Dan in Turkey

Please check out a selection of my photos for this trip here.

It’s not easy to put into words the way a countryside speaks to you. This week we made our journey from Istanbul to our new “home,” Ankara, and en route we visited the ruins of Troy, of Pergamum, of Sardis, of Aphrodeseus, of Midas City. This is a rich land, rich in both natural and historical resources. As we left Istanbul and drove along the western coast of the sea of Marmara, towards the Gallipoli peninsula, the city and suburbs gave way to fields of wheat and corn. These are major crops on the European side of Turkey. The Turkish word for corn, “masir,” probably comes from the Arabic “Misr” or “Egypt,” from where the first corn was likely imported (I’m guessing here; I enjoy making guesses based on language cognates).

As we ferried across the Dardenelles (the strait that runs from the Aegean sea up to the Sea of Marmara) the landscape quickly changed. We were now in Asian Turkey, or Anatolia. Imediately I began to notice that nearly every spare inch of turf was covered with trees: olive trees, fig trees, pomegranates. What was not orchard was used for tomatoes and red peppers, eggplant and lettuce. We saw countless small groups of farmers harvesting these, and we passed numerous horse or mule drawn carts on the road filled with tomatoes or melons. For a time we drove through miles of vineyards, often noting long stretches of cloth spread out on the ground between the rows of vines, covered with grapes drying to raisins in the warm Anatolian sun. This is a land of small family farms, run with pride. Every day is “farmers’ market” day here.

In the New Testament’s Book of Revelation, probably written about 95 A.D. by John of Patmos, the prophet rails against the evils of seven churches in this western Anatolian region: Ephesus, Smyrna (Izmir), Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. Of these, we’ve had to bypass Smyrna and Ephesus, but have seen Sardis, driven by Philadelphia and driven through Laodicea (Denizli?). Although we saw some fantastic Greek and Roman ruins at Pergamum (Bergama) and Sardis, I at least saw no evidence of any wicked churches, nor to the best of my knowledge, has the apocalypse come. On the other hand, maybe John was right, and these cities are now in ruins because each had its own mini-apocalypse.

We had to change our initial itinerary to bypass Ephesus and Izmir (Smyrna) because of some small Kurdish bombings in a couple of seacoast cities. (Some of us hope to travel down to Ephesus later in the season). It’s ironic that just after I posted in my last blog how safe I felt here, these attacks occurred. I’ve had to revise my estimate of Turkey a bit: I think instead of “safest” place I’ve lived, I’d do better to speak of it as the “least aggressive” place I’ve known. People are very patient, very happy (generally), and very polite. It’s the Turkish way.

I’ll spare you details on the sites we saw this past week. If you want to explore them a bit for yourself I’ll provide some links below. I do want to discuss my favorite site, a site we would not have visited had we not changed our itinerary, a little visited place called “Midas City” outside the very rural village of Yazılıkaya (a word meaning “Engraved on Large Rock”). There we were able to explore an ancient Phrygian ceremonial mountain dedicated to the goddess Kybele (Cybele, who would become under the Greeks and Romans Artemis and Demeter and, perhaps, Aphrodite). The Phrygians were an ancient people who inhabited this part of the world before the Greeks. Their capitol was at Gordium, not far from modern day Ankara. The mount was rich in cave dwellings used in old times by shamans seeking oracles. It also was home to numerous well preserved sacrificial altars. It’s most stunning feature was the huge cliff face carved with bas relief’s of warriors, chariots, and Greek and Latin inscriptions. There was a tremendous energy to this place for me. I quickly distanced myself from the rest of the group for a time to sit and contemplate the landscape, the stone, the valleys and mountain ranges visible for miles (the Romans used this hill as an important military outpost precisely for it’s capacity to serve as a watchtower). The energy of the place ran deeper, older than those established by Greeks or Romans. It was very primal.

I also enjoyed very much another “off the beaten tourist path” stop we made, an Alevi village not far from the ruins of Troy, where I made one of my few “big” purchases. I bought a traditional village kilim, a unique carpet, entirely handmade. The Alevis are an unusual “sect” or ethnic group among the Turks. They have a long history going well back into pre-Islamic times when they practiced traditional shamanic religion. They are not Sunni (as are the majority of Turkey’s Muslims), yet are considered not entirely orthodox by the Shi’ites either. For one thing, they do not worship in mosques. Also, they are in many ways the most “liberal” form of Islam I’ve encountered, truly giving to women, for example, the equality promised them by the Qur’an but so quickly erased in later Islam. This particular village kilim design used no dyes, but instead was woven from wools culled from different colored sheep, creating its unique designs in browns and whites and tans and grays. The designs themselves preserve the shamanism of early Alevi culture: symbols of prosperity and abundance. I find it quite beautiful. Moreover, I especially enjoyed giving my money directly to the manufacturers, the villagers, instead of to big city carpet salesmen who take a big middleman “cut.”

We arrived safely in Ankara on a Sunday night, and Monday morning dropped off our students at their respective universities (Middle East Technical University and Bilkent University) where they began the next phase of their adventures. And I, mine. More on this next time.

For a better description than I can provide of some of the major sites we saw this week I recommend these links:

Troy
Pergamum
Sardis
Aphrodesius
Pamukkale
Hieropolis

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your emails.
Dan