Turkey day 6

Sardis

The earliest biblical reference to Sardis may be Obadiah 1:20 when he mentions the gathering of scattered Judah, that "the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south." Sepharad may refer to Sardis (the Persian word for Sardis is Sfard). This would attest to a Jewish presence at that time in Sardis, the westernmost province of the Persian Empire. The Jews in the Persian Empire (including those in Sardis) were threatened with destruction by the edict of Haman (Esther 3:12-14), until Mordecai and Esther were able to intervene and save them (Esther 8:1-9:5). 

The church members at Sardis were rebuked by the Lord for their hypocrisy (Rev 3:1). The Lord counseled them to "Be watchful and strenghten the things which remain, that are ready to die" (Rev 3:2), meaning "Wake up and rescue the remaining members who are digressing toward spiritual death." Finally, the Lord warned them to repent because he was going to come as a theif and visit judgment upon them.

Archaeologist have uncovered the remains of a large temple of Artemis. Construction began on this temple in 300 BC, but expansion and renovations continued for many centuries. This temple was the fourth largest Ionic temple in the world and one of the seven largest of all Greek temples. 

Most of the archaeological remains at Sardis date to the Roman and Byzantine periods. The most interesting archaeological remains are from a large Roman bath and gymnasium complex which was constructed in the mid 2nd century AD. The large peristyle courtyard did not likely have a roof and was probably used as a palaestra--a yard for games and exercises. 

On the south side of the palaestra is an area which was originally used for dressing rooms. In the 3rd or 4th century it was converted into a synagogue--the largest ancient synagogue yet discovered outside the Holy Land. Between the three doors leading to an assembly hall were two Torah shrines. Inscriptions from the synagogue indicate that many of the local Jews had Greek names, and eight of the Jewish donors were on the Sardis city council. 

Walking up to the city of Sardis! It was raining really hard that day, and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! This is Sardis from the back.

Ancient overgrown ruins are SO exciting to me. Nothing is as epic!

The ancient Torah shrines! How cool to be standing in such an old Jewish synagogue!

Take a look at these beautiful floors that I was walking on!

This open area was the gymnasium, where people worked out to get big and strong!

They also had wrestling matches here. Like the one I'm having with Jennie :)

Look at these amazing mosaics!!

I'm not sure what building this is, but it was so incredible!

Take another look at that facade and how big it is!

I LOVE ancient writing on stone! I love love love this picture. It's SO cool.

I took off my shoes and splashed in the puddles and danced in the rain :)

The Temple of Artemis

archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a large temple of Artemis. She seems to be pretty popular around here....Construction began on this temple in 300 BC, but expansions and renovations continued for many centuries. This temple was the fourth largest Ionic temple in the world and one of the seven largest of all Greek temples. The southeast portion of this temple was eventually turned into a Byzantine church.

 

Threateningly I took out my pencil, intending to write on the monument walls....just kidding :)

The ruins of the temple. I think its sad that these great buildings fall into disrepair.

These columns were HUGE. I don't know how workers stacked them on top of each other--wow!

You can see how detailed and ornate the columns were. People took great care in decorating their temples, just like we take care to decorate our temples today.

MASSIVE columns. No wonder it was one of the biggest temples!

It was all rainy and made my hair look all sick nasty matted :)

Some more views all that's left...

Lizzy and Erika and Kirstin and Michelle, rain buddies! :)

Grand Mosque at Bursa

The largest mosque in Bursa is called the Ulu Cami (a phrase that means "Grand Mosque" in Turkish and is pronounced "U-lu JA-mee"). Built around 1400, it is a very important example of Seljuk architecture. The building is rectangular and has 20 domes arranged in rows of 5 and supported by 12 massive columns. Outside the mosque are 2 thick minarets. Inside the mosque is a large fountain used for ritual washing before prayer, as well as almost 200 examples of beautiful calligraphy on the walls, columns, and large plates, written by famous Seljuk calligraphers.

Here are examples of some of the beautiful calligraphy!!

These verses are all from the Qu'ran.

You can see some of the pillars and domes that were mentioned in the introduction.

I love stained glass windows! They always remind me of churches, though. It is kind of an interesting jusxtaposition to see the Arabic lettering and the Christian-esque stained glass.

This is the little altar thing that shows where Mecca is. It was so beautifully decorated!

Close ups of the windows and the door of the place.

Bursa Bazaars

We got to wander for an hour or so around the bazaars! We found this beautiful flower shop, and it was so nice to smell something fine and fragrant after the smells of the city all day!

SO MUCH TURKISH DELIGHT!!!!!! :):):)