P is for Pergamon, Turkey
When
we lived in Turkey, we tried to
visit as many historical sites as we could. We loved taking road trips over the
long holiday weekends during the year and exploring the ancient ruins, which I
still think are even better than ones in Greece. On one such Turkey trip, we visited the historical
site of Pergamon, an ancient Greek
city, located 26 km (16 miles) from the Aegean Sea and about 90 minutes north
of Izmir.
Pergamon (also called Pergamum) was settled by the Greeks in the 8th century BC, and was ruled by one of
Alexander the Great’s generals around 320 BC as part of the Kingdom of
Pergamon. The city was given to the Roman Republic in 133 BC to prevent a civil
war, and briefly became the capital of the Roman province of Asia before the
capital was transferred to Ephesus.
The latter history included many different rulers and conquerors as well as a
damaging earthquake that pretty much displaced the population. In 2014,
Pergamon was added to the UNESCO World heritage list for Turkey.
Pergamon
also is considered an important Biblical place as it is cited in the Book
of Revelation as one of the Seven Churches of Asia.
As
usual, the Greeks picked an excellent natural setting for a theater, with a
view that extends for miles and would have included Aegean Sea views approximately
2,000 years ago. The acropolis of Pergamum covers a steep hilltop, so you can
only imagine how much Greek and Roman civil engineering work went into creating
this amazing structure!
Another
interesting fact is that Pergamum was a great center of learning and once had a
huge library of 200,000 scrolls that were (probably and unfortunately) given to
Cleopatra by Marc Antony as a wedding gift in 41 BC. At least, you can still
see the remains of the library here today.
During
our visit, we simply enjoyed walking around the site of Pergamon on our own and
taking photos as often as possible. It still amazes me how many historical
sites like this Turkey has and that locals as well as archaeologists are still
discovering these today such as a Poseidon mosaic recently found in southwestern Turkey.
Location:
I’m
linking this post to the monthly travel guide link up organized by Fiona, a
fellow Australian blogger, at Tiffin Bite Sized Food Adventures. Each month
features a new letter of the alphabet. This month is the letter “P.” Please pop
on over to Fiona’s blog to read more travel stories or feel free to link up
your own!