aphrodisias.

Jill Wiggins