01 Philadelphia, or Alasehir - in Turkish, is the least prominent of all the Seven Churches of the Revelation.
02 Free photos-all my pictures may be used for free, in books and journals, for tourism, church or educational purposes. Please give a reasonable part of your profits to help children in the developing world. You may indicate, "Used by Permission of David Phillips."
03 Some mountains in Turkey - Anatolia - were found to contain minerals and the Hittites and other civilizations capitalized on ore found in these mountains.
04 Philadelphia means The City of Brotherly Love. It takes only 45 minutes to drive from Sardis, which is found to the north-west.
05 The huge mountain behind Philadelphia is called Boz Da'i in Turkish and the volcanic mountain stretches some 80 miles to the north and west.
06 The city would not be attacked from the west, or from the mountain, so a defensive wall was built along the lower, eastern, portion.
07 The name comes from the time of Attalus II, of Pergamon, who had many adventures with his brother. They never parted company, even when political intrigue could have separated them.
08 Coins of the time show that the two brothers were almost identical, perhaps they were identical twins. The city was formerly a Lydian city, but it became an outpost of Pergamon and its mission was to Hellenize the eastern valley.
09 The native peoples of Philadelphia in the First Century A.D. were a mixture of Phyrgians, Lydians, Greeks, a few Romans and children of several local tribes.
10 Today, children in Alasehir love to use their few words of English on visitors. You will be asked to take many photographs.
11 A dangerous mountain pass took merchants and travelers south to Laodicea. Roman soldiers were required to keep this pass, or "The Door", open.
12 A special Legion of Roman soldiers worked in Central Anatolia. The travelled daily with the merchants who traversed "The Door", walking south to the Mediterranean Sea.
13 Perhaps this is part of what Revelation means when Jesus says that He is the one who keeps the Door open that no one can shut and shuts the Door that no one can open.
14 Philadelphia was founded with a mission - to spread the Greek civilization to the rest of Anatolia (Turkey) and it was the last outpost of the Lydian Empire.
15 Homer, the blind poet, stimulated the spread of Hellenistic thought through his two great epic tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Greek ideas were to rule the world.
16 Greek culture in the middle of the First Century A.D. had already made a deep impact on the Roman world. Explorers had travelled deep into Africa, for example. This is a mosaic from the floor of a house in Antioch.
17 Greek mythology related a world view of fickle gods and goddesses. Through sacrifices one could appease the gods. This is another mosaic from the floor of a house in Antioch.
18 Numerous philosophers on both sides of the Aegean Sea stimulated education, music, mythology and the arts. Philadelphia, although a long way away, was to feel the full impact of Greek thought.
19 Greek culture in Athens reached its highest development about 500 B.C. What was shouted on Mars Hill would be heard in the backwaters of the Lydian Kingdom.
20 The mythology of the Greek gods and goddesses became very complicated. This frieze, a miniature - about five inches high, is located in Istanbul in the Miniaturk Park. Greeks wanted all and sundry to adopt their world view.
21 Plato's and Aristotle's teachings were written down and passed to Greek cities and on to the students in the Gymnasiums. (See photos in section on Sardis.)
22 This stoa, at the Acropolis in Athens, is where the greatest minds of antiquity pondered human reality, including the issues of pain and suffering, honour and shame.
23 Stories of Greek gods, and their corresponding world view, became so common that mosaics, such as this one on the living room floor in ancient Antioch, were common household decoration.
24 Even today in some parts of Turkey ancient mosaics are found and are just part of the "back yard scene", with the local Turks having no idea how they came to be there. (This one is located just south of Adana, Turkey.)
25 People who lived in Philadelphia may have had a rich choice of foods, nuts, herbs and spices such as is still found in the Egyptian Bazaar in Istanbul.
26 1,500 B.C. bronze necklaces were being made in Philadelphia and in other cities in Anatolia, (Turkey).
27 Stones, beads, bones and bits of metal were used for decoration for "that special person", probably as gifts, as is still the case today.
28 I took photographs of new necklaces in Istanbul just for comparison and found that not much has changed in 3,000 years.
29 I watched a young man buy the necklace with the blue stones for his girl friend. I'm sure that he had the same feelings that a 20 year old had in ancient Philadelphia.
30 Greek sculpture became a standard against which all others had to compete. Greek sculpture still graces many museums around the world.
31 Into this Greek City came an intrepid worker, Epaphras. Most likely it was he who told others about Jesus Christ. Today the Church of St. John is the main attraction for Christians in the city of Alasehir. It is disappointing, for only the ruins of a Byzantine Church can be found.
32 At one time though it was a mighty building and the dome of the church may have looked like this one, the Chora Church in Istanbul. (See my album www.picasaweb.google.com/cometoistanbul.cbm.tours)
33 Three of the four columns are still standing, remains of a magnificent church that must have held 2,000 or more people.
34 Visually, it might be disappointing, but a quiet chapel service in the lovely, flower-filled garden, dispels discouragements. This Church, which was the smallest, probably, of the Seven Churches, may have been the closest to the heart of the Lord for its character.
35 Grave stones show the creativity of one family whose dear ones had passed away.
36 Some graves bear symbols that are clearly Christian, therefore made after 325 A.D.
37 Excavations in the Church of St. John go down about 12 feet, four metres, showing that the ancient city is deeply buried, both in the past as well as in the present.
38 Massive columns of this Byzantine church are gradually crumbling and there is no repair or restoration possible.
39 Hidden against a distant wall, the sign indicates that the Church of St. John was constructed about 600 A.D.
40 Even with the disappointment of seeing so little, this is a good time to deliberately slow down and meditate. (However, that is not normally possible as your bus has to get you to the hotel for tonight's lodging.)
41 Way before the Romans and Greeks came here a massive production of wines came through the fertile land. Vineyards exported wines to Rome, especially, by the end of the first century A.D.
42 Vineyards stretch farther than your eye can see. In about 89 A.D. Domitian the Emperor demanded that half of these vineyards be cut down so that corn could be grown for Rome.
43 Many people were dislocated from the farms. Unemployed workmen must have invaded Philadelphia and Sardis, both. In this midst of social calamity, Greek pagan ideas, and Roman domination what would that small church do?
44 The church responded in the name of Jesus Christ, with care and love for the poor, the children, the unemployed. Jesus had promised that he would open a "Door" that no one could close. The church had more than enough to do!
45 Even workers who made the clay jars for exporting wines were affected in a negative way. At this moment of crisis for both both Greek, Roman and Lydian thought there was a little Christian Church.
46 The modern day city of Alasehir is very nationalistic and has dozens of signs and symbols to commemorate Turkishness.
47 No one can live in the past, with the actual presence of the giants of the faith, Paul, Peter, Timothy or even Epaphras.
48 Turkey today faces its own realities. It is an exciting country with something new happening every day. See www.turkishdailynews.com or www.todayszaman.com for either left of center or right of center opinions on the news.
49 St. Paul traveled the roads of Asia Minor and the character of love and compassion, good teaching and solid team building made a permanent difference.
49 If you want more information on Philadelphia you can read Revelation 3:7-13, or perhaps commentaries that someone could suggest to you.
