Bonus Blog: Christian in a Muslim country

Although most of you who know me know that I don't really participate in Christian tradition like I once did, I still identify myself as Christian due to it being my cultural tradition and the source of much of my identity formation. On a trip such as this, I especially  identify as Christian--being that I'm coming in from the U.S., am researching the archaeological dig sites with Christianity in mind, and am with a group from a theological school. Therefore, I thought this would be a good time to reflect a little bit, and share with you, on what it has been like to be a Christian in a Muslim country.

Although Christianity is essentially a world power unto itself, it is a minority religion in Turkey. This situation offers a particularly rare opportunity to see myself (and Christianity, and the U.S.) from the outside in--to be displaced from my religious/cultural context (as the two are surely inseparable for most Americans) and astutely aware that my traditions, my beliefs, my understandings are not the traditions, beliefs, and understandings of everyone. Indeed, they are the traditions, beliefs, and understandings of terribly few here. Almost none. To hear the call to prayer multiple times throughout the day (and night!), to see beautiful mosques on every corner, to reserve my speech about anything Christian: this all reminds me of what it must feel like to be a religious minority in the States. It must feel lonely and solitary, too often.

Being here has also afforded me the opportunity to see myself as simultaneously in a position of power as an American, despite being displaced as a religious minority. Power dynamics are an interesting phenomenon, albeit an unfortunate reality. As we walked the streets of Selcuk each day, to search out lunch, dinner, or souvenirs, we were obviously not locals. I can't tell you how many times I consciously thought to myself, "I feel so American right now." I often talked about the feeling with international students in our group. Everyone should have experiences that make them realize their cultural formation and identity so consciously. Although we did our best to learn and use the language, there has been an inherent and mutual understanding that the locals will know at least enough English to communicate with us. It is so incredibly presumptuous, and unfortunate. When foreigners come to the U.S., we always expect them to speak English. This trip--as every trip abroad--makes me ashamed of that fact. Why aren't I learning the other languages before leaving on my trips? I should be doing it much, much more...

I have really enjoyed being in this context. The people we have met, the locals we have interacted with, the shopkeepers, and restaurant staff--they have all been more than gracious to us. I'm sure the American dollar is a very influential part of that hospitality. But I will say that never, not even once, did I feel concerned for my safety. Quite oppositely, every one has been generous and kind, going out of their way to make us feel at home in their land, in their hotels, and restaurants. It has been an amazing experience, which reminds me that people can never be reduced to one label. Ever. We are all human beings, in human suffering and human happiness. We love, and laugh, and care for our families and work our jobs, and do our best. 

I am overjoyed to finally have this experience with Muslims in their own country for myself. My wish is that you all might have such an experience for yourselves, as well.

Day Ten

Today was our final full day in Turkey! It is so sad to leave this amazingly beautiful country, especially after the week of incredible learning we have had  :( 

We had a final lecture this morning, synthesizing a lot of our conversations from the week. We looked at the Salutaris Foundation inscription--a really significant inscription found in Ephesus, and, as mentioned earlier, connected to a slope house in the city, as well. 

After our lecture, we ventured up the hill to see the ruins of the medieval Church of St. John. This site claims to hold the tomb of John of Patmos (who wrote the book of Revelation) or John the Evangelist. Both may be unlikely, but the tradition arose from somewhere...and we spent some time thinking about historical evidences for both.

After the walk to the Church of St. John, we took a bus to Pamacuk, to eat lunch by the Aegean Sea. I've included a pic above. It was a fantastic lunch, and we had a really nice time walking on the beautiful beach. But it was freezing! At least the transition back to Boston won't be difficult...

In the late afternoon, Andrea and I took a walk back to Ephesus, one last time. And then spent some time walking around the market in Selcuk with some of the other students--trying to spend our final lyras!

Tonight, is our goodbye dinner. We say goodbye to our most amazing hostess Janet Crisler, of the Crisler Library in Ephesus. It amazes me to see such a gracious woman who is so incredibly encouraging of young scholars. It felt like a true privilege to be here, as a guest of her library.

Unfortunately, we already had to say goodbye to Courtney this morning, as she was headed off to meet her husband for a few more weeks of international traveling! I've included a pic from this morning, of the three doctoral students (Chris, Courtney, and me).  :)

Be back to Boston by tomorrow night...

Hope everyone is well!

Love, 

Krista

Day Nine

Today we heard a lecture by Hilke Thur, one of the archaeologists who has been a principal excavator at the slope houses in Ephesus. After the lecture, she gave us a tour of them, including (once again!!) getting us into restricted areas. My pictures totally cannot do justice to the experience of seeing full structures of houses from the 1st century BCE - 2nd century CE. We were able to see so many of the archaeological concepts that we've been discussing--but also see the implications of them and imagine their impacts upon the lived experiences of the people of that time. From what it meant to have a peristyle house (hierarchical household, no privacy), to seating around a dining table, to the way that slaves would have been exchanged as goods among extended family. 

The first mosaic, of Poseidon and a mermaid (can't remember the name...), is one of the rare examples we of people in a floor mosaic, as well as color being used in a floor mosaic. It was located in front of the reading/resting niche in the house of Salutaris (a city official/elite man, whom we will be learning more about this morning). It is incredibly rare to know a person's function in the city, as well as know their house. For this reason, the home of Salutaris is an amazing site for scholars--and we got to go into the house!!


The next picture is an overview pic of another peristyle house, where you can somewhat see how each of the rooms in the house were connected to the courtyard. 

The next pic is of an imperial altar in a household. This niche is such an incredible site because the busts of Tiberius and Livia (his mother), along with a snake (representing the household genus) were found in this niche--indicating how this niche would have functioned for the house. 

These items have been placed in the Ephesus museum (which we visited on Day 2), and I have included their picture, as well. They are the real items that were found in the niche!! 

Further out from this niche in the house was an altar, where sacrificial ritual would have occurred for the household, to the imperial cult. I know I have said this before, but seeing a household sacrificial altar, connected so clearly to household imperial cult worship, made the entire trip for me. I could hardly absorb the moment, and the gravity of getting to see household sacrificial worship up close like that!

Behind that altar was another, smaller altar, that was set against a walll, and would have served as a place for household genus worship. All these things--the imperial niche, the primary altar, the minor altar, and the household genus items--would have been in perfect alignment in the house. It was stunning to see it, set out so obviously. 

Sunday is our last full day in Turkey. We have lecture in the morning (on an inscription regarding Salutaris), then we visit the Church of St. John, have lunch by the Aegean, and then a goodbye dinner here at the library.

Hope everyone is doing well!

love, 

Krista

Day Eight

(Courtney, being all imperial :) )

(Courtney lecturing with the terrace of her site in the background.)

(Some members of our group making their way up the monumental stairway.)

(The view of Domitian Street and Plaza from the terrace of the Temple of the Sebastoi.)

Hi everyone! I can hardly believe it is already Friday night, once again. We only have a few more days in Turkey!!... 

Today was a really full day!--our major day at the Ephesus dig: site presentations throughout the ancient city by the remaining students in our group. I've posted some pics of Courtney giving her presentation at the Temple of the Sebastoi (or emperors). Her site was really the most significant civic and religious site of the city (...and I'm not just saying that because she's my roomie!). I've tried to include some pics where you can see how prominently situated the temple would have been on the terrace in the middle of the city. Thanks to Gingas (once again), we were allowed to climb up to the terrace where the temple would have sat via the monumental stairway! It was awesome; no one gets to do this normally. (One of the pics shows some people in our group making their way up the stairway. The other is the view of the city from the top of the terrace.)

This temple, and the provincial imperial cult it signified, would have been a really outstanding part of the identity of Ephesus, particularly in light of the city's shift away from the physical location of the Artemision (on the other side of Mt. Panayr dag) and psychological shift toward Roman rule. We really got a chance to think out loud, together, about the implications of this by exploring all of the structures of the city. It was a really great day for advancing my thinking about Ephesus. I am so hopeful and excited about how this trip and all of its learning will inspire my dissertation writing!

Tonight, we all ventured out together into the city suburbs just a little more, and ate dinner at this amazing municipal/community-owned building. It was the best evening yet! A really wonderful dinner, live music, and so much fun. After dinner, we got some baklava and took it back to our hotel. We gathered in a basement room, full of couches and with a lit fireplace, drank our wine, ate baklava, and chatted with each other and with our Turkish hotel hosts (Mustafa and Belyle). It was really a great day full of thinking and learning, followed by a really nice evening. What a phenomenal opportunity this has been...

Tomorrow, we tour the famous "slope houses" with one of the Austrian archaeologists who has been principal in excavating them, Hilke Thur. She will be taking us through the houses, giving us the inside information on this very exciting dig site within the ancient city. There is so much important insight to be gained from thinking about how the people of Ephesus lived within their city. We are so excited. And having Hilke with us is a really rare opportunity!!

Hope everyone is well!

Love,

Krista

Day Seven

Hello everyone! Today has been a rather rainy and chilly day, so it turned out well that we spent most of it on the bus, to and from Aphrodisias. This city is about 2.5 hours away from Selcuk, but totally worth the drive!

It was famous in antiquity for its Temple of Aphrodite. But for scholars today, it is equally significant that this city had a school for sculpting. There were many marble quarries surrounding this town, and the museum demonstrates this well--chocked full of marble statues! It is really hard to describe, but imagine room after room full of amazingly detailed statues, some as tall as the ceiling. Many of these works are signed, which is also a rarity in antiquity. Then there was a very long hall, with huge friezes of life-size people sculpted into them, lining every wall! These friezes were on the Sebasteion (temple of the Emperors) at Aphrodisias. I've included a picture of me and Jenny (Prof. Knust) with one of the statues. 

Outside, walking around the dig site, we saw amazing ruins of the city. Pics of two of the sites are included below, and are worth mentioning....

First is the stadium at Aphrodisias, below. This is the largest (longest) stadium of antiquity, and also the best preserved. Look closely at the pic to see just how big this place is--it is huge!! It would have been capable of seating 30,000 people. Scholars do not believe that this is any indication of the population size of the city, but rather indicates the magnitude of the festivals of Aphrodite and of the Sebastoi (or emperors). Delegations, athletes, choirs, and citizens from all of the cities in Asia Minor would have attended such festivals, traveling to the respective cities at the appropriate times of the year. Therefore, these stadiums tell us a lot about the significance of such festivals in the religious/civic lives of the cities.

The other significant site is the Temple to Aphrodite. The pic I've included is of the gate to the Temple, with the columns in the background signifying what remains of the actual Temple. It was stunning to see, as a tetrapylon gate (such as this gate) is rare. 

We also saw some really significant sites that represent benefaction from a wealthy freedperson in antiquity. We got to spend some really great time thinking out loud about the implications of freeing slaves, freedpersons obtaining wealth in antiquity, the benefits to the slaveowner of giving manumission, and how that freedperson would have functioned civically.

The city itself was really beautiful, with huge mountains in the distance, some with snow on the peaks. Gorgeous view. 

Tonight, we are free. The rest of the group makes their site presentations at Ephesus tomorrow, so most are here at the library working. I'm blogging :) But we will head for dinner soon....

Hope everyone is doing well!

love, 

Krista

Bonus Blog: Roomies!

One of the best parts of this trip has been being roomies with Courtney! We have laughed so hard (and lost so much sleep)! I thought all the fun should be commemorated in a photo montage... (Plus, her fam and husband are following the blog. Hi, Courtney's family!)

cheetos at Ephesus!

carrots on the way to the Cave of Paul and Thecla!

(The theme of these two pics: things that are orange sticks)

roomies! @ the Cave of Paul and Thecla

Celsus Library @ Ephesus. Posing with what I thought was a greek inscription for friendship. Courtney thought it was the greek for a man's name. (I was wrong... Courtney was right.)

More roomies pics @ Ephesus.

Roomies demonstrating just how big the columns are at the Temple of Apollo at Didyma!!

Day Six: Addendum

So...this evening, Chris, Courtney, Andrea, and I took a taxi up to the beautiful hillside city of Sirence. It was a gorgeous, little greek style town. Friendly people, little shops, great restaurants. We wandered through some shops for a while, then trekked our way to the highest point in the village that we could find to take some pics before the sunset. Then we journeyed back down the hills to the shops and did some more shopping. We found some great items! :)  Finally, we made our way to a fantastic restaurant. I think tonight was the best meal I have had during the whole time in Turkey so far. I learned how to say "I'm a vegetarian" in Turkish the other day, and it has served me well!! The man in the restaurant was so happy to help me pick out vegetable dishes, and it was so great! Yay for being full. Good dinner, warm bread, apple tea. It was perfect.

Then, came time to make our way back to Selcuk. Only problem: no taxis in this little mountaintop town after dark, and all the buses back to the city had already left! So, the owner of the restaurant told us he would arrange a ride for us back to Selcuk. Little did we realize this was a personal friend of his!! :-0  We were pretty nervous, but arrived back at the Akay Hotel safe and sound. A little frazzled, but safe :)  It's all about adventure, right? 

But seriously. The best night in Turkey yet. New country. Beautiful town. Amazing view. Great shops. Excellent dinner with wonderful company. Life doesn't get much better than this...

Note: the pics in this blog are courtesy of Chris, our own professional photographer on this class trip! :)  Thanks, Chris!!

Day Six

Today was another most amazing day!! We spent the morning in lecture hearing about the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, as the site remains are scarce and generally under water or too marshy at this time of year. Afterwards, we walked over to the Artemision site, and found that it was dry enough that we could walk around in the "footprint" of the temple. As I've mentioned before, this temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world--a huge, huge site. However, not much remains there now for us to see. 

After viewing the Artemision, we quickly took the bus over to the ancient city of Ephesus, on the other side of Mt. Panayr Dag. There, we discussed the Serapion (Temple of the Egyptian gods), including all of the implications of an egyptian cult in Ephesus. A really great site presentation and discussion.

From there, we hiked up Mt. Bulbul Dag to see the Cave of Paul and Thecla. Although the name is misleading, as this was not an actual cave where Paul was likely ever present, it is named for one of the paintings inside: the earliest known drawing of Paul!! Again--the earliest know depiction of Paul! This is so incredibly significant. We felt so lucky to even see the site, as it is both a hike away from the city and we only gained entrance thanks to our local connection, Gingas. The image was underneath another layer of plaster inside the cave, so it has been extremely well preserved and is in astounding condition. We were in awe. There were other paintings/drawings and graffiti in the cave, as well. But the depiction of Paul (and Thecla, and her mother) really captured our imaginations. I've included a pic of me with Paul below...

We had a quick lunch sitting half way up the mountain, as students took turns going inside the small, dark cave. I've included a pic from lunch, so you can (sort of) see how high up we were, and the amazing view that this hike afforded us of the ancient ruins at Ephesus!

On the way out of Ephesus, my classmate Chris spotted some icecream, which we felt obligated to try out (lol). As an expert, I can say that it was very good :)

Then, to our delight, we got the afternoon off! Thank you, James :)  I'm headed now to another city with a few of the other students, for walking around/exploring and dinner. We've nearly tapped out all the restaurants here in Selcuk, so we thought we'd venture out a little further for tonight's meal.

But again, what an amazing day. We are all so appreciative to James for organizing this trip, and getting us in to all these "insider" sites. Unbelievable!

my love to all,

Krista

Day Five

Today was a much less intense day. But we were still dragging, due to the cumulative exhaustion and a second full day on the bus. We saw Claros, Smyrna, and Sardis. The latter two cities are among the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. We thought out loud about why these churches would have been significant imperial cities in the second century CE.



The pic of me and fellow student Ji Seong is in front of the oracular Temple of Apollo at Claros. Usually it is on dry land, but right now, during rainy season, the dig area is flooded :(

The picture of many columns was taken at Smyrna. Below the area where the people are standing, we went underground to the artisan workshops and saw first/second century graffiti! Some of this graffiti might be our earliest Christian evidences, and is a really intense center of scholarly interest right now for this reason.

The other two pics are from Sardis. Both are of the emperor's niche, one close up and one far away.

We were in both rain and shine today, warm sunshine and freezing cold. It fluctuated throughout the day, contributing to our tiredness on the very long bus ride home. Tomorrow, we spend more time thinking about and exploring the Artemision of Ephesus (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world!!), and then get a free afternoon to return to the dig site of Ephesus. So glad to spend more time with one of my dissertation sites...

Tonight, we ate Turkish Delight and Baklava in the market area, after dinner. Very good :)

Day Four

Today was a long and tiring day, but so incredibly memorable!! I think I have never been more thankful for the gift of a healthy body and able legs and feet than I was today. What a real treasure to be able to go and climb and see all of these unbelievable archaeological sites!...

Our first adventure was visiting the ancient city of Priene, situated on the side of a mountain. We had to hike and climb to reach our sites, but it was so worth it. The views made me speechless, not to mention the archaeological sites that we got to see after each climb. The city is incredibly excavated, allowing us detailed thought and conversation about how a city functioned, how people and religion and empire all intermingled. At Priene, we saw the Temple of Athena, which was just stunning. I've included a picture of Jenny (Prof. Knust) and I at the site. Be sure to notice the rest of the mountain, visible in the background! 

After that, a few of us hiked even further up the mountain(!!) to the Temple of Demeter that sat outside (read: above) the city; such a cool experience. The other pic above is of me near the ruins of the Demeter temple. You can get a little bit of an idea of the high location of the temple on the mountain from the view behind me.

After we exhausted ourselves and our time at Priene, we departed for Didyma and the Temple of Apollo!! This is the site where I gave my little mini-lecture to the group. It would not do the site justice to try and describe it here. So I've included several pics to try and help you imagine it. But let me jut say "Wow!" This temple is the third largest temple in antiquity, following close behind the Artemision of Ephesus, which is one of the wonders of the ancient world. So, we are talking about a very, very large temple. It was breathtaking to see the topic of so much of my research--an ancient oracular temple--in person. The first pic is of me with the temple in the background, after my mini-lecture. The next pic is of the temple, as viewed from the front. Look closely and note the people in the pic, so you can get an idea of the colossal size of the structure. The last pic is of my with my two profs, Jenny and James, on the steps that lead down into the adyton (or what we might think of as the courtyard) of the temple. In the background, you can see the massive height of the still-standing columns (to the left). Right behind us is a half column--a HALF column. Unbelievable. 

I feel so incredibly lucky--and know that I am lucky--to be here, thinking through my historical research with "hands-on" experience. I wish you could all be here too, especially for the conversations with my amazing professors. The learning is all-day, everyday, everywhere. In fact, we even pulled the bus over on the side of the road twice, during our drive back this evening. Once, our guide Gingas and James spotted a hellenistic Roman aqueduct pipe (of sorts) on the side of the road (so Gingas and our two profs got out to inspect it!). Another time, we pulled over to look at a 2nd century CE double-decker aqueduct--a very rare find. Again, I am just so so thankful. Tired! But thankful.

Day Three

Today we finally made it to the dig site of Ancient Ephesus!! (But only after a morning lecture, of course. James nearly suffered a revolt...)

The site was amazing. I will try to offer more reflections later, but wanted to post some pics. 

It started out raining a lot, evidenced by Courtney (my roomie) with her camera in its bathing suit :)

But after a little while at the site, it stopped raining, the sun came out, and it warmed up a lot! 

We got to spend a lot of time roaming through the different areas, starting to imagine the implications of the architecture, the city grid, the height of buildings, the intermingling of sacred and secular. We will be going back several more times, devoting more efforts to really digging in to the different buildings. But it was a great first day with the city.

Some of the most prominent impressions from visiting the city included its situation between two mountains and what that would have meant for processions to the Temple of Artemis (on the other side of the mountain), the prominent positioning of the Temple of the Sebastoi (Courtney's presentation site) in respect to the rest of the city, the amount of inscriptions throughout the entire city, and the beautiful marble that was everywhere (indicating a lot of benefaction and maybe investment by the emperor).

I've also included a picture of me with the Celsus Library in the background (a site whose front facade has been reconstructed by the Austrian archaeologists. It helps one to get perspective on how big the structures of the city were, and their grandeur.

Tomorrow, we go to Didyma!!.. :)

Day Two

hello everyone!

We spent today in lecture with Prof. James Walters, and then at the Ephesus site museum with our guide Gingas (who was a museum curator and archaeologist at the site for approx. 40 years!). It was raining too hard to actually go to the site today, but we are going tomorrow--rain or shine. After spending the day looking at artifacts, I am so excited to walk through the site!!

But the site museum was amazing!! Gingas provided us with priceless insider details on the artifacts. I'm including a picture of the marble statue of Ephesian Artemis. Gingas gave us the latest theory on this statue, which for much of Christian history has been identified as the many-breasted Artemis and disparaged by Christian tradition as being a sexually-charged cult deity. Gingas challenged this hypothesis, offering a counter theory that indeed these bulbus-looking objects attached to Artemis are really bull testicles. If the wooden Artemis statue, which would have been carried in procession, were part of the sacrificial ritual (as is likely), then it is possible that these round objects were bull testicles, nailed to the wooden statue to celebrate or indicate fertility. Not sexuality, but fertility; a significant difference. For those of us in Early Christian scholarship, this theory is extremely helpful in thinking through the ways that the wooden processional statues functioned, as well as the ways in which pagan traditions have been caricatured by Christianity.

By the end of the day, the sun had finally come out! But without leaving us enough time to still visit the site. So we went back to the open-air market, which we also visited first thing this morning, before the lecture. I'm including a picture from there, as well.

Will post again soon.

Love, 

Krista

    

Day One

So, today was really a full day in Ephesus (even though we were somewhat sleep deprived). We walked around and got a nice feel for the village of Selcuk, got to see the Crisler Library at Ephesus, and got to see the Artemis Temple ruins a little more (but we will be seeing the ruins from atop a mountain in the next day or so, which will provide a much better view of the scarce remains).

Above are pictures of our hotel. It's like many little villas, inside a larger gated villa. Very mediterranean :)

Tomorrow morning, we will hear a lecture from James Walters, the prof. And then we go on a walking tour of Ephesus! (If it's not raining too hard...though I am fully prepared for it, thanks to my Boston raingear.) I am hoping to wake up early enough to go to the open air market in the morning with some of the other students. We've heard the market is very exciting :)

Will try to post again tomorrow...

Love,

Krista

Arrived Safely!

We made it...finally...to our hotel in Selcuk. It has been a heck of a long travel day (or two?...). 

We are LITERALLY across the street from the ruins of the Temple of Artemis. Amazing. 

So, what do graduate students do after being away from cell phones and internet for 24 hours?! Hop online, of course! There is wireless internet access at our hotel! :)  Yay. 

But we are setting out for a walking tour shortly, in hopes that moving will keep us AWAKE!

[The pic is of me at Boston Logan. First thing this morning. before the travel tiredness set in...]

Leavin' on a jet plane...

Hello friends and family! This will be my attempt to keep everyone up to date on my trip to Turkey. I am traveling to the ancient city of Ephesus, as well as some of its surrounding areas, as part of a BU seminar course in Early Christianity.

We leave tomorrow. So very excited!! We will go from Boston to New York, then 10+ hours to Istanbul. Then a short flight to Izmir, and I believe from there we are taking a one hour bus ride to Selcuk. It will be a very long day, but my hope is that all my packing tonight will make me plenty tired to sleep on the plane ride there. Staying awake once we land in Turkey will be key to fighting the jetlag!

My presentation will be on the ancient city of Didyma (not shown on the map above, but south of Ephesus). Specifically, I'll be talking about the oracle at the Temple of Apollo in Didyma (the ruins in the picture above). The ruins of this temple are still pretty impressive today, and I'm excited to walk my group through what the temple layout and function would have meant for the people of its day. This is especially exciting for me, as I'll be writing on the Oracle at Delphi in my dissertation (the most significant oracle in the ancient world), and the opportunity to think through other, minor oracles--in person--is a crazy opportunity!!

I want to say thanks to Melanie (& Peter) for letting me borrow the awesome camera (and the lightweight durable one, too)!! Any good pics to follow are because of them! 

Alright. I need to get going for now. Hope to update asap!

my love to all (especially sweet Abbie, who is not feeling so well tonight)--
Krista