In the Footsteps of Paul: Day 12, Thursday, March 5

Pergamon

It was a long drive north from Kusadasi (Ephesus) to the ruins of the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Pergamon.  We didn't arrive until afternoon.  Pergamon was one of the great kingdoms of the Hellenistic world, ruled by wise and benevolent kings who cared for their subjects and championed the highest Greek culture.  The capital city boasted the second largest library in the ancient world, after Alexandria.  Hoping to create long lasting books, scholars in Pergamon invented parchment.  They were allies of Rome, helping them conquer Anatolia and Syria in the pre-Christian era.   Their last king Attalus III who was childless, hoping to avoid civil war after his death, bequeathed the kingdom to Rome.

In the Roman era, Pergamon became the great center of medicine under the leadership of the philosopher physician Galen, who built a hospital and medical school called the Asclepion, in honor the Greek god of medicine Asclepius.  Christian tradition notes that the Evangelist Luke studied there.

Statue of the philosopher physician Galen.

The Asclepion.

Entwined snakes, the symbol of medicine.

High above the Asclepion and the Roman city was Pergamon's Acropolis, built atop a towering hill.  It was here that for the first time in 29AD, Augustus allowed temples to be built to honor the Roman emperor's as gods on earth.  In later years other emperors had temples built that they might be worshiped.  The emperor's temples overshadowed those of the Greek and Roman gods, even that of Zeus.  

Trajan's Temple on the Acropolis.

The ruins of the Temple of Zeus.

Although it is certain that Paul visited Pergamon, the city appears only once in the New Testament.  This is in the Revelation of John, as one of the "Letters to the Seven Churches".  In Revelation, the Apostle John receives a vision of Jesus in heaven, who dictates letters to the seven churches.  In the letter to Pergamon, Jesus says, "I know where you are living, where Satan's throne is."  "Satan's throne" represents the temples built to worship the Roman emperors.  The letter goes on, "Repent then.  If not I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth."  If the Christians in Pergamon remain faithful, "To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it." (Revelation 2:12-17)

Teaching on the Letter to Pergamon.

The views from the Pergamon Acropolis are magnificent.  

The Pergamon theater with the modern city of Bergama in the background. 

The view to the north from Pergamon's Acropolis.

We then drove further north, partially on winding mountain roads down to a charming hotel, right on the Aegean Sea in the town of Assos.