April 18, 2010 (Sunday)

On the Road Again. We checked out of our Hotel Tripoli in Pamukkale (Hierapolis) early in the morning in order to carve out some time from a long drive getting to Selçuk (Ephesus). We plan to stop off at the ancient site of Aphrodisias along the way.

Our drive time estimate is sound. We get to Aphrodisias just as the archeological site opens. We stayed at the site about 6 ½ hours.

Aphrodisias. The site is wonderful. Due to the way the site is situated in its topography, you gain a very realistic feel for an ancient city. The reason is because the theater is up high on a hill, and this vantage point offers a great 360 degree overview of the entire site. From the theater overlook, you can see how the city was laid out in the Hippodrome Greek pattern like most cities of the ancient Greco-Roman world, and even like our cities today. The temple of Aphrodite off in the distance is easily spotted from the theater. The majestic entrance to the temple of Aphrodite, called the Tetrapylon, or Monumental Gateway,  is seen. The swampy area of the Agora is not immediately evident from the top of the theater until one gets near the location on foot. This Agora must have been beautiful, as the remains show that the entire middle of the interior court was a long pool with fish and aquatic plants fed by a freshwater spring. Just behind the Agora was the Bouleterion, also now filled with water in the middle. The Bouleterion still has the bases of the statuary at the front that honored prominent citizens of Aphrodisias who were generous benefactors or who held important civic offices.

Stadium. The most impressive remains were the stadium (an oblong running and racing track—not the same as a theater) and the Sebastion (Emperor Temple). The stadium was interesting due to being able to see its evolution in use over time. Stadiums originated with the Greeks for their festival games in competitions between cities, serving for foot races, discus throw, etc. At Aphrodisias, the Romans modified the original Greek stadium’s east end in 400 AD for gladiatorial games. In the evolution of the use of the stadium over time, the difference in Greek and Roman cultures is so evident. The Greek stadium represented cultural Greek ideals and athletic prowess. Roman usage turned this stadium and its cultured symbolism into the violent bloodlust of Roman gladiatorial games.

Sebastion. The Sebastion formally was a temple dedicated to Augustus, but more broadly at Aphrodisias was a long, three-storied portico courtyard of the Imperial Temple complex used for Roman imperial propaganda through its reliefs, statuary, and imagery. The Sebastion portrayed Roman propaganda about the Roman Empire in full, powerful expression. The Sebastion of Aphrodisias stands as another reminder of how strong the emperor cult in Asia Minor was at the time the book of Revelation was written. A new wing of the Aphrodisias Museum now houses some of these statuary, reliefs, and images from the Sebastion. Below is an artist’s rendition looking through the entrance gate into the Sebastion porticos and temple at the far end. In the following picture, Jerry is standing in front of the first level of one wing of the Sebastion reconstruction project, which, at the time of our visit, was scheduled for completion sometime in 2011.

Aphrodisias Museum. The Aphrodisias Museum is wonderful. The museum is full of artifacts, especially statuary. In addition, a new room full of first-century AD reliefs from the Sebastion had recently been opened—Jerry was in heaven! The reliefs and artwork had carefully documented descriptions. Jerry takes pictures galore to show Roman imperial propaganda and ideology.

Statuary. The museum had a number of statues that Jerry enjoyed, because some of the dates were first century. First-century anything always cranks his motor. One statue represents a leading citizen of Aphrodisias dated to the first century. He is depicted wearing a priestly crown, a high civic honor, and, hence, a symbol of great status and achievement. You see me taking notes at another honorarium statue, including a priestly crown. Not all statuary is of leading men. One statue of a lady named Domitilla shows she had high status and rank. A statue of Aphrodite does not have the multi-breasted form of the famous one from Ephesus. One of the reasons we take a while to work through these museums is that Jerry wants to translate most of the inscriptions, even if that puts him on the floor.

Most people do not know that the ancient Greeks painted their temples and statuary bright colors. What we see today is just the marble surface with all the paint long gone. The Aphrodisias Museum has a statue of a young athlete done on the scheme of Polykliton Diakophorous that was found in the theater area and dates from the first century B.C. to early first century A.D. Just a hint of the original polychromy still survives in the eyes and the hair.

Sebastion Reliefs. Jerry said the reliefs taken from the porticos of the Sebastion now on display in a new wing of the museum were an incredible treasure trove illustrating Roman imperial propaganda. The new wing is huge. We take a while to work through all the descriptions. I am recording data constantly as Jerry shoots away.

Imperial Propaganda. How did the Romans use statuary and reliefs for imperial propaganda? The images depicted were crucial in their precise content and disposition. For example, in one scene of these reliefs, the god Hemera (Day) has a dramatic billowing cloak framing the head. This billowing cloak forms a type of halo and was standard relief imagery intended to be evocative of a divine ephiphany. The gods reveal themselves to mortals in these epiphanies. No accident, then, that Roman emperors also are pictured with such a billowing halo of the cloak as their victories on the field of battle are depicted. The battlefield victory is interpreted by the imperial propaganda machine as a partial divine epiphany revealing the true nature of the emperor. The early reign of Nero, for example, was associated widely throughout the empire with the sun god Helios. How images are combined also have meaning. For example, the combination of the god Day and the god Night into one image signified the eternity of Roman imperial rule. Again, the combined image of the god Ocean with the god Earth together represented the empire without end, Rome as lord of land and sea.

Victory. On the third story of the south portico of the Sebastion, the subject of the reliefs are the Roman emperors in the context of imperial victories with backgrounds of the Olympian gods. The association with the Olympian gods was to portray the emperors as powerful, warring deities intentionally mixed with the old gods as near-equal partners. The inscription is labeled “Theoi Sebastoi Olympiori,” or “Olympian Emperor Gods.” The main emperors for such imagery were Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero. (The madman Gaius, better known as Caligula, conveniently was by-passed.) These emperors’ most important achievements were their victorious wars over the barbarians. The wild, chaotic elements of the world on the edges of the empire are subdued by imperial might, and the Roman civilization that follows brings order, peace, and stability to ever-greater reaches of the world.

Six of the inscribed panels on display in the museum are related specifically to the victories and world empire of Claudius (A.D. 43–54) and Nero (A.D. 54–68). In particular, Claudius is pictured conquering Britannia, and Nero is pictured conquering Armenia, both in the Hellenistic “heroic style.” Britain was considered the “signature” victory of Claudius, and Armenia the “signature” victory of Nero. Together, these two victories represented the imperial conquest to the furtherest east and furtherest west of the empire’s boundaries at the time. The inscription for such images often is “Nike Sebastin,” or “Victory of the Emperors.” Jerry said he could not help but think of so many New Testament passages using this very word for victory, the noun, nike, or the cognate verb, nikao, “to conquer,” such as Paul’s bold words to the Roman believers, “we are more than conquerors” (Rom 8:37), or the dramatic declaration in 1 John 5:4, “for whoever is born of God conquers the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.” Thus, a key attribute of imperial rhetoric is victory, and New Testament authors seem intent on coopting this imperial rhetoric.

The second story of the north portico had a series of 50 personifications of places and people from East Africa to Western Spain. These personifications were designed to look like statues between columns of the portico. An example of an inscription would be, “Ethnos Dakon,” which would be, “the people of Dacios.” The idea was a visual listing of the Augustan world empire and places and people who were brought into the empire under Augustus. The concept was borrowed from a monument in Rome. The selection particularly emphasized the wilder people on the edges of the empire. Few in Aphrodisias ever can have heard of many of them. Example places and people are Egyptians, Ethiopians, Andizeti, Arabs, Besse, Bosphorans, Dacians, Dardani, Iapodes, Judeans, Callaeci, Piroristi, Phaeti, Trumpilini, Crete, Cyprus, and Sicily. Jerry particularly was struck by the actual inscription for Judeans, who were subjugated under the general Pompey in 63 B.C.

In the image below, the naked warrior (i.e., Greek “heroic” style) is Claudius, who is about to deliver the death blow to the slumped figure of Britannia. Claudius wears the military symbols of a helmet, cloak, and sword-belt. Britannia wears a tunic with one breast bare (imagery modeled on the fabled, warring Amazons). The inscription reads, “Tiberius Klaudios Kaisar-Bretannia.”

Another relief depicts the direct relationship conceived between the emperor and the Roman people.The emperor is understood as the premier patron of the empire. All citizens are obligated to him for his generous benefaction of peace, security, and prosperity; they should be his adoring and grateful clients. In the relief, the emperor, again, is pictured as a naked warrior (Greek “heroic” style), but here being crowned by a personification of the Roman people wearing a toga, the stately, civilian dress of Roman citizens. The emperor is being crowned  with an oak wreath, depicting the “corona civica,” or “civic crown” awarded for saving citizens’ lives by protecting them from the barbarian hordes on the outer fringes of the empire. The emperor is setting up a battlefield trophy. Beneath the trophy in abject humiliation kneels an anguished barbarian woman captive.

Abundance. Another imperial propaganda theme is prosperity and abundance. In this theme, Rome and Earth often are pictured together. In the relief below, Rome holds a spear and wears a crown in the form of a city wall (civilization). Earth reclines, half naked, leaning on an abundance of fruit and holding a cornucopia full of fruit. A baby is climbing up the horn of the cornucopia. Thus is depicted Earth’s fertility and abundance overseen and guaranteed by Rome. In stark contrast, Paul wrote to the Romans and declared that, instead of a cornucopia of abundance, human empires such as Rome had pillaged the earth, and that all of creation was “groaning” for deliverance from futility (Rom 8:19–22).

Notice in the relief below how Claudius is depicted as Master of Land and Sea. In the imagery, the god Claudius strides forward in a divine ephiphany with the drapery billowing around his head. Claudius receives the cornucopia with the fruits of the earth from a figure emerging from the ground. The idea is clear. The god-emperor guarantees the prosperity of land and sea. What is remarkable about this relief is how transparently is portrayed the local appropriation by the inhabitants of Aphrodisias of the emperor’s asserted role as universal divine savior and protector. This city has bought into the imperial propaganda completely—heart, soul, and mind.

Aeneas Legend. Romans used the Greek story of Troy in Homer to explain their origins, thereby arrogating to themselves ancient connections, high status, and great honor. In the image below, the three reliefs from left to right depict the story of the Trojan hero, Aeneas, son of Aphrodite. The first image is the divine conception of Aeneas as son of prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. The second image is Aeneas’s flight from conquered Troy with his son Iulus helped by the goddess Aphrodite. The third image is the arrival of Aeneas and Iulus to Italy to found the city of Rome. Thus, in the Roman telling (Virgil’s Aeneid), the story of the fall of Troy is amplified into a story of Roman origins, because, as the Romans tell the story, Aeneas not only founds Rome but is claimed as the ancestor of Julius Caesar, and, hence, of the entire Augustan imperial family. Since Roman legends of their origin evoked a special relationship between the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the city of Rome, and the Roman imperial family, Roman favoritism toward and benefaction to the city of Aphrodisias throughout her history was assured.

Other Items. The Aphrodisias Museum has the partial remains of a unique blue marble horse. This representation of a large galloping horse in marble is unique among ancient statues. (The usual material used for such statues is bronze.) The subject behind the imagery is the story of Troilos and Achilles.

Outside the museum were grave stele, especially commemorating gladiators, including their personal names. One of these stele had the name “Eurotas” inscribed. Several nice inscriptions were preserved, one of which Jerry found the name of the emperor Claudius in the third line. As we leave the museum grounds, Jerry takes a parting shot of a pretty violet tree in profuse bloom, another reminder from nature of our spring visit to Turkey.

On the Road Again. After we finish the museum, we leave the Aphrodisias site about mid-afternoon, around 3:30–4:00 PM. We head west in a long drive for Selçuk, which is the modern town near the ancient site of Ephesus. We actually have a contact in Selçuk due to Jerry’s networking at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. At the SBL annual meeting, Jerry had discovered the Crisler Institute, based in Selçuk, formed by Janet Crisler in honor of the lifelong work of her husband at the site of Ephesus. The Crisler Institute houses the Crisler Library and has lecture halls, study rooms, and accommodations for overnight lodging. The Crisler Institute is where we have our accommodations for our visit to the site of Ephesus. Jerry has been promised great help from Janet for our visit to the Ephesus site and the Ephesus museum. Jerry had asked for a special tour of the elite terrace homes off Curetes Street and to be able to go to the actual site of the recently discovered gladiator burial grounds.

Anybody Home? After several hours driving (that Jerry is a real trouper), we finally arrive in Selçuk. We had no problem finding the Crisler Library address and its entrance gate—but the gate is closed and locked!  We ring the bell several times, and wait a long time, but no one answers! Jerry is flabbergasted. He had had numerous email correspondences indicating clearly our expected arrival time in Selçuk, and we had arrived right in that time frame.

Poor Jerry. He feels so bad about our predicament. He is thoroughly confused. He had worked out all the details with Janet Crisler through numerous emails and confirmations. Unfortunately in all this correspondence, Janet never had given Jerry a cell phone contact number. Since the Library obviously was closed, he knew no one to call. Our only contact in Selçuk is nowhere to be found, and we have no backup plan for a place to stay! No one in the world would have thought we would have needed a backup plan. Evening is fast approaching now. So here we are, late on Sunday, the sun soon to set, with no room for the night and not a clue where the nearest hotel might be.

“And now, the rest of the story . . .” Fortunately, help was just up the same street the Crisler Liberary is on. Would you believe, in the very next block of the same street is a small, boutique hotel right next door to the Library? We walk up the street to inquire at the front desk, and, voila! They have a room available. What a huge sigh of relief came from both of us, but especially Jerry. The third-floor room we are shown turns out to be very nice, with a large balcony overlooking a part of ancient Ephesus, the sparse remains of the temple of Aphrodite complex. The bathroom also is nice. Yes! So, we’re okay for tonight. Thank you, Lord. We’ll try to get in touch with Janet Crisler tomorrow when the Institute opens to find out what happened and to move to where we had planned to have our room and board for the entire time we are in Ephesus.

Amazon Bistro. We get a recommendation for dinner from the hotel proprietor. He says straight down the same street of our hotel on past the Crisler Library is the Amazon Bistro with excellent food. We go there and find the restaurant to be very good, including a wonderful Greek salad. You never can go wrong serving Jerry a good Greek salad. After dinner, we walk back up the street to the hotel and head to bed after a really long day. We toss and turn for a while, because we are bursting with curiosity as to what in the world happened to Janet Crisler and the failed Crisler Library connection today that we thought was so secured.

For a video of the Aphrodisias action today:

April 17, 2010 (Saturday)

Day Off. Today, we are giving ourselves permission to do just whatever we want to do. For the first time on the trip, on our eighteenth day, we finally have taken ourselves offline from any official schedule. Jerry and I both realized that after pushing so hard from dawn to dusk for weeks now, we were ready to crash physically and genuinely needed to take a day to catch our breath. We are up around 7 am or so. This Hotel Tripoli is okay, but the receptionist is not very friendly or attentive. Yesterday, I stood at the front desk for several minutes while a lady and man behind the desk argued about something and completely ignored me! I shall complete their customer satisfaction survey, no doubt!!

Anyway, we first go to the car and figure out how to get the “message” on the blinking warning light on the dash to toggle off in order to get kilometers to show again. We find out that the red light thankfully goes off once the car is cranked. We hope to get car assistance in Selçuk (the modern city next to the ancient site of Ephesus), our next major stay-over after visiting the site of Aphrodisias on the way. We have contacts with Janet Crisler and the Crisler Institute in Selçuk if needed; at least there’ll be someone who speaks our language to help us with the car. After checking on the car, I notice the hotel has a pigeon roost in its side yard, so I get a picture with my iPhone.

WiFi Searching. Our Hotel Tripoli, though brand new, has no WiFi. We have not communicated home with anyone for a while, so really need to make contact. We decide to chance a quick run over to the Colossae Thermal Hotel where we had stayed the night before to try to use their lobby WiFi. Unfortunately, the WiFi in the Colossae Thermal lobby doesn’t work for some reason this morning—dang it! After our vain attempt to get WiFi at Colossae Thermal, we head back to our Hotel Tripoli to catch breakfast. Jerry fakes a pose anticipating a dip later this afternoon.

Pamukkale Shopping. After breakfast, we are off to downtown Pamukkale to do a little shopping. The modern resort town of Pamukkale is right at the bottom of the hill of the ancient site of Hierapolis. We also continue to look for an Internet café. I bought some little zip cases for the Tapestry ladies—they’re kinda cute. Didn’t find anything else of interest in the little storefronts along the main drag, so we asked about an Internet café. We get directions to a place that some suppose might have Internet. When we get there, however, the place is closed.

Judy’s Hotel. We spot a small hotel nearby that seems to be open and go inside. We inquire about any Internet access in the area. Lo and behold, we are told we can use their WiFi! We then are introduced to the hotel proprietor. Her name is Judy. She is a very nice lady. Judy gave us tea and the password for her hotel WiFi. We’re in business now.

I send email to Richard Johnson to let him know Jerry found the water tower pipes at Laodicea. We do a little Twitter and Facebook posting. Had a pleasant visit with Judy. She’s very nice and loves Apple computers, so conversation easily ensues. She tells us of woes with Korean hotel guests who want to bargain on everything down to the nub to the point she basically barely breaks even with any Korean group and really does not like to see them coming. She has owned the hotel for 2 years. She bought the establishment from a family that was socially “shamed” and had to leave town as a result. We are getting the distinct impression this honor/shame society is serious business.

Judy tells us of a village up the road called Karahayit not too far past the Colossae Thermal Hotel and says the little town is worth a visit. [She says that shopping is better there, so Jean is persuaded right away to make an unscheduled visit, and I realize suddenly that now, I am just tagging along. Tables are turned. Ha!—Jerry] So off we go.

Karahayit Visit. The little village to which Judy had directed us has the weirdest thermal spring coming up out of the ground in the center of the road. We take pictures. The village has a brand new hotel called the Grand Marden that looks very nice. We immediately happen upon an Internet café on the main drag—goody—we’re in business. We do email, Jerry checks his favorite forums, DPReview, Macworld, MacLife, and iLounge sites. I check my email—all this for less than $2. After using the Internet, we walk up the main street and smell some wonderful chicken. We stop and eat lunch, since the time is about 1 pm now. After lunch we walk on up the street and look at some shops. There’s a nice glass shop, but we can’t find anything we might be interested in. We then return back to the car to ride through the rest of village, but we discover there’s not much else to see. The town is extremely dusty, much like the rest of Turkey. Whenever I will think of Turkey in the future, I always will feel the dust flying and remember the red poppies popping.

Thermal Pool. After finishing the side trip to the little town the Pamukkale hotel proprietor, Judy, had recommended we visit, we head back to our hotel. I wash out a pair of pants, shirt, etc. for Jerry. I hang them on the balcony to dry—they’ll be wrinkled but at least the pants will still be beige and not yellow!

Jerry has on his new swimsuit as if to go to the thermal pool, but he has fallen asleep with his ipod (iPhone) playing in his earphones. He has worked so hard. He really needs the rest. I’m glad he finally allowed himself the luxury of collapsing in exhaustion. He’ll be taking a dip later in the thermal pool.

Jerry arouses from his little afternoon nap, and around 4:30 we are headed to the thermal pool that is fed by the mineral waters of Hierapolis. Jerry took a swim. He said the water was wonderfully warm. I took some pics and a movie of him in a rare moment of purely relaxing on this trip. After 30 minutes, Jerry got out of the thermal pool, and we headed to the big pool outside. That water was shockingly cold! Jerry took a while to get in and swim. I took some more pics with the cliffs of Pamukkale (ancient Hierapolis) in the background.

Pamukkale Dinner. We head back to our room to clean up. We go into Pamukkale back to Judy’s place for dinner. (This is the same lady who had helped us earlier in the day, serving us tea and allowing us to use her hotel WiFi and giving us a recommendation to visit Karahayit on up the road.) We eat on Judy’s restaurant balcony upstairs and can see Pamukkale in the distance. While we were sitting there, we saw people rolling their bags down the street (“see them bag rollers rolling they bags”). We used Judy’s WiFi connection again to call some folks, including Richard Johnson (to thank him for helping find the water tower at Laodicea), our godchild, Lauren (it’s prom night for her, and she and her mother, Donna, were shopping for earrings), Mother, my brother-in-law, Johnny Martin (to check on this injured back falling off the roof of the house), my sister, Janice, and niece Tonya, Pops Stevens (left message), and John Crider (left message).

CSI Programming. After a wonderful dinner with our beautiful balcony view of Pamukkale, we head back to our hotel and just relax. We review plans for the next day when we will go to Aphrodisias, and then on to Selçuk (Ephesus) and Janet’s place at the Crisler Library. [Aphrodisias is a classical Greek site that in the Roman period was favored highly by Rome due to social connections between the elite of Aphrodisias and the imperial house in Rome. As a faithful client of Rome, Aphrodisias benefited from this strong patronage system that endowed Aphrodisias with many public works, statuary, temples, and other public construction. I hope to learn much about the nature and function of Roman imperial propaganda in the Roman Empire through visiting Aphrodisias, as well as illustrations of Roman values.—Jerry]

We actually find an American cable program on TV that is not dubbed into Turkish—an episode of CSI—in original English—our first television English in days!!! That was great! And we are not even CSI fans.

For a video of the Pamukkale and Karahayit action today:

April 16, 2010 (Friday)

Hierapolis. Got breakfast at about 8 am and then checked out of our hotel and headed to Hierapolis. The ancient site of Hierapolis is actually right up the hill from the resort town of Pamukkale.

The roads and entrance to the site are changed since we last were here in 2002. The entrance, large parking lot, and ticket booth complex are now a long way from the actual site remains and museum. You have to walk a long way uphill to get to the upper city and theater (probably 15–20 minutes).

The uphill trek is through the western necropolis area. A necropolis is a city’s ancient burial grounds. Those of Hierapolis are alongside the hill leading up to the city. Last time we were here we were able to drive through this area on up to the city. Now, we have to walk. The necropolis is a fascinating and huge burial area that covers acres of ground with monumental tombs, crypts, monuments, and sarcophagi everywhere. Along the way, Jerry takes a few pictures, but he plans to explore more on the way back down after we finish the Hierapolis site and museum. The long walk is hot and tiring, but spring wild flowers are in abundance, so the view is full of color.

We finally get up the hill to the ancient city. The gates to the city’s main avenue, called Frontius Street, are dated to the time of Domitian, similar to Laodicea’s Syrian Gate leading to Syria Street. Jerry says this gate construction indicates how active was the imperial presence in Asia Minor, especially the Flavian dynasty, at the time the book of Revelation was written. Grand arches into the basilica bathhouse complex also date to the time of Domitian.

Hierapolis Theater. Unfortunately, even when we get to the upper city and the theater itself, we discover you no longer can enter the theater at the bottom; the only entrance is at the tiptop on the backside up the hill! Another hill to climb. Ugh. Jerry goes ahead not to miss the right angle of the rising morning sun for his theater shots, and I follow behind, hiking up slowly. Once up there, I find Jerry and take pictures, and we do another “talking head” movie for Jerry’s classroom. This theater shows the back wall structure, called the skene, in pretty good condition, which is rare. (That’s why the theater at Aspendos on the southern coast is spectacular.) You can see how beautifully the skene was adorned with inscriptions, carving, reliefs, and statuary. Jerry was right. The theater is really perfect in the early morning light.

Hierapolis Museum. After getting the morning theater shots Jerry had wanted ever since our last visit to Hierapolis, we then head to the museum that we did not know was here in our first visit; unfortunately, this destination is another long walk from the top of the theater. The museum is larger than we thought. They have used three of the vaulted, basilica-style rooms that are part of the Roman bathhouse complex to develop three “salons,” or exhibit spaces.

Inside the museum, Jerry appreciated an artist’s depiction of the ancient city, which showed well how the city perched on the edge of the mineral cliffs with its theater right in the middle of the city. They had the typical displays from various time periods of pottery, bowls, lamps, and instruments. The coin display had quite a number of examples. Jerry, however, was disappointed. None of the coins were dated or labeled in any way. Without such information, he said, a coin display is practically worthless.

One Roman sarcophagus was of interest, because the chamber was found in nearby Laodicea from late 2nd century or early 3rd century A.D. The sarcophagus was for a husband and wife. Reliefs on the side depicted the life of the individual, education, and heroic scenes representing social status and honor.

Another Roman sarcophagus was a nice find, Jerry said, since the crypt dated all the way back to the time of Claudius (A.D. 41–54) in the first century, a rare find in this state of preservation, and is from Hierapolis. (Claudius was the emperor during the time of the Apostle Paul’s first and second missionary journeys.) The images of the reliefs on the partially-preserved sides of the sarcophagus are related to the bravery of an administrator of Hierapolis extolling him as if he were a god.

The remains of a colossal statue of Hadrian got Jerry’s attention. Hadrian was the Roman emperor (117–138) who put down the last Jewish revolt under the messianic pretender Simon Bar Kockba. Jerry documented Roman gladiator combat scenes depicted on reliefs on grave stele. We finish the museum in a heated rush, barely finishing as they started closing up for lunch.

Leaving the museum, Jerry likes the blooming violet trees in the courtyard area and grabs a quick picture of me underneath one. We then get our routine shot in front of the museum entrance.

Mineral Springs. The museum is near the famous thermal pools of Hierapolis at the top edge of the cliff over which the waters pour to create the white cliffs that can be seen easily from Laodicea down in the Lycus valley. We have viewed them before, but we walk over to visit them again and look out over the valley to see Laodicea in the distance. The pools are still impressive.

We make the long walk down the hillside back to the parking area. At least this time, the walk is downhill. Jerry takes more pictures of the necropolis remains. He seems especially interested in gladiator indications in the burial artifacts. Finally back at the ticket area at the bottom of the hill, we get a sandwich and an ice cream to cool us down a bit. After our late lunch at the rest area and café next to the parking area, we get back to the car to find our new hotel for the night.

Hotel Tripolis. Our new accommodations are at Hotel Tripolis, where we’ll stay the next two nights. The hotel is new construction with pretty grounds. The room is large with sort of a Hampton Inn look. We send laundry out for washing. Jerry decides he has just enough time before the Laodicea site closes for the day to search for the water pipes one more time. I stay behind at the hotel to rest and catch up on the journal. So, here we are. Tomorrow is our first rest/shopping day after 17 days of furious travel, work, and research! Looking forward to that!

Laodicea Return. Jerry returned from Laodicea—successful! He found the pipes! The story is really funny. Jerry had searched and searched again, and still saw nothing like what he had seen in the picture that was his mental landmark. The pipes were coming up straight out of the ground in the picture. He had scoured the ground inch by inch in exactly the spot he knew Richard’s emailed Google map had indicated. His heart was sinking. He could not believe he could not find the pipes and thought he would fail again. He was exasperated, indeed, desperate. He knew the archeological site was going to be closing for the day soon.

“And now, the rest of the story . . .” He told me that I would not believe what happened to cause him to find the pipes. He said that, in a really comical way, he found the pipes just like the Spaniard Inigo Montoya in the movie, “Princess Bride,” found the spot that would lead to the “man in black” with his sword pointed up to tell direction like a divining rod.

In like fashion, in his desperation, Jerry said he literally lifted his hands up to God, really frustrated, saying, “please help me find . . . ,” and in the moment he was saying the words and turning his head upwards to heaven, there the pipes were right above him staring happily back down at him! They were not coming from below out of the ground as he thought from the picture he had seen, but instead from above, coming down out of a water tower! What looked like pipes coming up out of the ground in the picture he had seen was really an inverted orientation of the camera looking straight up into the sky, but with no sky visible in the close focus of the picture to give an indication that the camera was pointed directly up into the sky! That’s why he missed them yesterday. He was looking down all the time, not up! So funny. A happy ending to a desperate search.

He took many pictures, so his trip back for one more try late this afternoon was worth it. The terracotta pipes beautifully show the lime deposit buildup of the strong mineral water that closed off the flow of water eventually, forcing the constant replacement of the pipes over time. This mineral water of Laodicea features in a statement of Jesus in Rev. 3:16.

More Humor. Oh, and there’s more. Our laundry returns to our room, washed, but not ironed and folded—kind of damp dry, and Jerry now has a pair of pale yellow pants that used to be beige. I had no idea what they did to a beige pair of pants to turn them pale yellow; but, they were cheap and are still wearable. He’ll have an interesting “change of wardrobe.” J

Supper Search. For a change of cuisine for supper, we thought to drive into the modern town of Pamukkale, which is right next to the ancient site of Hierapolis and not far from the hotel, to investigate whether we had a local option for a restaurant besides the hotel. Since most of what we saw on the main strip was just “tourist” style with trinket shops and quick-stop stores, we end up back at the hotel. We have the hotel buffet with the many German tour groups that arrived late this afternoon, turning the place into a beehive.

Car Trouble? As we parked our rental car when we got back to the hotel in our search for supper, Jerry discovers we now have yet another car problem, a red blinking light on the dash—dang! We take the Turkish car manual into our room and try to figure out what the blinking icon on the dash means by trying to connect the icon shape with any descriptions about that image in the manual. We decide we think the blinking light means the car is due for scheduled service (oil change, etc.) and is just a reminder. We hope that the light will just blink for a set period of time to remind the car owner that the car needs regularly scheduled maintenance, and then voluntarily turn off. To bed­—fairly decent sleep.

For a video of the Hierapolis and Laodicea action today: