Pergamon

Pergamon (or Pergamum) was an ancient Greek city that came under Roman rule.  It was the capital of the Roman province of Asia until that titled was given to Ephesus.   In Paul's day, it was one of the most influential cities of the Roman empire.  A very good read about Pergamum is at this CBN site.

Pergamon is mentioned in Revelations as one of the 7 churches of Asia.

“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘I know your works, and where you dwell... where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to my name, and did not deny my faith even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.'" Revelation 2:12

Stones were used as admission to the theatre. 

This is the steepest theatre of ancient times.  It seated 10,000.

"To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna.... 

Christ, the "hidden manna", the Bread of life, the source of a believer's nourishment and strength.

...I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it."  Rev. 2:17

When people went to court, they were given a black stone if guilty, and a  white stone if not guilty.

* * * 

To get to the ampitheatre, we took a lift.

up....up....up!

Ancient ruins 

The great altar of Permamon (a large scale model is on display at Pergamon Museum in Berlin)

Pergamum was famous for its library of around 200,000 volumes and for manufacturing 

parchment resuilting in a paper called pergamena.  ~ The Bible Knowledge Commentary

Rome built their ampitheatres facing stages.  

They were built from the ground up (like this one we saw in Rome).

The Greeks built theirs into the earth and it faced nature - a field, mountain or sea.

Our guide told us that Turkish children are often given names of nature -  Grain, Tigris, etc.

The steps were very steep and I was rather afraid of falling down them - down to the bottom!  I was rather amazed at the agility of these children who were bouncing all around those steps!

This ampitheatre looks over the modern city of Bergama

 

We climbed up the stairs and went through this tunnel.

Poppies grow anywhere!

 So amazing!

Of course Lortab, the Newton Med Pharmacy mascot, had to take his picture for his own Facebook page!

The temple of Trajan, Emporer of Rome

 After emporers died, they became part of the pantheon of gods worshiped.  Nero and Domitian changed that as they were the 1st ones who wanted to be worshiped while they were still alive; the beginning of the imperial cult.

The people here also worshiped Athena, Dionysus, Zeus and Asclepius, 

the pagan god of healing, represented in the form of a serpent.

Compromise with worldly morality and the pagan doctrine was prevelent in the church;
departure from biblical faith soon corrupted it.

Statue of Emporer "Al" Trajan

"The city suffered badly during the third century and was badly damaged by an earthquake in 262 and was sacked by the Goths shortly after."

Adventuring some more

Allen and I enjoy adventuring together!  Our granddaughter in Arkansas was having a swim meet so we decided to go.  As long as we were headed there, we might as well make it an adventure and go on a few roads that we'd never traveled before.

We began the trip onto 54, a route we have taken at times, although we generally take 400.  This takes us through the Flinthills.  I LOVE the Flinthills of Kansas!

Look at this photo that was posted on Facebook yesterday!

The Flinthills from the sky. 

I was commenting to Al about how green everything was for Kansas in July.  

We've had quite a bit of rain this year.

 Watch out, Mr. Armadillo!

(he did make it safely across the road, we observed in the rear view mirror)

We decided to drive around Eureka.

The Greenwood Hotel was built in 1882 to "house visitors involved in the burgeoning cattle industry."  It has been restored to its glory days and today is available for special events.  Someday, we will have to stop and have a look-see!

 A tornado ripped through town a couple of weeks ago.

 Clean up was underway.

I love this house!  It reminds me of a Frank Lloyd Wright.  It is a Mission/Spanish colonial revival house built in 1923 and is on the national register of historical places (I looked it up).  I used to want to be an architect once upon a time.  I would love to tour this home!  So glad it wasn't hit by the tornado (at least that I could see).

 We continued on down 54.

Al's finger got in the way - I took this photo out his window as we were passing through Fort Scott.  A pig on the roof!

So here was our first road that we took that we'd never been on before.

Highway 43 (far right circled and highlighted) in Missouri.  

We'd been down 71/49, just a few miles to the east. 

We figured with that 4 lane road so closeby, this road would be a simple Kansas country road.  But it was actually a nicely paved road with wide shoulders and even 65 mph!  And not much traffic.  Probably most people headed south would take the other highway.

We did have to slow down a couple of times while going through these litty bitty towns (population around 100), but you went through them so fast, it was of no significance.  No stopping.

 Farm country

 We knew we'd end up in Webb City and we debated where in the town we'd come to.  I suspected the round-about.  Al was thinking it would be more like the road goes by Culver's (our have-to-stop place).  It was the round-about.

 We caught up to our normal road and continued on to Arkansas.

Construction still going on in Fayetteville.

We got to the kids' house and Eli was ready to battle Darth Papa!

Then it was on to Emeri's swim meet.

 Emeri did so well!  She has qualified for the finals!

 Eli took a little break in the kiddie pool.

 Between races...

We spent the night.  Emeri had day camp the next day.  Eli, his mom and I played Sorry.  And Eli went biking with Papa while daddy ran.    For lunch we went to Tacos 4 Life.

This puppy was on a shelf by our table.  I told Eli that when I was 7, I wanted this puppy for Christmas.   But Santa didn't deliver.  I was so sad about that.   

 We said our goodbyes and headed home to Kansas.  We stopped in to see Uncle Bill and Aunt Betty (Dad's youngest sister) who live in the boonies.

 After a nice visit, we took another new road to get back to the highway.  Huckleberry Ridge.

It was very wind-y and curvy.  But I'd always wanted to try that route back instead of going through Jane, just to see what it was like.  It went through Pineville.  A church in Pineville donated some money to our daughter Jill's mission trip to Japan when she was in highschool and I just wanted to see that generous place.

When we got to Kansas, we took 2 more new roads.  We took 47 west, just north of Pittsburg, KS to Fredonia (it ends up at the round-about that intersects with 400)

Elk on the roof

 Of course we stopped at historical markers along the way!  This was very interesting!
The legend of Greenbush

 Another pretty church!

 If I'd been reading a book, I would have missed the dinosaurs!

We have never been through Altoona before ~  population approximately 400

There are several natural mounds around Altoona and Fredonia.  I wonder what caused these?

 The last "new" road we tried was unmarked on the map.  We thought perhaps there might be a sign pointing to Rosalia or Cassoday, but no sign at all.  We passed the paved road on 400 and I told Al I was pretty sure that was where we should turn, so we did a you-y close to the windmills and headed north.

 The road curves at first but then it goes north and luckily we were on the right road.  And if we hadn't been.....well, it would be an adventure.

 Earlier we passed by a bull in a pond that made me laugh so hard but it was an inopportune time to turn around to get the photoshot.  It looked just like Ferdinand the bull taking a bath!

I kept looking for more bulls in ponds, but couldn't find another one.

 We drove through the Flinthills and at Rosalia, the road turned to a dirt road.  But we saw another road sign just a little bit east so we got onto that road, and that one took us to Cassoday.  A beautiful drive through the Flinthills!

 At Cassoday, we got onto 1st street that took us home - 38 miles to Newton.

It was our 41st anniversary.  Maybe it wasn't at a fancy restaurant, or flowers, 

but going on an adventure with my husband is just the thing for me!!

Happy anniversary, honey!