Today we start with a trip to the Antalya Museum which contains “The Treasures of Turkey”.
Prehistory means prior to the written word. History begins with being able to write down history.
The beginning of the museum has a cool map of many of the places that we have seen. (Rob loves maps)
Next, we saw small vignettes of historical settings. (I like miniatures and doll houses.)
The first one (Karain) shows early man living in caves.
Next we have Catalhoyuk near present day Konya. This is the first town in world. It shows people living together. The entrance is on the roof to keep wild animals away. They used ladders.
Between the houses they would throw garbage. Initially, the wild dogs and wild pigs came to eat and they would kill them. Later, these animals were domesticated. There was no pottery or art. Just survival.
Later, they stopped being nomadic and started farming and grain was important.
This was a cause for war. Other towns wanted the things that another town had. In the early times, it was grain. Then weapons were made for war not hunting. Their dead was buried under their houses.
In the next period, Corum was found to have more free time.
They started carving figures on the gates to the city, weaving carpet and making pottery. Their tombs were buried in the courtyard in the middle of the city. This is the first time that we have seen them buried in large pottery jars.
I learned a new term: Rescue excavation. This is when someone is illegally digging or construction will damage an ancient site. The museum has many of these artifacts.
Another Midas Legend
Midas was asked to judge a music contest between the god Apollo and mortal Maryas. Here is a statue of Maryas.
Midas announced that Maryas won. This made Apollo mad and he gave Midas long donkey ears so that he could hear better. Whenever you see a statue of Midas, he has long hair to cover his ears.
One day Midas wanted to get a haircut and asked a barber to come to his castle. He made him promise that he would tell no one about his donkey ears.
The barber thought that it was so funny. He just had to tell so he whispered into a well, “Midas has donkey ears.”
There was an echo and the breeze went all over the town. Midas committed suicide. You could say that he died of embarrassment.
This museum has so many interesting artifacts and rooms and rooms of statues.
Osteothek is smaller than a sarcophagus and just holds the bones. It is just as decorated.
Temples had large pottery jars for food and water storage. It was considered to be safe in the temple.
There were beautifully carved sarcophaguses. They were found under a landslide which served to preserve them.
Perge
Perge is thought to mean
“close to river”. It was the capitol of Pamphylia. The Roman stadium which is outside the city utilizes a unique building structure which supports the weight of the seats. A wooden frame holds all the stones together and then the cornerstone is placed. Then the frame is removed.
You can follow the fault line of an ancient earthquake.
Greeks built their theatres on the side of a hill. Romans made a place.
Paul came to this large port city. Perge had walls to protect its Roman citizens. The main concern is diseases. The Royal family is protected by yet nother series of walls.
It is difficult to enter a Roman city. There would be an officer at the entrance to question a traveler about their Roman citizenship.
They had to be especially careful since this was a busy port city and they did not know where you came from and what diseases you might bring in to the city.
A Roman citizen talked, acted, and dressed differently. If one claimed citizenship and it was discovered that they were not, they would be immediately killed.
A mark of a slave was a tattoo, and that was the first thing that the officials looked for.
If one had bought citizenship or were given citizenship after being a slave, documentation would be required. Don’t lose it!
Ideal Greek
He spent part of his day at the baths working out and playing games such as backgammon. In the evenings, he would spend long hours in discussions over dinner. If not, he would be considered antisocial or an idiot.
Ideal Roman
He is a man with massive muscles. He is strong and cruel especially toward women. He doesn’t value thought and is often depicted with a small head.
There is a Hadrian’s gate here. This means that he came here and for a city, that was a big deal.
The ruins at Perge is a large complex. We hiked all the way up to the Royal palace overlooking the sprawling site.
Rob and I went to the pharmacy to buy a few things. Also, Rob and I needed white shirts to better fight off the radiant sun. I think that most men would say that they shop differently than women. If men are going to buy a white shirt, that is the hunt. A woman who is looking for a white shirt will stop to look at perfume, hats and even stop to answer a text.
Rob heard that in some Indian cultures, a man has a rope that the woman holds onto. After learning that and losing track of me, he will announce, “I need a rope.” He can’t find me today? Do you see me?
While walking alongside the road, a car hit me from behind. They get so close. The driver side mirror hit me on the elbow. The mirror folded up. It was a crowded area and the car wasn’t moving very fast. The driver seemed more concerned about his mirror than about me. After fixing his mirror, he said “Sorry” and drove on. My elbow was okay.
Our last stop was a refreshing walk through the Kursunlu Waterfalls. A picture says a thousand words.
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