2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Pergamun Pictures

Congratulations.

If you have made it this far into the Eastern Med Trip Blog Posts, you have come to the FINAL POST OF GRECO/ROMAN RUIN visits! I'm sure you're pretty excited. I know I am. So let's get on with the show.

Pergamun reached great heights in the Hellenistic, late Roman Republic and Early Empire stages. It is of particular note because its last King as an independent entity, willed the city over to Rome as he had no heirs. For more history, go here.

We visited two major sites, the Acropolis and the Ascelpion

Overview of the Acropolis

 Again as you look at the ruins try to imagine them as full and completed buildings. You would not have nearly as much open space. Many of the structures we walk through would be covered and their would be tall walls around us

One of the major structures that still have significant columns remaining is the Trajan Temple

Restoration can take decades depending on the availability of funds

These are pieces that are laid out for future work

Many views of the temple

A water system existed that got water from 45 kilometers away all up this high hill

Way down here is a piece of the acqueduct

THANK THE GODS

A THEATER!

Other scenes in the Acropolis

As we drove to the Ascelpion, we got a picture of a Temple to the Egyptian Gods in what was the lower city

After lunch we stopped at an old square for coffee and tea

Old soul hotel owner with 500 year-old tree

Right across the street

An operating Hamman

Dating from the 16th century

The Ascelpion

Essentially this is a hospital

Galen, one of the famous names in medical history from the 2nd Century AD spent much of his career here. 

Things were not much different then

To get the best health care, you needed to pay for it.

 

Road leading into the facility

 They even had a theater here to entertain patients and workers

I challenged our guide Işik, who loves karaoke, to perform in the theater

Exploring the actual area of treatment rooms

Superior stone work

Cutting and shaping marble so it is curved and encircled a large area

And a final

SIGNS OF THE WORLD

Collaps

One of the many diseases recognized in Ancient times

2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Day 42, Pergamum

It is our last day in Turkey and except for some family time in Amsterdam, the last day of this adventure.

We were back on the road for a long drive to the ancient city of Pergamum. Like so many of the ancient sites, it has the similar history starting way back when civilization began in Anatolia. But it really hit its stride in the post-Alexander the Great period and it continued through the Roman times. It features an Acropolis that is on a very high hill that was a bitch to drive to (glad I didn't have to do the driving). And it is the home of a rather amazing complex, the Ascelpion, which was a mammoth facility for medical practice. It had been in use for a long-time but was made famous by the renowned physician, Galen. What was interesting (as always with Roman stuff) is how similarly this facility looked and operated like a modern hospital.

The summer heat which is very hot here in the Mediterranean is starting to pick up. Today was in the low 90's. Wife and I were flagging. It is a good time to be ending the adventure.

I sooooo many pictures. Even if we had the internet to upload them, I haven't had the time to work on them. Hopefully I will start getting them posted after we get to Amsterdam.