From Aphrodisias to Konya

Aphrodisias dates to 5800 BC, but wasn’t dedicated to Aphrodite until the 2^nd century BC. As an archeological site, it’s pretty cool as quite a bit of it is relatively intact despite having been largely abandoned after a major earthquake in the 7^th century AD. The area it is in is highly earthquake prone.

The first structure we came to was the Tetrapylon (gate), built roughly 200 AD, which I thought was quite beautiful. At the center of town was a large temple. It had been dedicated to a goddess of fertility back when it was originally built in the 7^th century BC, but was later enlarged and dedicated to Aphrodite in the 2^nd century BC. By the 5^th century AD, the temple was converted into a church and remained so until the earthquake that destroyed most of the town.

The Odeon was a lecture hall that seated about 1,750 when completely intact. Now it has its first nine rows up from the stage, but the rest is in ruins. The Stadium is one of the best preserved in the Mediterranean. It was used strictly for sporting events until after the 7^th century AD earthquake when the theatre was badly damaged. Then a stage was added to the stadium so plays could be performed there. The arena was always too narrow for chariot races.

We visited several other structures including a bath house, an agora (market), and the museum containing several statues and other artifacts before heading for Pamukkale. The name Pamukkale means “cotton castle”. The white terraces of travertine are created from hot springs. At the time I was there, people were allowed to walk on portions of the travertine as long as they did so with bare feet. Currently it isn’t allowed at all as it has been decided that it causes too much damage.

Adjacent to Pamukkale is what remains of the ancient city of Hierapolis which sits on hot springs in the classical kingdom of Phrygia in southwestern Anatolia. Founded in the 2^nd century BC by King Eumenes II of Pergamon as a thermal spa center, Hierapolis quickly became a healing center. The Greek king Antiochus III the Great, relocated roughly 2,000 Jewish families from Babylon and Mesopotamia to Hierapolis (which means “Holy City”). The population grew to about 50,000 by 62 BC.

After a couple of nasty earthquakes in 17 AD and 30 AD, much of the Greek city was destroyed. It was rebuilt in the Roman style. Hierapolis had been ceded to Rome in 133 BC.

St Phillip (the disciple) was martyred there in 80 AD, during the reign of Titus. He was crucified upside down as he claimed he wasn’t worthy of being crucified in the same manner as Jesus. In 2011, a few months after my trip, his tomb was discovered just outside of Hierapolis, not too far from where he had been martyred.

After entering the site, one of the first structures we encountered was the gymnasium. The word “gymnos” actually means “naked”. This was because the early sporting events and competitions were performed in the nude.

The theatre (dating from some time after the 60 AD earthquake) was in pretty good shape and still seats about 15,000. We were up on the area at the top of the theatre, behind it, when a woman who had been pushing her grown daughter in a wheelchair, turned away from the wheelchair momentarily without setting the brakes. The chair took off towards the low stone wall behind the theatre. The mother and the others with her didn’t notice, but I did and I ran towards it, grabbing a hold a few feet from the wall. The mother and her friends had noticed by this time and arrived shortly after I stopped the chair and set its brakes. Whew! What possibly could have been an unpleasant accident averted!

I was out of breath (running is not something I do often – especially not uphill), so I entered the theatre and sat down for a bit to catch my breath. The photo I have included with this post was taken from that perspective.

In the 7^th century AD another destructive earthquake took place. This toppled several columns into a large, ancient thermal pool. They are still there as part of the pool. The pool has sometimes been associated with the Temple of Apollo and has often been touted as a location where Cleopatra once bathed. Some of us chose to have an afternoon break poolside.

Our hotel was in Pamakkale and it also had a thermal pool, which was very relaxing after a long, strenuous day. I slept well that night.

The next morning we set out for Konya. During our mid-morning break, we were served a thick yogurt with honey and hashish (which, in small amounts, was legal in Turkey as of 2011). It was sprinkled with hashish – not enough for getting high.

Konya was once called Iconium and has been inhabited since about 3000 BC. The name of the town was changed to Konya in about 1134 AD. It is a very strict, conservative Muslim community and is also the main home of the Whirling Dervishes. The hotel was easy walking distance from the Mevlana Museum (the Museum of the Whirling Dervish).

The Whirling Dervishes (also known as the Mevlevi or Sufi) are an order who celebrate their love of Allah by spinning around in a dance called the Sama. They spin on their left foot with their right palm facing up towards Heaven and their left hand pointing at the ground. We had not yet seen one of these ceremonies at this point.

Although I had been just fine during the rest of the tour, in Konya I appeared to stand out way too much because of my coloring. On the way into the museum (out in the courtyard area) a couple of women grabbed the braid I was wearing down the center of my back. Apparently they had the need to find out what my hair felt like. I was quite startled.

After touring the museum (which dates to 1274), I walked around outside of the building looking at the graves when I was confronted by two couples. The men were dressed very conservatively and the women were covered from head to toe in layers of black cloth – a burka. As soon as they saw me, the men placed themselves directly in my path and began to shout something at me that I could not understand. I responded that I was sorry, but did not understand and attempted to get past them. The one man and both women left, but the other man stayed and gave me a good shove (that he made certain no one else saw) before he too left. Shaken, I headed back to the hotel immediately and stayed there. Fortunately, this was the only time I was treated badly the entire trip.

Next time – Cappadocia.