Biblical Turkey

I never realized how much of Turkey, I mean actual land of Turkey is part of biblical history.  I'm sure that I cannot begin to name all of the places in Scripture where the locale is in current day Turkey but here is just a sampling:  Ur is said to be here where Abraham is from, Mt . Ararat in eastern Turkey where Noah's ark landed, Tarsus where Paul was born, all seven of the churches mentioned in Revelation, all three of Paul's missionary journey's, Phillip started a church here was martryed and buried here, John started a church here, lived here, died and was buried here,  Eden, Galatia, Laodicea, Colosse, Lystra, Iconium, Derbe etc etc....

I had the privilege of visiting just a few of these places and am astonished at the history that is buried here.  I'm going to post a few pictures but just want to say that all of the places I visited are just barely uncovered, there is hundreds of years of work to be done to uncover these ancient cities.  That work is reserved for the Turkish people by law with some limited exceptions for archeaologists and people in related fields.  Dr. Mark Wilson who is a member of Jim's congregation has written a book on the subject of biblical turkey and has a research foundation, gets to go on digs sometimes and can take friends!!   If you like jigsaw puzzles Turkey is the biggest puzzle in the world!!

The magnificent city of Ephesus, said to be the 4th largest city in the Roman Empire and guardian of the great goddess Artemis:

Below is the theatre mentioned in Acts 19 where for 2 hours the angry crowd chanted "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

In Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) below, we saw piles of excavated materials waiting to be fit together. The white mountain in the background left is Hieropolis where the springs produce hot water and Colosse where the water from it's springs is cold, is off to the right on one of those hills.  The three cities form a triangle.   

Below is Hieropolis (Colossians 4:13) hot water pours out from natural springs with such high mineral concentration it crystallizes forming beautiful terraced pools and this white mountain that looks like snow from a distance.  The church that Phillip started is here and he was martyred here.  The latest discovery is his burial site.  That area is closed off to visitors right now.