The Delphi museum is another one not to be missed, however it is missing proper air conditioning, perhaps to allow you to experience ancient atmosphere in Delphi! Let’s start with the remarkable bronze statue of a charioteer, and yes there were chariot races in the upper stadium at Delphi. Clearly enough, this is Greek style charioteer, as the Romans didn’t wear a long toga to ride around in. Here is a statue of a handsome young man named Antinos, who... Read more

Not for everyone was the steep journey up to the oracle of Delphi in the Temple of Apollo (the god of prophecy), but many made the trip. What one needs to understand is that in ancient Greece, prophecy was a matter of consultation, by and large. That is, one went to the Pythia to ask pertinent questions about one’s life and future— Should I marry this woman? Should I buy this land? Will I ever get well? Should I go... Read more

A few more locales and scenes from Athens are in order, and here we will focus on things in the agora and Roman forum, namely the temple of Hephaestus, the most well preserved temple in the area, and one Paul could have seen, and the Horalogea– or water clock in the Roman forum. The more things change, the more they stay the same… in the forum men play backgammon…. listen to traditional Greek music…. imbibe some liquids and eat some... Read more

Monks, in the old days, were hauled up these bluffs in baskets and with pulleys, as were supplies. No small feat even now. Today, the lifestyle is less strenuous in most cases. First, we must consider the imposing locale itself, which was picked precisely because it was ‘far from the madding crowd’, a good place for retreat, prayer, contemplation, study. We had to climb 120 steps straight up to get to the monastery we were visiting. It is not a... Read more

One of the great problems with cruises to Biblical sites is you don’t have nearly enough time at the Biblical sites to see them properly, never mind visiting the many museums. This is why I much prefer doing land tours of these countries by a good comfortable bus such as this one…. You never know what you will see next, for example, a Greek road sign that appears to point one to the city of Anthill….,although it really is Anthili.... Read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4OYdWtyClg Good News. The latest Mission Impossible is the best of the whole series, and it will have you on the edge of your seat right to the end. There are the usual impossible stunts, performed by Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise (not without injury this time), the usual chase scenes (the one continuous take through Paris is impressive), but this movie has more complexity to it than most others in this series. In some ways this seems like some of the... Read more

When Paul went to Berea, he was going off the beaten track, for sure. And honestly, there is not much to see in modern Berea in terms of antiquities, though there is an excellent fish restaurant there! There are nice monuments to Paul, including one depicting his vision of the Macedonian person telling him to come over and help them….. We have a nice depiction of the text of what Acts says about the visit to Berea (from which so... Read more

Further finds in the nice modern museum in Thessalonike, include this highly decorative mausoleum… with scenes from Greek mythology…. Here is another example of syncretism of Greek and Egyptian art— the kore head on the sphinx body… There is a room in the museum with remarkable column heads….. To their credit, Romans tended to prefer a realistic portrayal of what they looked like, rather than the Greek tendency towards idealism…. Here is a master and villa owner, to whom his... Read more

While exploring Thessalonike looking for Biblical data leaves one wanting more, there are plenty of things in the archaeological museum there that are worth highlighting for instance the grave steles. For example, here is a stele honoring an actor Marcus Valerius, who apparently convincingly played both male and female roles in tragedies….. Or here is a fisherman’s grave stele, Here’s an interesting one involving a slave with a scroll. Many of these inscriptions are not merely honorific but address onlookers... Read more

Thessalonike was an important city in Paul’s day, and it still is today, being the second largest city in all of Greece, and a major seaport. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of remains from Paul’s era in the city, apart from in the Thessalonike archaeology museum, which I had not previously visited. Yes, there is a Roman forum and odeon to see, Yes there are remains of a Roman bath complex under the Church of St. Demetrios, the most... Read more