Arsemeia in some ways was the capital of the Commagene kingdom, located way up on a mountain with a great view…. Shoot it even has a restaurant way up on that hill… Yet another statue of Antiochus shaking the hand of a god or demi-god, in this case Herakles=Hercules. There is also a stand alone statue of the king himself…. being hugged here by Meltem…. Even higher up on the hill is the largest and longest single Greek inscription in... Read more
Yes I know, you’ve probably never heard of the Commagene kingdom, and you are confused by all the different Antiochus’. Our concern is not with Antiochus Epiphanes who sparked the Maccabean, but rather Antiochus Commagene, the one who had an artificial tumulus built on top of a 7,000 foot mountain called Nimrud, and built his own personal shrine to himself there. We will get to that in subsequent posts, but first a visit to Perrhe. If you’ve never heard of... Read more
There are in fact five such dams, but here pictured is the main one. These are dams on the river Euphrates which are allowing massive irrigation in eastern Turkey, with resulting huge crops of pistachios, figs, olives, cotton, and other staples. On the top of the dam there is a nice cafe with a good breeze, and lovely oleanders… The result of the dam is not only more crops, but also some nice lakes to swim in… for instance, this... Read more
The most memorable parts of Hattusha are the wall carvings in Chambers A and B. Some of the images are quite faded, some look like they could have been carved in modernity, but weren’t. All of these depict encounters between rulers, or Hittite ruler and their gods. Let us examine the carving in chamber A first. But first a reminder of what a major kingdom the Hittite kingdom was— consider this letter from the famous Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses to the... Read more
There are some significant tunnels in the upper city, one of which has interesting paintings in it. But surely the most intriguing is the secret chamber with Luwian hieroglyphics. With the fall of the Hittite empire, the site continued to be inhabited and used, with some other group of people building a southern fortress, the remains of which can be seen below. Outside the perimeter there is another inscription, Luwian put this one is not pictographic. We’ve saved the best... Read more
The upper city reveals a lot more including some impressive gates. Here’s first my wife, and then our whole our intrepid band of 12 explorers in the lion gate. The sphinx gate is certainly interesting, speaking to the interaction between the Hittites and the Egyptians. The original is in the Ankara museum, but here’s the recreated one. And did I mention the King’s gate (immediately below). But when you go through the lion gate and come to the back... Read more
Hattusha, like the Hittite empire is a huge and sprawling site that one cannot cover in a single visit. It’s a good 2 hours plus bus ride out of Ankara to get to it, and it is well and truly in the middle of nowhere today. It will take several posts to give even a basic look at the site, set on multiple tall hills. But not only is the Hittite capital sprawling so was their empire as this map... Read more
Then there is this monumental inscription involving Ashurbanipal, the king of Assyria in the 7th century B.C. And then there is the Sumerian cuneiform exhibit (the folks credited with inventing writing of a sort) And a treatment of seals used on documents And a few statues and steles also found in Adana province. This one from the late Hittite period and the one below ditto. Because of the lack of frequent reference to Hittites in the OT, it is easy... Read more
The Museum Hotel in Antioch is a spectacular place– a hotel which was built over, and after the archaeologists finished their excavations of Roman villas and street which lay directly beneath the planned hotel. Here first is an overview of the ancient city, which in Paul’s day had an island in the middle of the river, but not today. In the first century it was likely the third largest city in the Empire. But this city over the centuries has... Read more
Ask yourself this question— what would Jesus say about the behavior of those offering unChristian and unfair attacks against both Presidential candidates and particularly those who are prepared to do violence to get their candidate into office or the other candidate out of the running, or those who are simply in denial and won’t admit that their candidate lost or could lose an election? Read more
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