Author Archives: Courtney Ann Mundt

A month after Turkey….

It’s hard to believe that Turkey — with our “miserable” tour guide Nazim, our crazy bus driver, our forgetful teacher, my amazing new friends, the sites, the smells, the tastes, the sounds, the cats, the dogs, the everything — was not a dream. I miss it, and while the papers were difficult (and I did not work at hard as I could have on them), all of it was part of my overall abroad experience.
While I love the USA and want to travel it, I have had my taste of another part of the world, and all I want to do is go back. I hope next summer to be doing a dig somewhere in the Mediterranean, and perhaps doing that internship with the Nautical Archaeology institute. But in my reflection, I would really like to focus on my tour guide.

Nazim went to almost as many new places as we did. In his 11 or so years as a tour guide he has learned English, traveled over most of Turkey, and had a beautiful daughter with his wife. Since tourism is so huge in Turkey, tour guides have to be licensed and must be the only people to give tours at sites. He took us to old sites as well as out into Fetiye our last night for hookah and karaoke. I just found him on Facebook and hope to keep in contact with him in the future. Who knows — maybe I will be a professor with a group of students that has him as our tour guide in the future.

Location: Woodward, Pennsylvania

18 km later: Days 12 and 13, 5/21-5/22 — Lykia

Tlos

Our first stop after our hour and a half ride into the mountains was to the site the Hittites called Tlawa and the Romans Tlos. It is being excavated by the Med University in Antalya, and has been excavated since 1838. It is on the eastern side of the Xanthos Valley and had connections with that city. It was founded around the 12^th Century BCE and then conquered by the Persians in the 5^th Century BCE. It had a population of around 6,000 to 6,500 and was the religious center of the 6 Lykian cities.

The first part of Tlos we visited was the Stadium, Acropolis and the surrounding necropolis. The Stadium had a pool sepina and fountains instead of a line or monuments down the middle. The water filling these came from a spring on White Mountain, which is part of the Taurus Mountains. The Necropolis showcased the 3 burial styles – pigeon-hole, house, and temple. From the Acropolis we could see the entire Xanthos Valley and the Ottoman Castle built in the 19^th Century by Canle (Bloody) Ali, who killed over 5,000 people during his reign.

We learned here that the city claimed to be the birthplace of Bellerophontos, a hero who killed the Chimera (lion, serpent, and goat) and then rode Pegasus to try to reach the gods and was killed for his insolence. A new tomb with art depicting this event is said to be his tomb.

Our hike began here, and we walked over to the Roman Baths and Sauna. The Baths had 7 doors and the Sauna 3, and both were recovered after 2 years of heavy growth removal. The Theatre had been decimated by an earthquake. It was built by the Romans, indicated by the flatness and the stage. It could seat 7,000 and due to little looting, the seats were very well preserved and showed their decorations beautifully. We hiked 9 km or almost 6 miles to a mosque in a little village before being bused to Xanthos.

Xanthos

When we got to Xanthos we immediately went through the necropolis to the Theatre. Michelle told us that Xanthos was the capital of Lykia and was founded by Sarpedon and Lycsus. It was the home of a proud, independent, rough people that were conquered in name only. The Persians (according to Herodotus) conquered all of Asia Minor in 540 BCE. The warriors of Xanthos fought one battle, lost, and then gathered all possessions and women and children to burn everything. They battled and lost again, so they committed a mass suicide. 80 families not present then formed the Dynas family and became governors of the area. In 334 BCE Alexander the Great conquered the area. Since the Persians were heavy-handed, the people of Xanthos liked him. In 40 BCE Brutus, one of the killers of Julius Caesar, conquered Xanthos, and the people committed mass suicide again. Augustus freed them. During Byzantine rule a bishop was located here, and it was conquered later on by nomadic Turks. It was “rediscovered” in 1838 by Charles Fellow who took the biggest monuments to the British Museum and left terrible records. The French have excavated here since 1951.

All of the Lykian Tombs in the necropolis nearby are copies of the originals. Ancestor worship had strong identity ties with the people of Xanthos, and this is indicated by the fact that the necropolis is inside the city. The three types of tombs depended on social status. Pigeon-hole tombs were built into the sides of mountains and were for the poor people; house-cut tombs were also built into cliffs and had wood house facades on the outside of it; temple-cut had pillars. All were built during the Dynas rule. The Cariga tomb was the smaller house-cut tomb and the Harpies (or sirens) tomb was the larger house-cut tomb. The Obelisk or Inscribed Pillar was built by a brother and war reliefs and the Lykian language on it, but it was also taken. The largest tomb was at the entrance and called the Nere tomb for Erbina Dynas. It was Greek with Lykian pillars and had reliefs of hunting, dining, and nymphs. The region overall had pressure from the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Lykian when it came to architecture.

This site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Letoon

This was the sanctuary of Leto and a sacred cult center to Leto, Apollo, and Artemis built around the 7^th Century BCE. It was a site that showed the matrilineal society of the Lykian League (the first recorded democracy) with people taking their mother’s last name and men moving in with the bride’s family.

There are three temples: the biggest is Leto’s, the smallest in Artemis’. Leto’s is the biggest and best preserved made of limestone and featuring sculptures and Ionic columns. Apollo’s temple was Doric and had a reconstructed floor mosaic featuring the sun, a bow and arrow, and a lyre. Artemis’ temple had a sign next to it in French proclaiming what it was and had major stonework. There was also a nifeum, a temple to the nymphs now emerced in water and filled with frogs that are said to be shepherds that Leto cursed. The Basilica was built in the 6^th Century CE by a brotherhood of monks and featured mosaics that are no longer seen. The theatre was used for religious performances and featured 16 masks.

The myth behind Letoon was written down by Ovid, a Latin writer. The nymph Leto, daughter of 2 Titans, slept with Zeus, the King of the Gods, and became pregnant with twins Apollo and Artemis. Hera, enraged by the adultery of her husband, forbids Leto from giving birth anywhere on Earth. Leto found Delos, a floating island, and gave birth to Apollo between a tree and a mountain, but only after the goddess of birthing, Ilithiya, was returned to Earth and Artemis assisted in helping her mother give birth to her brother Apollo before her.

The excavations at the UNESCO site began in 1962 by the French until now. In 2002 they did sounding around the area and found Byzantine buildings; in 2005, 95% of the wall of Leto’s temple was revealed; in 2004 and 2006 they did restorations on all of the temples.

Overall for Day 1 of Hiking

The hike today was very invigorating, if difficult due to me being out of shape. I gained 3 blisters for it, but I still enjoyed the scenery, though I did not enjoy Ryan’s whining while we waited for Ann, Kristen, and Shane to be found.

All of the sites were very beautiful and unique. Tlos had great cliff tombs that I wish I could have gone into; Xanthos had huge tombs and monuments and I wish I could have spent more time exploring the main site; Letoon had a great myth behind it and beautiful temples. The day was very tiring but filled with gorgeous sights and sites.

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We hiked roughly 8-9 miles today on the Lykian Trail with another tour guide. Our hike along the aqueduct – and then finally getting to see it – was spectacular. The view as we circled the valley below us in the hills above it was unparalleled by the farmland and mountain scenery we saw. About half way there we reached the aqueduct, and against our guides’ advice Emily and Ryan climbed it. As fun as it would have been, the stability of the structure was unknown, and they both got in trouble for it. We continued on into rougher territory, and this is when I moved to the back. I wanted to stay as up front as possible, but yesterday had pushed me greatly, so I went into the middle and held conversations with my fellow students there.

When we got to Patara, we learned that it was the 2^nd capital of the Lykian League and the document center of it. It had 2 votes, was mentioned in the Hittite annuals, and was near a river. It was another Mediterranean Turtle Protection site like Caunos and has one of the most beautiful beaches in Turkey. It is also the birthplace of Saint Nicholas (300 AD), the patron saint of children, sailors, and scholars. Alexander the Great helped build its main harbor, and most of the excavations here are from the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

All in all I really enjoyed this hike. It was tough but invigorating, as my 2 extra blisters tell me. I will be sad to leave all of this beautiful scenery, but it is time to go home to work on papers.

Facts of the day:

The Persian General’s name is Harpados, and the back of a temple is the pisdadamos.

All in all….

The hiking was a great workout and a good booster for the upcoming summer, where I plan to lose a few pounds packed on during the school year. I loved talking to people, and although our teacher took a spill and busted up the underside of her chin, the hiking was very successful.

Location: Fetiye, Turkey

Hiking Experience: Day 11, 5/20– Fetiye

Today we hiked up from the beach near our gulet to an unexcavated Lykian site near a shepherd’s house. The hike was rather hard for me because I am not in the best physical shape, so I was at the back of the pack with Captain Talet (who took my bag from me and is in the picture of me in the Mediterranean) the whole way up. We saw an old tomb, a few old buildings, and a water hut. We then visited the shepherd and his family, who served us sage tea and let us browse their merchandise. I bought a purple rug for 15 lira and a black scarf with shells for 10 lira. It was a quaint, rustic place that reminded me of home. On the way back (which was MUCH easier than the way there) I talked with Professor Killebrew about my family. The Mediterranean was a beautiful turquoise and was as warm as normal pool. One of the sailors on our gulet went diving and brought up shells and sea urchins, of which I took 2. I then ate lunch, packed my bags (fitting all of my souvenirs into my second carry-on), and sat out in the sun with a few others for most of the trip to Fetiye.

We tried to help the sailors load our things onto the dock, but we ended up watching from the bottom until Mr. Attila arrived with our bus. We waved goodbye to the sailors, loaded our luggage, and then set off into the city center to see the Telemos Theatre. We made this our meeting point, and then Jo and I went to look for lamps. We found a slightly expensive store that sold them, and I bought a purple glass candle holder and a tiny tapestry with the flag of Turkey and an evil eye on it for a total of 24 lira, while Jo only bought one beaded glass candle holder for 19 lira. We then got ourselves Magnum Double Chocolate Ice Cream Bars and met up with everyone else at the Theatre before setting off for Cayake/Levassi.

We learned on the way up that Fetiye was named after the first pilot, who was born here and died. It has 2 harbors, the commercial harbor we came in and the “blue lagoon” harbor that we are staying at for the rest of our trip. We saw an old Lykian tomb in the middle of the road on the way up and found out that Ottomans built around it and through the old Telemos necropolis. We continued our journey and learned that Levassi was an old Greek town that had been cleared out in 1923 by Ataturk and the president of Greece’s mubadel or population exchange after the First World War and the Turkish Revolution in order to keep peace in both countries. But these Greek Turks and Turkish Greeks were not happy to move from what they viewed as their homeland, and this is reflected in works such as “Birds without Wings” and in the neighborhood of Athens named after Levassi.

Levassi is now an open-air museum with the majority of the buildings abandoned except for a few villas owned by some Brits. Near the vendors, Kelly found a pile of ceramics, rusted iron pieces, and other things left behind by the former residents that we both took pictures of. The hike up to the 17^th Century Church was filled with beautiful but old, rundown brick homes. At the church, whose stone mosaic was still mostly preserved outside, we learned that Levassi had its own school, religious system, small hospital, and imc or communal construction system 8 km from the Mediterranean. I found this site to just be sad. I have read “Middlesex” with talks a little about the population exchange and all of the lives lost in Smyrna, and I wondered what it must be like to have to move from the only place you have only know, where your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents lived and died to a land that you barely know of but is your ethnically correct home to be in. It is a lot like what the United States Government did to Native American tribes in the 1800’s in order to get prized land and to control them, and moving populations like that does not agree with me. I understand that in the Turkish/Greek case it was to maintain order, but if these populations were not causing trouble with the opposite population then they should have been allowed to stay.

Fact of the day:

Fetiye is one of the greatest places to paraglide in the world.

Location: Fetiye, Turkey

My Poor Italian Ancestors: Day 10, 5/19 — Caunos, the Mediterranean and the Aegean

I was the token sick student of today’s trip. The morning of Day 10 dawned with me feeling positively awful. Something I ate the night before did not agree with me (my burps tasted like the fish we had the night before), and my stomach tossed and turned the entire time at Caunos before I finally emptied it into the Mediterranean at the end of the trip near where we saw the turtles. I felt fantastic afterwards, so hopefully I will back to better health tomorrow.

We left our boat the Sadri Usta around 8am on a smaller boat to get to Caunos, which is up the Daiyon River. We learned that an endangered turtle species lays its eggs at a beach near there and go to see 2 of them in the water as they were being baited to come into view by other smaller boats near the river entrance. We also learned that there are blue crabs near here as well, so several people bought crabs for 6 lira a pop.

We finally docked near the Caunus Archaeological Park and walked up to the Theatre. Caunos is in the Cairon region but had a culture closer to Lykian. The area has many marshes, coves, mountains, and pirates, making the people a sea people who were used by the Egyptians as mercenaries and who were also a matrilineal society. Sarpedon, son of King Miletos founded the city around the 7^th or 6^th Century BCE, but the foundation myth focuses on Canos and Biblis. They were sibling sand Biblis fell in love with her brother and begged him to be her lover. He refused and moved on to found Caunos, and Biblis jumped off a cliff in despair at her unrequited love (“love of Caunos”). The Theatre has an olive tree in it and 4 entrances, with a spectacular view of the military harbor of Caunos.

We moved on to the possible Temple to Apollo a short walk away and then to the Bascilica close to that. You could tell it was a church from altar, the wall in between the priests and worshipers, and a baptismal pool made from an old column, one of the many spolias (spoils) of the church.

Our next stop took us to an old Temple to Zeus that had been excavated from the 1960s to 2004 with an altar and columns everywhere with a terrace. It was made of marble and a local stone, which had been plastered over to make it appear to be marble. Our final stop was at the Roman Baths, where a herd of goats had taken over and began to forage. The frize was of the Thyglyph and Metope style.

On the way back to our main boat (before I worshiped Poseidon in the most intimate way possible) we say the Tombs of Caunos, with the main one holding the body of Canos himself and his family either in 1 of the other 2 rooms in his tomb or in one of the tombs around him. They had a temple style fa�ade to channel an altar-like for a great second life in the afterlife. I would have loved to climb up the Cliffside to get to the tombs, as I have an uncanny interest in the dead and how they are buried. They reminded me so much of Petra, the city built into the rocks in what is today now Jordan, which served as tombs as well as a caravan center on the Royal Road, and it is another area I hope to see someday.

Location: Caunos, Turkey

The Day of Food Poisoning: Day 9, 5/18 — Knidos and the Aegean

We woke up at 6:30 this morning and left at 7:30. Cyndi, Kelly, Kristin, and Alicia all had food poisoning from the chicken at dinner the night before, so we has to stop once before continuing our travels to Knidos. We stopped off at a store for the WC (which was a little gross due to the flies and feces in the toilet), and Cameron and I got our ice creams. We then traveled a few kilometers to the Tuna Restaurant, where I had a chicken kebob and 2 appetizers (the almond and squash one was great; the potato one was not to my liking). 6 cats stalked our table and meowed for scarps, which were given generously. Only 1 fight broke out between the tomcat, a yellow cat, and a grey cat long after the food had been eaten.

Our final destination in that area was the ancient site of Knidos. Amanda presented more on the Temple of Aphrodite than on the site, but it was a 4^th Century BCE site with 2 harbors, military and commerce, and had massive fortifications that were put in place after the second move from the first sight a few kilometers away with more fertile land. This site was a good example of Doric architecture, and its columns were mostly Doric in all of its temples and other buildings. The Odeon could hold 5,000 people, and there may have been another theatre as well nearby. Excavations started in 1812 and continue today with the British Museum and Conya University, with the focus more on context for artifacts rather than on the buildings present at the site. We checked out the site of the Temple to Apollo and its propylaion, which had “columns in antis” or columns put up in between 2 projecting walls. Our next stop was the agora section, which like many other Greek sites had a stoa or colonnaded walkway next to the shops, some of whose entrances were closed up. Our final climb lead us to the “Round Temple Terrace” or the Temple of Aphrodite discovered by Iris Love on the day of the moon landing. She was an heiress who became intrigued with the site and wanted to find the temple that held one of the most beautiful statues in the world. The Kneida Aphrodite was created from Carion marble by Praxitiles in 361 BCE with a clothed twin, and its nude form brought fans from around the known world to see it. One fan even slept with the statue, putting a stain on a form that was supposed to be pure, so the podium was continuously built higher to ward off other deviants. She has the face of one mistress and the body of another as well as male legs and lower back, which was considered the best body type. The Temple itself is a round structure built either around 360 BCE or in the 2^nd Century AD, depending on which archaeologist you talk to, with 18 columns of the Doric order. The East side had the altar, and there were two entrances to the east and west.

An almost 2 hour drive got us to Marmaris, where our gullet (Turkish sailing ship) awaited us. There is a dining area, a huge deck with mattresses all over, and rooms underneath the deck with 1 working outlet in each room which only work if we are docked. We were served salads, spaghetti, and sea brim fish for dinner, and will sleep on the decks in the evening while we are docked.There must have been something wrong with the fish, because I was up on and off all night with a horrible stomach ache. At least the sunset was gorgeous….

Location: Marmaris, Turkey

My (Hopeful) Future Internship: Day 8, 5/17 — Bodrum

This is one of my favorite days in Turkey…. Enjoy!!!!

The Institute of Nautical Archaeology is where they stabilize, desalinate, and research archaeological finds in the seas around Turkey. In the conservation labs, cardboard-like wood can come back solid after desalinization and a soak in the polyethanol glycose baths. Dr. Harpster showed us around here and the Bodrum Castle as well as having dinner with us, and I got his email so that he could recommend me for an internship here next summer. (:0)

Rebecca and Mike (2 Ph.D candidates) are working on shipwrecks from the Yenicapi site we almost saw in Istanbul as their dissertations. They were from the 6th and 10th Centuries B.C.E. The two of them were drafting their pieces and looking for clues as to how they were put together and formed. It was really neat, and they said that drafting is something to be learned and practiced — a good thing since I am not much of an artist.

In Edith’s pottery room they rebuild amphoras, and in the metal lab they take casts of old metal tools and such to make life-like models.

The Wall of Halicarnasas runs right next to it and through the Myndos Gate, whose arch is no longer on the gate.

The mausoleum was once the tomb of Mosolos, son of Hecatomas. His tomb used 2 marbles and many depictions of gods and himself all over it before this Ancient Wonder of the World was destroyed by Crusaders. Kameron, one of my fellow ArchSci majors, presented at this site and did a great job.

Brits and Danes excavated here. Bodrum Castle houses the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, where we saw a 7^th Century AD, 10^th Century AD, and a Bronze age ship. The castle was build by the crusaders out of the mausoleum and is the center of Bodrum. Amphoras became more stylized as years went on. The first shipwreck helped work out preservation techniques; the second showed trade connections between Islam and Turkey; and the third has the largest collection of oxhide ingots in the world.

One of my favorite things of the day was Isla, a dog owned by someone who worked at the Nautical Museum. She was the sweetest thing, and the History major Nick just loved her.

Location: Bodrum, Turkey

If only I had internet access at home—- Day 7, 5/16: Priene, Miletus, Didymus, and Labranda

Hello Followers of the GeoBlog,

I have been unable to load up the blog from my May trip to Turkey, so while everything is dated for today, it is all from roughly a month ago.

Thanks for reading!!!!

The site of Prianea is an entirely Hellenistic city located on the Emicale hill. It had a view of the Latmos Bay in ancient times with 2 harbors, outer and inner.The Boliterian is an entirely governmental theatre, and this one was rectangular with 4 entrances and a U-shaped pit, with a roof and columns covering the 600 people inside. Pine and Olive covered the colonnaded walkway, with the agora on both sides as it went up to the temple of Athena. The temple had 17 columns with Ionic capitals that Alexander the Great helped to rebuild after an earthquake. There were copies of the Altar of Zeus and the Statue of Athena here, as well as a temple to Demeter, where a pit for animal blood was. A synagogue and church stood next to the theatre, which is one of the best examples of Greek architecture in Asia Minor. There were 5 individual seats for religious members and a 5,000 person capacity. The Lade Battle was lost to the Persians here.

Miletus was a commercial and colonization center with a peninsula in the Latmos Bay and 2 harbors for trade and the navy. It had an agora, a harbor monument a caravan saray, and Turkish Baths, as well as a theatre. The theatre had 2 levels of seats and a vomitorium passageway. 4 columns represent the 4 most important people to the city. A wall of the Ottoman castle above is made from bits of the Theatre.

Didyhtaion (Didymus) had a Temple to Apollo where a spring was the center of the temple. It had 3 columns standing, only 1 original, and it was never completed. The Spring is supposed to be where Apollo met one of his various lovers, so the Temple was built around it. When it was not under the control of people who respected it, the spring did not appear. We saw a lot of animals here (turtle, cats, dogs), which seems to be a common theme in Turkey. 🙂 The Medusa heads on temples were to keep away evil spirits, and the ones here were pretty well preserved when compared to other statues and parts of temples we’ve seen.

Labranda was used by the Carions and controlled by a local Persian governor. It had 3 feasting halls (Androns),a treasury, and a temple to Zeus, who split the rock above it. It was excavated by the Swedes up to today. The Rock that was split there is said to have been split by lightning — hence it is an area sacred to Zeus. Feasting halls are rare in Greek architecture, so that is why the 3 here are so important to archaeology.

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From what I (vaguely) remember of this day, it was one of our most tiring. It was so much fun though because of everything we learned in this one day.

Location: Bodrum, Turkey

Day 6 — Ephesus

Today in Ephesus we traveled to the House of the Virgin Mary, The ancient city of Ephesus and its Museum, a weaving center for rugs, a leather store, a traditional Turkish delicacies store, the Tiles store, and the Temple of Artemis.

The House of the Virgin Mary (Mereymana) holds a special place in my heart because it was my research topic for this trip. Though I do not identify as a Christian, I do believe that Mary was a very important figure in this religion and that she deserves more praise than she gets. The birth of her son is just as mysterious as her own death, and I wanted everyone to know that this house meant a great deal to people all around the world. My speech was not as clear as I had planned it to be, but I went over the points I wanted to go over, so I feel very good about it. No one will ever know with absolute certainty where the Virgin Mary is buried, if she were alive at all, but for me every fact has a trace of the truth in it, so the mind should always be open to possibilities. Regardless, the House was very simple and beautiful, just as the pictures I saw made it look. We all got a taste of the holy water that runs from underneath her house to a few fountains at the bottom of a hill nearby before heading to the shops nearby. I wish I had been in it longer, but her altar was well adorned and the house well taken care of by the Lazarist Priests and the nuns that lived there. I liked being able to make a wish not only with candles but in paper, as well as the calm and serene atmosphere of the area the House sat in. If the Virgin Mary did indeed live the rest of her life here, I can understand why.

This site is an official pilgrimage site for Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Muslims, and every August 15th, her feast day is celebrated with a triple religious ceremony. She is said to have come to Ephesus with the Apostle John after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, some time around 40 CE/AD and lived to be 63 years old. She was buried in the house that she died in, and her house was not rediscovered until 1891 after a nun in Germany, Ann Catherine Emmerich, had a vision of the house and had a book written about it.

The site of the city of Ephesus was very stunning. The area around the Odeon, which served as a parliament and entertainment center, was shabby, but I loved the columns near it because I was able to test my knowledge of the column tops. The Odeon itself was an interesting touch of the old materials versus the new, and I liked only for the simple fact that we got to see how it looked both ways. I am not one to know how to mentally visualize stone on architecture, so it was nice to see how the look changed with the passing of the site from the Greeks to the Romans.

The road leading us from the Odeon to the main part of the city was a mixture of good and bad from me. I liked how it was explained that we would not be walking on this road in ancient times but on a walkway, which we saw later on down the road, but I did not like the marble stone used for the walkway. I am not the most balanced girl to begin with, and that marble was slippery and uneven in some spots to the point where it was unnerving to walk upon. The marble steps leading us down to the library were also uneven and broken off in huge sections, and I wondered how the older people managed to not hurt themselves at this site. However, I loved the 10 square meter shops, their marble signs, and the Roman backgammon boards we kept finding near the entrances as we traveled down. The walkway next to it was beautifully crafted, and the ever present cats there added a tone of humor to our visit as we all cooed over them.

The Fountain of Trianus must have been huge if its image kept people in control at least on the surface. The walls were large and the fountain was deep, so it must have been quite a sight back in Roman times. The holes to the sewer I had an insane desire to open and explore below the site. One of my biggest dreams is to visit a necropolis under a city, preferably Paris or Rome, so every time I see an above ground necropolis I just want to go run around it and look into everything there is to know about the sarcophagi.

The marble piece with the cudushos symbol was a great way to connect the past to the present, as few people know where the current American medical symbol comes from.

The Latrina was educational as well as funny – educational because I did not realize that women had their own private restroom, and funny because of all the guys in our group that sat down to test it out.

The roof to Terrace House 2 needs to be segregated more into the landscape of Ephesus. It stuck out like a sore thumb right in the middle of the landscape, so maybe painting it or planting trees around it will help. However, Terrace House 2 itself was absolutely brilliant. I loved looking through the glass walkway as we went along the 6 houses, and a lot of the metal staircases lined up almost perfectly with the stairs underneath, giving me the effect that I was walking through the houses themselves. The preservation of this part of the site was very advanced and refined, and I would love to come back in 10 years to see how much more of the marble wall tiles have been rearranged and put back in their original spots.

The Selsus library was a grand building, especially because it had 85% of its original fa�ade, but I thought it was a lot smaller than it should be for the 3^rd greatest library of the ancient world. If it was only 1 story and had such a small interior, how did they fit 20,000 scrolls there? I did like how the entrances to the agora were named after freed slaves and that they were very respected in Roman society. I did not know that they learned so much and had so many connections, but that may be because of the stigmas I have grown up with about slavery in general.

Ephesus Theatre was epic in all proportions. I can only imagine what it must have been like to sit with 10% of the population, 25,000 people, to watch gladiators fight for their lives or to hear Saint Paul and his disciple Timothy preach the thoughts and ideas of early Christianity. I wish we could have watched them rebuilding the one wall with a crane, but it makes sense to do it after hours and to shut down the main walkway towards the Theatre. I was actually excited to hear that it was the largest theatre in Asia Minor and that we would see more of them, as I find theatres and amphitheatres (though isn’t this one an amphitheatre?) to be some of the greatest buildings in the world.

Ephesus Museum was no talk and all marble, pottery, artifacts, and other items recovered from Ephesus. The statue of Artemis shows the blending of the mother goddess religion (with her large amount of breasts) with the Greek Artemis (protector of women and young girls, goddess of the hunt).

The weaving center showed us a site that few people get to see in their lives – the manufacture of carpets. I do not regret my wool-cotton $280 carpet because of all the time and effort those women put in to making each and every one of those carpets. The silk ones are beautiful, but to me not as soft as the wool carpets. The colors of the nomadic signs I felt were too bright and random for my tastes, so that is why I went for the undyed carpet colors.

The leather store was a bit of a tourist trap, being near the road and having a fashion show, but I filmed it for my Geoblog and found it very insightful about Turkish culture. The women were stereotypically beautiful Turkish women, but the blond guy did not match that stereotype with the other tall, dark, and handsome male model. I found the reversible jacket part of the show to be very heterosexist, with the man helping the woman with her jacket, but maybe that is just my LGBT Ally coming out. Everything in that store was gorgeous, but my burgundy jacket caught my eye as soon as I got in there. I have never had the money or chances to get good quality leather like the ones found here, and since I rarely buy anything for myself, I figured that this $400 jacket was worth the money I had saved up for this trip.

Turkish Leather Fashion Show

I found the delicacies store to also be very tourist trap-like, especially with the other tour group in there before us. The man in the silver suit was very entertaining and informational about all of the different foods in there, but I went for pistachio Turkish delight and a box of apple tea with an herb cup and an evil eye pendant. Cameron, Amanda and I pooled out money and items so that we could get the “Buy 5, Get 1 Free Deal,” which I found to be very generous of silver-suited man to offer all of his customers. I would have loved to get a traditional Turkish tea set, but I am afraid it will break.

I have always loved watching clay being shaped and made into ceramics and pottery, so this stop was unique to me. Jo was a pro at learning pottery forming, and I could not believe how beautiful the designs were on the baptismal candleholders as I watched the head craftsman paint them. Everything in that store was very expensive for me, so I bought a simple blue and white ceramic cup holster instead of the bell with the Turkish flag on it that I really wanted.

Jo Making a Pot

The Temple of Artemis was a very sad site. I had a lot of empathy for the gypsies trying to make a living there, and I felt a bit that Nazim was being racist when he told us to watch out for them, but I believe that it comes with his culture, especially since gypsies are rarely accepting in most cultures anyway.

The Onder Grand Hotel of Kusdasi is great except for the fact that I cannot figure out how to connect to the internet. Several of us have gone down to tell them the internet is not working, but the language barrier leaves us very frustrated.

Location: Ephesus, Turkey

Day 5 — Pergamum

The day was filled with good and bad. The good was that we got to see a ton of ancient sites filled with great history and architecture. The bad was that my battery charger blew and did not work, so I had no batteries until we got to our last sight, where I bought 2 batteries for 10 lira (~$7) from a tourist trap area. We went there again after the Asklepion, and I also bought a beautiful purple scarf, my second purchase of the trip. My first purchase was at the site where a couple was selling flower (�i�ek) raw honey and pine (�am) honey. The honey reminded me of a friend back in the States who raises honey bees, and this honey tasted different from what I have tasted before. There are a lot of these little tourist traps all throughout Turkey, so we try to avoid them and shop in towns with markets, but the prices here were good according to Nazim. The little markets were a lot like farmer’s markets back where I live in PA, and it felt a lot like home.

The ancient city of Pergamum is situated on a hill now near a dam and the town of Bergamon. The Caycos River is now damned up for water control, and while it did not prove to be an eyesore, the gondola up did. I would not have minded climbing the sacred path all the way up to it, and while the ride was relaxing and a great overhead view of the site, it does not go with it.

The Romans gained control in 133 BCE when Eminos II gave it to them, so it was able to do whatever they wished to with the backing of Rome. It is the site of 1 of the 7 churches of Revelations and it has 1 Roman building, the Temple to Trajan and Hadrian.

The Temple to Dionysus was built near the theatre, and the skene (stage )of the theatre was removable so that it would not block pilgrims going to there.

Above it was the Temple to Athena and the Library dedicated to her, the 2^nd largest in the ancient world after Alexandria. The 3 archways that hold up the theatre were used for storage by the Romans.

The Altar of Zeus is in Berlin but has a tree planted in its place to commemorate it. This was probably the saddest part of the visit just because there was nothing left of such a grand victory temple.

The Red Basilica is a secular building that went from being a temple to Isis and then to Athena in the 5^th Century BCE, to 1 of the 7 churches of Revelation in the 1^st Century AD, to a mosque in the 12 Century CE. . Despite St. Paul’s preaching, the Roman Cult was strong here and did not completely die out even after 300 AD. The marble bases are from Athena’s temple. The baptismal pool pointed to the east, suggesting pagan origins. While there we heard the call to prayer, which is done 5 times a day in Islam and 30 minutes before the actual prayer is to be done.

Cyndi then presented to us the Asklepion Healing Center founded by Archeus in the 4^th Century BC for all semi-ill people except for the dying and pregnant. We saw the monument with the 2 intertwined snakes, now the symbol for the medical profession. There was hydrohealing, psychological healing, and musical healing done at the site depending on the illness, though most were more mental than physical, and if any surgery was performed it was for the removal of foreign objects. Terracota body part offerings were left in thanks. It could 250 people but the stadium held 3,500 in order get donations. This was another gorgeous site, especially the tunnels where water could be heard falling.

Location: Bergamon, Turkey

Day 4 — Assos

We are staying for 2 days in this beautiful village that is near the harbor of the ancient city of Assos. We stayed in a hotel by the sea and were surrounded by little shops and restaurants that I hope to explore tomorrow. On the mountain above the harbor was the ancient city of Assos, and we explored this city and the surrounding area today.

Our first stop of the day was at the Sminthian Apollo Temple near Assos. It was built around the 1st Century BCE, and is connected to Chrseis, the daughter of a priest of Apollo who was captured by Agamemnon during the Trojan War. The priest asked Apollo to make the Ionians suffer, and he showered a plague upon them until Agamemnon gave her back, taking Achilles’ Briseis in her place and causing one of the great arguments known to man. Temples served as houses to the gods, so the average person did not get to go in to the temple for prayer and sacrifice as is seen in movies. To our left of the entrance the stairs were new, reconstructed stairs of marble. However, most of the temple would have been made of the local andaza granite, including the podiums and underneath. Marble from around Asia Minor was used for upperlevel facing. The columns were also reconstructed, and a bird’s nest sat on top of it with several bird families in it. The site stretched for a large amount of land, with walls and an arch seen.

We next went to an old granite quarry with several unfinished columns lying around. The sight from some of those tops of rock was gorgeous and break-taking, seeing houses and towns small as bugs in the distance. It was nice to see a bit of what the workers would have seen and to look at where they dug and what they worked on. It would have been a heck of a trip to move it to the harbor at Alexandria Trois.

Alexandria Troas was built by Alexander the Great and later his general Antigonos. It stretched for acres and acres to the coast, and had baths and 1 full arch seen at our first stop. Granite was moved from quarries, often worked into columns. Those that did not survive were left where they lay, including some at the harbor we later went to. Every classical city had a bath, as it was a part of the plan drawn out by Roman architects. The city also would have had an amphitheatre or theatre. The amphitheatre was round or oval for sports and gladiators competitions like the Coliseum. A theatre is half of a circle where music is played and plays acted out.

The Stadium is now a huge field that stretches for 130 meters with seats on the left and right that are now covered with trees. There was once a spina (line down the stadium) and an obelisk in the middle of the stadium. How sites are slowly retaken by nature has always fascinated me – humans like to believe that we are the ultimate species that will never be forgotten due to our large buildings and massive creations, but the Romans who built that theatre also thought the same thing, and look at it now. We are so small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and yet we also have the ability to create and destroy this world.

An odeon served as a parliamentary building on the weekdays and as a theatre on weekends in the Roman world. The Odeon’s 5 entrances go from west to east. It was a very well preserved site covered in poppies, and I loved the tunnel we got to go into and where our guide found a bit of jawbone in the rocks.

The old Harbor of Alexandria Troas was a salt lake that was manually connected to the sea to become a breakwater, but it has silted up again in the past 1,400 years. This is where the granite columns from the area were shipped out, with some left along the way there and at the harbor if they broke. It was small but beautiful in my opinion, and I loved being able to comb these beaches nearby and watch it break on the shore, imagining what it must have been like to sail out of the harbor into it hundreds of years ago.

The ancient part of Assos is high above where we stayed while there. It has a replica of its temple to Athena, which was a mix of Doric and Ionic, which I found to be very unique because it showed how connected and yet independent each Greek city-state was to each other. The different buildings on the site would have been great to go in, but I don’t know about the structural integrity of each, so climbing into them may have been a bad thing to do anyway. The view up there as we wandered around the different ruins of the city was spectacular. I have never seen so blue of a sea, but the wind up there almost took my hat, so I was glad to climb back down. The climb down was not very long and rather calming. It must have been something to climb down that hill to the harbor every day in order to fish or to set sail to trade, and knowing that we were looking at Lesbos was a deep connection to me because I am an Ally to the LGBT community at Penn State.

Fact of the Day:
There are three different types of columns used by the Greeks for buildings:
Ionic (scroll at the end);
Doric (simple, wide, no base);
and Corinthian (floral, later in history, loved by the Romans).

Location: Assos, Turkey

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