Before visiting the Pergamon site we went to a place that manufactures the best leather jackets in all of Turkiye and—according to the reps that showed us the goods—possibly the rest of the world!
While members of the tour bought leather jackets, I struck up a conversation with a dog who was snapping and snarling at a cat who was trying to steal his food—the owner explained to me that the dog was too old to seriously harm pussy! The dog settled down, went back to sleep, and the cat climbed over him and finished the dog’s food.
We left the leather jacket factory and embarked on a fascinating time-travelling visit to Pergamon – the ancient Greek/Roman/Ottoman city; what a blast from the past! The cable car ride turned out to be a bonding experience for our group. As we soared through the air, we huddled together— the cable car swaying on those cables. We felt the same as the Seljuk Turks did as they climbed the hill to attack Pergamon centuries ago – what will we find up there?
Achmet became lyrical about the Greeks, Romans, and Ottomans who had inhabited the place from very long ago—in fact, some 2400 years ago. Ahmet became lost in thought as we trundled behind him. It was a history marathon! He reeled off fact after fact—as we all vowed to consult Mr Google afterwards and to memorise the dates of famous battles and sieges.
I imagined Emperor Trajan talking to a number of slaves, pulling a massive slab of marble to be carved and sculpted near where we were standing. The architecture was so impressive; many of those geometries and forms have made it into our modern buildings. Such pillars and sculptured figures are features of many university and government buildings in our modern world!
According to Mr Google, it became a major centre of learning and art, particularly during the Attalid dynasty (3rd–2nd centuries BC), which transformed it into a flourishing city—Greek culture spread across the entire eastern Mediterranean.
Trajan, the Roman emperor who ruled just after Jesus’s time, reigned from 98 to 117 AD. He expanded he Roman Empire to its maximum extent. Trajan even went all out and built a massive, over-the-top temple to honour the numero uno god Zeus. That Zeus must have felt pretty special!
and the other gods can now only be found in Berlin!
It will take many paragraphs to do justice to these photos! The images below speak for themselves!
