We got our bearings through a quick orientation to Istanbul (we would return at the end of the journey). After leisurely boat rides on the Bosphorus and Golden Horn, viewing magnificent mosaics and frescoes in the Chora Monastery, lingering to eye enticing offers of the exotic spice market, and depositing our shoes in plastic bags so we could walk through the massive interior of the Blue Mosque, we took off on what would be a 3,000-mile odyssey to explore ancient Turkey.
A few highlights remain especially etched in my memory.
Gallipoli: The Dardanelles (the Hellespont of antiquity) are the straits between the Gallipoli peninsula on the European side and the mainland of Asia Minor. They are a link between the Aegean and the Mediterranean, the Sea of Marmara, and by way of the Bosphorus, the Black Sea. Riding along the Sea of Marmara and crossing the Dardanelles, I saw the very site where in 1810 Lord Byron swam across the Hellespont to repeat Hero’s feat in the ancient Greek legend of Hero and Leander. (It took him 70 minutes.) I stood silently before the haunting memorial established by the Turks to recognize the thousands of Aussies who lost their lives in the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign of 1915.
Troy: The ancient town of Troad, made famous by Homer’s “Iliad,” occupies a hilly site to the south of where the Dardanelles merges into the Aegean. It offers a strategic site for a fortress, near enough to keep watch on the Dardanelles, and thus was exposed to frequent attacks. There are no buildings left. But what you see (after you first view the replica of the famed Trojan Horse), is an extraordinarily impressive series of 5000 years of Trojan history viewed by means of the nine levels of archaeological excavations of trenches that unearth mysteries of five millennia of history. Our long walk along the dusty hillside paths of Troy resulted in my first sensory (and physical) overload. On that first hike my knee (recovering from recent torn cartilage) warned me to prepare for tough hikes ahead!
Pergamum: The site of the ancient city of Pergamum is the modern city of Bergama (today a thriving rug production center---and where I bought a beautiful Bergama rug.) The ancient city was known as a great learning site and is credited with the flowering of sculpture and painting and the development of parchment. Perhaps the most impressive fact we learned was that Pergamum was the site of one of the largest libraries of the ancient world. Built around 170 B.C., the library contained 200,000 volumes. This collection was presented later to Cleopatra by Antony and was carried off to Alexandria.
Pergamum is also the site of the Asclepion, an ancient healing center founded in the 4th century B.C.that ranked with Epidaurus and Kos as one of the most celebrated healing places in the ancient world. At the Alter of Asclepios, we stood before a stone bearing the Asclepean snake and reached a better understanding of ancient medical practices with the help of our knowledgeable guide, Gulin, along with Dr. Hal, our colleague and favorite medical source on the tour. We learned about ancient treatments developed there, including dream interpretation, mudbaths, massage, and the use of herbs and ointments. We gained an appreciation for Galen, one of the most renowned early physicians who gathered knowledge of the circulatory and nervous systems that remained the basis for all Western medicine for centuries.
Ephesus: Leaving· Selchuk, we arrived at Ephesus, the most impressive ruin of the entire Aegean coast and without a doubt the best-preserved classical site on the Eastern Mediterranean. We traced a little of its history through its ancient inhabitants, the Lydians, the Greeks, and the Romans when it was the capital of the Roman Province of Asia. St. Paul preached and spent three years here. Later, Ephesus was captured by the Mongols, and finally was reduced to ruins in wars between the Seljuks and the Ottomans.
Walking along its dusty ways in brilliant midday sunshine, we absorbed this history in big chunks. We stopped at the temple of Artemis, erected in the 5th century B.C.--one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We saw other superb examples of classical architecture and remnants of the ancient city’s former importance: a necropolis of tombs cut into the rock; the gymnasium and stadium; great theatre that seated 25,000 people and where St. Paul preached; the colonnaded marble-paved street, commercial section (the agora), and the Corinthian columns that remain of the library of Celsus—which contained 12,000 scrolls in niches around its walls. We visited the Temple of Hadrian, the Fountain of Trajan, the baths and the brothel, and a work in progress-the restoration of terrace houses open to us (for a price). By the end of that day, we were tired, dusty and ready for a tall glass of Turkish raki. But we had a much greater feel for what life was like in Greek and Roman times!
Aphrodesias: From Ephesus we moved on to the ruins of the· acropolis of Aphrodesias, interesting if only for the word “aphrodesiac” which derives from the Greek name for the goddess of love, Aphrodite, called Venus by the Romans. (Footnote: An American professor, Kenan T. Erin of NYU worked at the site for almost 30 years from 1961-90, and I was touched to learn that he asked to be buried at the spot he loved so well.)
[on to Turkey Part Four]
