Biblical Sites of Anatolia

Anatolia has been home for many people whose lives are recorded in the Bible. Of the Old Testament heroes, Noah and his ark landed in eastern Anatolia and Uriah was a Hittite whose fatherland might have been central Anatolia. In New Testament writings Luke told about Paul's journeys in the Book of Acts. Paul was born and grew up in Tarsus on the Mediterranean coast of Anatolia. John, the author of the Book of Revelation, addressed his challenges to seven churches in northwestern Anatolia.

Each group that has been here has left something unique, each has passed on to their neighbors and to the people who have come after them new skills, understanding, and beliefs that affect even our lives today.
 

The Old Testament

The Tigris and the Euphrates:
The biblical story of human life begins in the Book of Genesis with Adam and Eve. The Garden of Eden - their first home- was supposed to be watered by a river, which separated into four streams as it left the Garden. Two of them, the Tigris (Dicle) and the Euphrates (Firat), rise in the mountains of eastern Turkey. (The present names and places of the other two are not known) Records of human life during the Neolithic Period ten thousand years ago have been found by archaeologists excavating the land watered by these river systems. (In other sites they have pushed that date back to a hundred and fifty thousand years ago when the first humans entered Anatolia from the south.)

Perhaps the Garden of Eden is a symbolic rather than a real place. The present climate of the mountains where the Tigris and Euphrates have their sources is not what most of us today would choose as our idea of the consummation of heaven of earth. Is it that there has been a major climatic change in Anatolia? Or does the symbol of an unobtainable paradise suggest Adam's and Eve's defiance of God for their right to conquer knowledge which they made when they ate the fruit of the Tree of Eternity in that Garden?

Noah and Mt. Ararat (Agri Dagi):
Later, when God decided to punish all the evil people of the world, he commanded Noah to build the Ark. After the Flood had abated, the Ark came to rest on a high mountain. In the biblical account that was Mt. Ararat (Agri Dagi); in the Koranic it was El-Judi (Cudi Dagi); both of these mountains are in the eastern Turkey. Melting snows of Mt. Ararat feed the sources of the Euphrates while El-Judi's waters run into the Tigris. Both rise above the surrounding countryside and challenge people's imaginations with their massiveness and height.

Mt. Ararat on good days is visible to the north of the city of Dogubeyazit. It is a snow-covered volcano, which rises to a height of over 5,000 meters. People experienced in high altitude climbing who want to attempt the ascent need to make arrangements with a guide before starting out.

Noah's Descendants:
By the biblical account, almost everyone living in the world since the Flood is thought to be related to Noah. Some of the peoples who are identified as descendants of Noah's three sons, Shem, Japheth and Ham, have had their home in Anatolia: the Arameans, the Assyrians, the Medes, the Cimmarians, the Mushki, the Tirasians, the Lydians and the Hittites, to name only eight. Their involvements in biblical and world history have been complex and extensive.

The letters of our alphabet were developed by the Arameans. Nebucha-drezzar, an Assyrian, defeated the Egyptian pharaoh at Carchemish just south of Gaziantep. A few years later he went on to destroy Jerusalem. Cyrus the Great (founder of the Persian Empire) who defeated the fabulously rich King Croesus (a Lydian) at Sardis was himself a Mede and had brought his army across the length of Anatolia.

The Hittites:
King David's most trusted soldiers included Hittites. When David stole Saul's spear in his attempt to convince Saul that he had no evil designs against him, one of his companions was a Hittite. The husband of Bathsheba (who became the mother of Solomon) was Uriah the Hittite.

Examples of the art of several these peoples, particularly the Hittites, have been discovered in Bogazköy, Yazilikaya, Alacahöyük, Kültepe and Gordium. Skillfully wrought jewelry, household items and religious images from them are exhibited in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.

There were lions in those days: the Hittite capital around 1700 BC was at Hattusas, now called Bogazköy, which is about 200 km east of Ankara. The ruins of Bogazköy spread across a broad hillside. Here archaeologists have discovered the city walls with several of the gates (one a tunnel, another guarded by stone lions), a temple and palace foundations (with some huge storage pots in place), and many records in cuneiform writing.

Close by is the temple area called Yazilikaya where a procession of Hittite priests march in stone to the central figures of the king and the god. The royal residence before the Hittites (that is, about 2300 BC) was at Alacahöyük about 30 km northeast of Bogazköy. Its entrance is flanked by double-headed eagles and more stone lions. The earliest history of the Kayseri region was written on small clay tablets. Around 1900 BC Assyrian traders used these bits of baked mud to communicate with their home base. They were living on the edge of Kanesh (Kültepe), 21 kilometers to the north of present-day of Kayseri. The more than 15,000 tablets inscribed with Assyrian cuneiform that have been found here have revealed the extent and the human details of the early commercial dealings between Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The Assyrians who inhabited Northern Mesopotamia established great trading outposts in Anatolia which they called Karum. During the age of the Assyrian Trading Colonies, the Anatolian people had connections with the Mesopotamian civilization, which constituted the basis of all ancient civilizations.

Kayseri was known in Byzantine times as Caesarea or as Caesarea Mazaca. The city went back and forth among the Seljuks, Byzantines, Turcomans, Mongols, Crusaders and Mameluks until Sultan Selim I captured it and made it part of the Ottoman Empire in 1515. The commercial value of the city for all these rulers is still reflected in the reputation of Kayseri's shrewd businessmen.

King Midas:
King Midas is thought to have lived at Gordium, west of Ankara. Some say he was a Mushki, some a Phrygian; the two peoples may also be synonymous. The capital of Mushki was an important commercial center for slaves and for bronze according to the biblical account. Midas himself is better known for his golden touch and his donkey's ears. Perhaps Ezekiel had heard about because that prophet referred to the destruction of his city (by the Cimmarians in 695 BC). Ezekiel was hoping that his horror would warn wrongdoers that even a big, strong army was no lasting defenses.

The many tumuli which dot the Gordium landscape are the burial sites of the Phrygian royalty in the 8th century BC. The largest tumulus (one of more than a hundred in the area) is perhaps the burial place of either King Midas or King Gordius. Pottery, wooden furniture, large bowls, pins, and evidences of woven materials that were found here in the burial chamber are now in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.

Gordium, one of the Mushki/Phrygian kingdom capitals, is about 100 km southeast of Ankara on the Sakarya River. The burial mounds are visible from the train as it goes along the river about 20 km from Polatli. Gordium's height came when it was a Phrygian capital from about 725 BC to 675 BC. It was destroyed by the Cimmerians at the beginning of the 7th century BC. Persia ruled it from the middle of the 6th century, during which time many of its people moved south to the region between Eskisehir and Afyon. The facade of a large temple at Midas Sehri is covered with a geometric pattern and an inscription in Phrygian. Beneath the temple there was a foundry where probably the kings' swords were blessed as they were forged.

While the language of the Phrygians was Indo-European, so little of their writing has been found that it has not been read as yet. Thus, although Alexander the Great cut through the knot, Gordium itself is still a puzzle to scholars.

To visit all the sites in the vicinity of Ankara which are mentioned above and those located in central Anatolia and on the Black Sea the ideal starting point is Ankara where one can visit the Museum of Ancient Civilizations and the Atatürk Mausoleum, which is unique in the world.

Urartu, Minoa, Tiras:
The Urartians (related to the people around Mt. Ararat) seem to have had commerce with the Minoans on Crete and the Etruscans (who may be the Tirasians) in Italy. Similarities in the art from all three areas suggest that they influenced each other. The Urartians and the Minni are mentioned in the Bible in Kings and Jeremiah, but they do not appear to have been included in Noah's family.

The castle of Van is an Urartian site in eastern Turkey, which was important in the 11th century BC. Cuneiform inscriptions in one of the temples part way up the hill report the work of the Urartian King Menus (800 BC). There are several other tombs and castle walls here, along with more inscriptions.

While in Van, many tourists also visit the 10th century AD Church of the Holy Cross on the island of Aktamar which has a number of reliefs of biblical topics (look for Jonah being fed to the whale) and of Gregory the Illuminator.

Abraham:
Harran (Altinbasak), located south of today's Urfa, was Abraham's and Sarah's family home. Abraham was one of Shem's descendants. God spoke to Abraham in Harran calling him to leave the security he knew, to go into an unknown country and to found a new nation. Abraham accepted God's call and took his family and their belongings south. Not everyone went; some of his relatives remained in Harran. When Abraham's son Isaac needed a wife, the servants were sent back to Harran where they found his cousin Rebecca for him. In the next generation Isaac's son Jacob fled to Harran from Esau's wrath then Jacob cheated him out of his birthright. Jacob himself married Leah and Rachel, two of his cousins still living in Harran.

During Crusader times, Harran was held by the Count of Edessa (today's Urfa); the town was enclosed in a stone wall with the castle located in the southeast corner. The foundations of this castle may be Hittite.

In Abraham's time Harran was an important city on the road between Nineveh and one of the fords of the Euphrates River at Carchemish.

Besides the unusual beehive houses, there are the ruins of a large pagan temple and a mosque (8th century) north of the town.

According to legend, Abraham was saved by God in several contests with a local Assyrian king. He was thrown off the citadel hill of Urfa, where upon God made two lakes where his feet landed. He was thrown next onto a burning pyre, and God created another lake in whose water is now reflected the 17th century Halilürrahman Mosque. People in Urfa believe that anyone eating the sacred carp from this pool will go blind.

The New Testament:

Antioch:
Among the pivotal events recorded in the New Testament in Anatolia is the development of the church in Antioch (Antakya). As the numbers of the community in this city who believed in the messianic nature of Jesus grew, they needed a name to distinguish themselves. Thus the word, Christian, became current here beginning about 40 AD. From this church, Paul of Tarsus set out his three missionary journeys.

On the side of the hill east of Antioch is the Grotto of St. Peter; a cave made into a church by Crusaders in 1198 when they found here what they believed was the sword that pierced the side of Jesus. St. Peter is supposed to have hidden it, and the early Christians worshipped here where there is a secret tunnel through which they could have escaped if the Pagan Roman government wanted to stage a surprise raid on them.

The Hatay Archaeological Museum in Antioch contains a number of excellent floor mosaics (mostly on pagan subjects) from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

Tarsus, the birthplace of St. Paul, was a university town during his lifetime. It was also a commercial center, being located on a lagoon that opened out into the Mediterranean.

The old buildings of the town that can be seen now include a part of the west city gate (probably no older than the 6th century AD, although it is variously identified with Paul or with Paul or with Cleopatra), Dönüktas (is the grave of the Emperor Julian who was buried here in 364 AD?) and several old mosques.

Paul's Journeys:
Paul's travels took him to Attalia (Antalya), to Iconium (Konya, where he was almost stoned to death), to Lystra (where again he was barely saved from stoning), and to Antioch of Pisidia (Yalvaç).

Antalya, the beautiful port founded by Attalus II of Pergamum in the 2nd century BC, has a good museum in which are displayed many of the finds from the Archaeological sites of the surrounding area.

The Seljuks crowned Konya as their capital in 1076 when they took the city from the Byzantines. They put up many splendid monuments of which quite a number are still standing. In the days of Roman Empire, the place was called 'The City of Icons'. It became one of the chief cities of the province of Lycaonia. St. Paul visited Iconium between 47 and 50 AD as he spread Christianity throughout the land. St. Paul preached here on his first missionary journey. In those times Iconium was far-famed as a center of religion and it remains so today for all the Moslem world. Konya is renowned today as a religious center; it is the home of the Mevlevi Dervishes - the Whirling Dervishes. This is a mystical Islamic order founded in the 13th century by Celaleddin Rumi. Rumi (also known Mevlana) exemplified compassion and love for all humanity. He preached forgiveness, enlightenment, and tolerance, qualities that shine in his poetic masterpiece, the Mesnevi.

Konya has become a place of pilgrimage for Moslems as well as Christians. The founder of the Mevlevi Dervishes (the Whirling Dervishes) lived and was buried here in 1273. A mystic and a poet, Mevlana wrote,

Come, come again, whoever, whatever you may be,
Come even if you have broken your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is not the portal of despair and misery, come.

When Mevlana was alive, Konya was the capital of Seljuk Empire. The prosperity of the city then is still evident in the Seljuk Buildings: the Karatay Medresesi, the Ince Minareli Medrese, the Sirçali Medrese, the Sahip Ata Complex (all museums), the Iplikçi Camii and the Alaeddin Camii which is on the side of the acropolis of old Iconium. The Serafettin Camii and the Selimiye Camii are Ottoman buildings. The Museum of Archaeology houses a few of the finds from Çatalhöyük from Lystra and Derbe, and some Roman marbles.

Paul had some kind of medical problem for which he sought relief in Antioch of Psidia which is just outside the present city of Yalvaç. In Paul's day the city had both Pagan temples and at least one synagogue. Today not much is left of what he would have seen besides part of a Roman aqueduct and some carved stones at the entrance to the city's acropolis. But in evidence of his lasting effectiveness as a preacher in Antioch, one can trace there the outlines of two large Byzantine churches.

Paul also made many converts to Christianity in the seaports of Miletus (Milet), Ephesus (Efes) and Alexandria Troas (Odun Iskelesi). Conversation with him was so engrossing that at least once - in Alexandria Troas-his friends stayed up all night to talk with him. One can imagine the crowd of people listening to him and the complete attention he got from them in the report of a young boy who was ignored by his parents until he went to sleep and fell out the window.

Today Alexandria Troas is largely hidden among the trees about 2 km southeast of the tiny port of Odun Iskelesi. Tall arches of a Roman bath reflect the golden light of a late afternoon sun.

Miletus:
A different scene of Paul's old friends gathering to meet with him from that in Alexandria Troas took place in the port of Miletus. Paul was on route to Jerusalem after his third journey. How well respected and how well liked he was can be judged by how emotional that farewell was. Miletus was an important port city whose ruins even today give a glimpse of its wealth and variety. Its harbor and many public buildings, including the theater, would have been familiar sights to Paul. Now the theater is a landmark of the city from some distance away. Presently far from the coast, when Paul visited it about 57 AD the sea separated Miletus from Priene (about 25 km to the north) and reached across what is now Lake Bafa to Heraclea at the east end of the lake.

The Book of Revelations:

The Seven Churches:
Seven cities in Asia Minor have been immortalized by a letter of prophecy addressed by John to Christians living in them. These churches of the Book of revelation were located in Ephesus (Efes), Smyrna (Izmir), Pergamum (Bergama), Thyatira (Akhisar), Sardis (Sart), Philadelphia (Alasehir), and Laodicea (Laodikea).

While there are fragments of buildings in each one which may have been standing at the time that John wrote (towards the end of the first century), no Christian church building as such existed then. When John's audience met to read his letter they would have gathered in synagogues or in private houses. Perhaps the earliest site of a building built as a church in these seven is that of the Church of St. John in Selçuk/Ephesus where John is supposed to have been buried. The recently constructed buildings are where the small memorial to him was enlarged and made a cathedral by the emperor Justinian in the sixth century.

Ephesus is considered one of the great outdoor museums of Turkey, in fact perhaps of the world. Its marble streets and buildings give the tourist a quick appreciation for the ancient city in its heyday. Several buildings here also have been partially reconstructed: the Temple of Hadrian, the Celsus library, the Odeon, and the theater where once Demetrius' silversmiths almost caused a riot over Paul's preaching. (A number of less riotous entertainers -folk dancers, pop singers, actors-now hold forth every summer.) The Double Church of the Virgin Mary was the place where the third Ecumenical Council was held in 431. Roman houses up the hillside show something of how people lived in Paul's time. If he had ever been there, John could have seen the market place -the agora-in Smyrna which is a museum now. Little else of the Roman city is visible. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Polycarp (dedicated to the bishop martyred in about 150 AD) was established by Cardinal Richelieu in 1625, but the present building is of 20th century construction.

The temple to Zeus in Pergamum (Bergama) is thought by some to be what John characterized as the 'seat of Satan'. While today only the steps remain, many of the beautiful marble figures of the facade area in the Berlin Museum (a small replica of that temple is in the Bergama Museum). John could have done business on the acropolis of Pergamum; several buildings which early Christians knew are being partly restored by German and Turkish architects and archaeologists. Among these are the Temples of Trajan and Athena and the library. The university medical complex of the Asclepion is located about one and a half kilometers across the valley from the Pergamum citadel.

John might have walked along the colonnaded road in Thyatira (Akhisar). There is evidence in revelation that he knew each of the seven cities from personal experience. Today, besides some of the columns and their capitals, there is the apse of a small Byzantine church.

The sharp peak of a hill identifies the site of Sardis from a distance. Two separate areas are interesting to visit here. One, including the gymnasium and a partly reconstructed synagogue (which John might recognize as suggestive of the first century building) lie along the main road. The other area is a short distance up the stream where tall columns of the Temple to Artemis stand along with a sorry Byzantine church.

Recent excavations in Alasehir (Philadelphia) have uncovered some Roman ruins on the small hill above the town. There are also the walls of an 11th century church in the town around which have been gathered some of the marble pieces found in the neighborhood.

Laodicea was near the home of the Apostle Philip who spent his last years in Hierapolis (now Pamukkale). It is often full of tourists enjoying the thermal baths. But the tranquil hill of the Laodicea suggests to some of the same lack of concern that John complained about in its people who were 'neither hot nor cold'. More recent visitors have commented that John could not have written that description of them had he been there in summer.

The events chronicled in the Bible which happened in Anatolia span the time from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation. This is where people lived who made decisions which have changed the course of our lives, among them Abraham who accepted God's call and the members of the church in Antioch who believed that Christianity's message was to 'Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised' alike.

Much of the development of western thought and the understanding of our place in the universe can be traced in the biblical records of people who have lived here and who worked for and dreamed of a better time. Anatolia -the land and its people-can richly reward the traveler who seeks to learn and to experience something of the origins of western history, philosophy and religion.