Search Syriac eResources

Select and Search Syriac eResources: For those who may be interested in Syriac and don't keep up with the Hugoye-list, Gareth Hughes put together a great custom Google search of Syriac eResources collected by Kristian Heal. It is helpful both for the search--which also allows you to filter for journal or manuscript entries--and for the handy links which Heal has been accumulating. Thanks to both for sharing!

SBL's Bible Odyssey Receives NEH Grant

At its annual meeting last November (2010), the SBL was showcasing a Bible Odyssey web site for which they were applying for a NEH grant. I reported on it here, including some pics of the prototype. Today it was reported:

We are pleased to announce that the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) was awarded a $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to build an interactive website that invites general audiences to engage with biblical scholarship.

Way to go, SBL! Follow the link for the full press release, but note that release is not projected until 2013.

Evaluation of Android Bible Apps

I have a listing of Android Bible apps HERE to which I have now added a review of MySword HERE. 

So what Android Bible apps do I use and recommend? 

• I'm finding that my first choice is almost always the free Cadre Bible. It's the fastest app, has good Greek texts (NA26, LXX), Hebrew Tanach, and English versions. The only thing I miss is some lexical help, but that can be purchased if you want to use the KJV or NASB with Strong's. (Mainly I just use the Parallel version feature to figure out what's going in the Greek/Hebrew. Cadre Bible also has a functional but clunky navigation interface.) 
• I occasionally use the YouVersion Bible, because of its outstanding access to so many English versions. (And remember that if you don't own or want to buy a version, you can still 'stream' it.) 
•  UPDATE: Logos for Android is now available. My review HERE.
• The And Bible still holds promise, but it still doesn't display Greek properly. 
• As noted in the MySword review, I keep it because of its "Analytic Septuagint."
• And then there is Olive Tree... This was my app of choice back in the day on Dell Axim using WindowsMobile, but I'm just not using it much on my DroidX. It is just slow enough to load that I will use Cadre Bible instead. It still has the best collection of academic resources for original language study. I was able to transfer my license for the BHS to this device, but my Gramcord Greek NT would not transfer, and I don't need their new Greek module badly enough to pay $58 for the upgrade. They do have the SBLGNT for free, but there is no parallel version view, so I'm back to CadreBible or...
• With internet access and my Logos resources, I use Biblia.com online. This works great, even to take a look at BDAG and all 885 books I have obtained in Logos4.
• If you don't own Logos, then the other online site to try is the NET Bible Study Environment, but this site is not really optimized for mobile browsers.

What am I missing? Leave a comment!

MySword Bible App for Android

I'm busy grading papers, but I wanted to get the word out about the free MySword for Android. (I have a larger listing of Android Bible apps HERE.) Copying the info I received from them:

Version 1.3 of MySword for Android

The following are the exciting features of MySword for Android:

• Multiple offline Bibles, Commentaries and Dictionaries
• Bible version verse comparison
• Highlighting
• Bookmarks
• Type your personal notes and insights
• Search (concordance) for Bible, Commentaries and Personal notes
• Strongs number support linked to dictionary for easy access
• Full screen mode support for more viewable text
• Support for Morphological codes and link to the Dictionary view
• The editor for Personal notes uses a simple wiki syntax for easy formating of your notes
• Copying of current verse, all text and custom selection of text in all views (Bible, Commentary, Dictionary and Personal notes) including the Search results which is very useful for Personal notes editing
• Resizeable text (custom text size for easy viewing)
• Allow fine adjustment of text size
• Page history navigation (back and forward)
• Verse link in Commentaries and Dictionaries to the Bible view.
• Links between documents, e.g. Commentary reference to Bible passage
• Download of modules (Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries)
• Backup and restore of settings, highlights, bookmarks and Personal notes

Some quick observations/comments after briefly using MySword for Android.

• The app is not available in the Google Android Market or the Amazon Appstore. You need to go to the website and download it from there. (See below for a QR code to get you there quickly. The developers hope to have it available in the Android Market in June.)
• Once you install the program, you need to download modules. Choose wisely and don't just allow the default. (For now, there isn't a built-in option to uninstall modules. UPDATE: See here for info on manually uninstalling modules.)
• There is a fine selection of free English Bibles for download. Check them out HERE. Beyond the usual (KJV, ASV, NET...), do note that you can get the Lexham English, but it is only the New Testament. 
• There are quite a few non-English versions, but there is no Hebrew module.
• For Greek, you can get the LXX including also "The Analytic Septuagint" which provides both analysis and links to Strong's (though words in the LXX not occurring in the NT will not be linked). For the NT, the only option is "Textus Receptus (1550/1894) Greek NT with Strong's Numbers and parsing info." Note that the Greek is unaccented, and where there is accented Greek in the Strong's you will get font irregularities.
• The usual batch of public domain commentaries: TSK, JFB...
• The usual batch of public domain dictionaries: Strong's, BDB, Thayer, Nave's...

As for performance:

• Display is attractive and works fine in either landscape or portrait.
• Navigation is very easy for getting around the Bible.
• It does have a verse compare feature so you can see multiple English versions or Greek/English, but you can't choose which versions to display. You get all the versions that are available.
• As noted above, Search, Highlighting, Bookmarks, Notes all work as one would hope.

All in all, a fine implementation, and you can't complain about the price. (Donations are appreciated.) Rather than having to enter the URL on your Android browser, I generated a QR code to jump straight to the download page. (I'm assuming you have installed a barcode scanner or QR reader on your device. If not, why not?!)

BOTTOM LINE: I'm keeping this on my Android primarily because of the "Analytic Septuagint" module which is not available elsewhere that I see. (I still need some help getting through the LXX...)

Shibboleth: New version 0.9b... and typing in Greek

I have posted about the free and very helpful Shibboleth program from Logos. (HERE with a full description when first released and HERE in relation to typing in biblical Hebrew.) Logos has now announced an update to it, and you can download the program HERE. As described on the Logos web site:

Shibboleth is a tool for typing Unicode text in ancient scripts. It was designed to help people unfamiliar with a script easily enter the correct characters, and then copy text to the clipboard in Unicode or another format.

While a keyboard layout is provided for several scripts, the emphasis is on helping the user recognize and select the proper characters. To that end, user input is shown in both typed and rendered format, with multiple font options, and all of the characters for each script are selectable from a well organized palette on the right side of the application window.

 There have been a number of improvements to this new version, but of most importance to me:

• New Rich Text copy mode that preserves font choice and doesn't put XML tags around the text.

What this means is that you can now type your text using the helpful and logically laid out keyboards or clicking on the symbols, then hit Copy, then paste directly into any RTF word processor without having to remove XML tags. You have a few choices of fonts you can use, including the new SBL Hebrew and SBL Greek. Excellent! With this new version, you can even type in Akkadian, Hittite and Old Persian Cuneiform, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs!

So far, so good, but I still have some quibbles with the Greek...

The main problem is that Shibboleth renders polytonic Greek with combining characters rather than with the precomposed ones. What does this mean?

UPDATE: Be sure to read the comment by Vincent Setterholm of Logos. He has correctly surmised that I am using Word 2007. The issues I describe below are in part due to the Word 2007 handles the glyphs and in part may be due to the font (especially Palatino Linotype). Shibboleth should NOT be the problem if you are using Word 2010.

What happens is that when type characters that have breathing marks and accents, there are two ways of creating the character you want. One way is to start with the vowel, then add the marks using glyphs that don't take their own space. In Unicode, each glyph has its own 4 character code, so as you can pick up from the first line in the graphic below, an η is 03B7, the iota subscript is 0345, the rough breathing is 0314, and the acute is 0301. 

(Want to see for yourself? In MSWord, place the cursor after any character and hit Alt-X. Hit it again to return it to its normal appearance. Or, get the BabelMap program which maps every single Unicode character.) 

The other way a character is formed is if the input method is smart enough to figure out when you are all done with the character which one you want and provide that specific character which has been precomposed in the Unicode system. As you can see in the second line above, that very same character that takes 4 glyphs to form in the first way is represented by a single character in the second.

So, what difference does this make? To look at it, not much. To look closely at it, a little. Since those placeholder glyphs have to work with all vowels, their location has to be estimated a bit to fit properly. With the precomposed characters, the character with all its glyphs can be formed exactly how you want it to look. So, you will have to look very closely, but the top line is the character with all the glyphs added. The bottom line is the precomposed one.

You might be able to discern in the second row that the acute accent
and rough breathing mark are just a bit more centered and tucked down.

No big deal you say... But part of the beauty of Unicode is that you should be able to use any polytonic Unicode Greek font and the character displayed should be exactly the same. (This was a major problem with the old TrueType fonts where designers placed different Greek characters on different keys.) The problem with polytonic Greek is those placeholder glyphs whose location relative to the vowel is not fixed. So, using combining characters, if you switch the Greek font, you may end up with an ugly mess.

As you can see, what may look quite attractive in SBL Greek may not look so good in Cardo, Gentium, or Palatino Linotype. If you just composing documents for your own use and only use the same font, this may not be important, but if you plan to send that document to someone else or to a publisher who may not have the same Unicode font as you, then it is a problem.

So again, thank you very much to Logos for sharing Shibboleth for free. Hey, how else other than Shibboleth are you going to easily type in Egyptian hieroglyphs?!

UPDATE: In light of Setterholm's comment, if you use Word 2007 or Google Docs or even WordPad, you will probably want to use one of the solutions given below for getting the precomposed characters.

Some notes:

How else do you get properly precomposed Greek characters? (The following solutions do work properly for Word 2007.) As far as I know, you can use:

• Tavultesoft Keyman (a wonderful program for $19) integrates into your system so that you can type in brilliant Greek and Hebrew right in the program. No need to copy/paste...
• Tavultesoft also has a free online notepad for typing in any language you want. If you want to use Greek, you have four different keyboards to choose from. (Where is that psi?) I find "Greek Classical" to be the most usable.
• The free online composer at TypeGreek.com is very nice, and note that it is even smart enough that if you type a sigma followed by a space or punctuation, it will convert it into a final sigma. One problem with TypeGreek: if you are typing and don't know what character you need, you hit the "Alphabet Key." This provides the layouts, but when you go back to the previous page where you were typing, it will be all gone.
• The free online composer at GreekInputter2. The keyboard is a bit less intuitive, but you can display the layouts so that they are visible while you type in the box.

What else?

• There is a similar issue of markings with biblical Hebrew, but there really aren't that many precomposed characters. The Hebrew Unicode system does rely more on combining characters, and it is not really a problem.
• Logos (and BibleWorks and Accordance) use the precomposed characters in their Greek texts. That is, if you copy a chunk of text in one of these programs and paste it into your word processor, you will get the precomposed forms, and any Unicode Greek font you use will look fine.

Corinth and Mycenae

Corinth: Not a whole lot had changed at the site since my previous visit in 2004, except that more parts of the site are roped off. We did get to see another part of the museum. Lots of interesting stuff in the museum sections making it worth one's time to look around. There is a nice little area on the site that they have set aside that is convenient for conducting an informal worship service as we did. One does have a take an unmarked walk down to the area where the Erastus inscription is. (It was rather overgrown with weeds, and it was helpful that our guide knew where to find it.) I still have never made it up to the Acrocorinth. Next time...
Mycenae does not really have a biblical connection, but it is a fascinating site. Apparently, already by Roman times, its ruins were a tourist attraction. 
HERE are the pics.

Translation: Statistics Not Linguistics

I came across this interesting article in the Washington Post describing how Google Translate and Yahoo! BabelFish have improved their machine translations by using statistical instead of linguistic models. That is, with the massive abilities of computers today, better translations can be obtained by having them statistically analyze passages in two languages and generate translations on that basis rather than trying to linguistically analyze words and phrases. It does make sense given the idiomatic nature of so much of speech, but they are wise to go back now and try to provide some linguistic enhancement to their translations. 
Give it a try using Hebrew or Greek (but remember that it is modern and not ancient).
Google Translate

Athens

Finally got a little time to edit the Athens pics... HERE are some of the more interesting ones.
We started the day at the new Acropolis Museum. It's wonderful, and it's kind of neat to see them at work excavating the area under the museum through the floor. The Acropolis is stunning and beautiful, but I've never seen it without all sorts of cranes and scaffolding that clutter up the views. Someday... There are some steps now to help people get up on the Aeropagus. This used to be something of a treacherous adventure.
Our guide on this trip did a great job walking us through the museum and Acropolis, but she also gave us an excellent overview as she took us through the agora and the museum in the Stoa of Attalos. (The museum in the Stoa of Attalos was also a new experience for me, and a very worthwhile one.) 
From the agora we headed over to the Plaka area to eat and we also had some time to take the Metro and catch Syntagma Plaza and Onamia Square. The Metro is quite nice and very reasonable for getting around Athens.
From a New Testament perspective, it is important to remember that Athens was probably a rather insignificant city in the first century. Given Athens' history and Paul's famous speech in Acts 17 and its role as the most prominent city in Greece today, we probably think of it in the same way when Paul went through. Yes, it had its history and reputation as a center of learning even in Paul's day, but it just wasn't that important. Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth were all more significant cities. It is not coincidental that in the history of Paul and the early church, those three cities are far more prominent in the literature of the NT.

Delphi

Delphi has an appeal of its own, and it's not hard to imagine how ancients might have seen this as some kind of sacred place. On the other hand, I'm looking at ruins. Back in the day, it might have felt more like Las Vegas with its tourist appeal and opportunity for various groups to show off their successes. In any case, what happened in Delphi has pretty much stayed in Delphi...

Delphi is an important place in Greco-Roman history, and it does have one important biblical contribution, namely, the Gallio inscription. 

Gallio is mentioned in Acts 18:12. This inscription from Emperor Claudius to Gallio, procounsel of Achaia, can be dated to 52 CE, and it thus gives us one of the few certain dates in Pauline chronology establishing that Paul was in Corinth in the year 51 CE. (More info here and here.)

The rest of the pics from our visit are HERE.

Viewing Texts in Parallel Using BibleWorks8

In my previous post, I indicated all the English Bible versions that one might compare using a literal to dynamic scale.

For BibleWorks users, the next issue is how to view these versions in parallel. Do you want the texts horizontally or vertically aligned? How do you maximize the viewing area? How can you easily export them into a Word Doc?

I put together a PowerPoint that shows you eight different ways of doing so in BW8. You can either take a look at this PDF handout of the PowerPoint or play it online using SlideRocket. 

If you have another favorite way of working with texts in parallel, please leave a comment!

English Bible Versions: Literal/Formal to Dynamic/Functional

List of English Bible Versions (this is the file to download): Abbreviations, Literal to Dynamic, Notes, Recommendations
I have also posted this file as a Google Doc you can view online but not edit. (UPDATE: Sharing has now been enabled.)

I compiled this resource particularly for BibleWorks8 users in mind, but it may prove helpful to anyone who is working with English Bible versions. What I've done is made a listing of about 66 English versions, most of which are available in BibleWorks8. The first two pages of the DOC file pull together all these versions into three groups: those that come standard in BW8, those that are available as user-created downloads for BW8, and other versions for which it is usually possible to create an external link from within BW8. These have been organized alphabetically by their BW8 abbreviation. Since this is just a plain Word DOC, anyone can edit it as they see fit.

Next, I started with a helpful list I found online by Bruce Terry which provides an approximate rating of each version from literal (or using formal equivalence) to dynamic or paraphrase. I edited this list and added a few evaluations of my own. The scale used is where a "1" would be an interlinear Hebrew/Greek to English and a 10 would be a loose paraphrase. (The Cotton Patch Version gets a "10.") 

On the third page, the English versions are organized according to this scale of 1-10.



On the fourth page, you will find the recommendations I give to my students in terms of the versions I think are most helpful for consulting. (The graphic below is from this page.) In addition to the notes on the table, I also provide additional rationale why I think each are worth looking at.

If you are a BibleWorks user, you may be interested in having these texts appear in the program in this order of most literal to most dynamic. For such an ordering, you need to specify a Version Display Order (VDO) file. Save this file in your BibleWorks8/init directory. In BibleWorks, click on the little setup wrench icon, choose "Version Order" on the left, then open this LitDyn.VDO file you just saved. You will need to specify the versions you want to display to see them all visible. You can, of course, also modify this VDO file to something you think is better.

Listing of texts available for BibleWorks

I've been trying to pull together some resources for my students, and I have a few BibleWorks resources that others may find useful. 
I have compiled in a spreadsheet (what I think is) a complete list of texts for BibleWorks8 that are in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Coptic, or English. I've organized them according to Language, Content, Source (whether they are included in BW8, available for purchase as an Addon Module, or as a downloadable User-Created resource), the Abbreviation for each resource, a Description of the Text, whether there is a Morphologically-paired text or a Translation-paired text, and if there is any other Related text.
HERE is the XLS spreadsheet you can download. The first page has things organized largely according to content: OT&LXX, Targums, Intertestamental, Composite OT&NT, Greek NT, NT Peshitta, NT Misc, Latin, Early Christian, Other Jewish, English Versions, Islam, Classical, Doctrinal, and Miscellaneous. The second page alphabetically organizes the abbreviations used for the resources. The benefits of downloading this file are that you can have the listing available offline and can organize things as you wish. The drawback is that you'll have to keep it updated.
So, I also uploaded the spreadsheet to Google Docs where I and Michael Hanel and James Darlack will try to keep it updated. HERE is the online doc. (UPDATE: Sharing has now been enabled.)
In order to avoid problems, note that non-editors will not be able to change it. Now if anyone else wants to try to complete the list with all the other versions in BibleWorks, let me know, and I will give you editing privileges.

Meteora

Meteora - Barlaam

Anyone who has visited the monasteries of Meteora knows what a fascinating place it is. Earliest monastics were here by the 10th century or so, and the first monasteries were built in the 14th century. Since then the place has both seen and preserved Hellenic history, been a place of prayer and meditation, bombed by the Nazis, and served as a locale for a James Bond movie. We visited Barlaam and St. Stephens. It was a beautiful day for taking pictures, and HERE they are.

Thessaloniki - Beroea - Meteora

Thessaloniki - St. Demetri

HERE are the pics for this day.
We started out this day with a tour of Thessaloniki. We stopped first at the excavations of the Agora. I'm not sure why (maybe it was still being excavated?), but we didn't see this in 2004. There isn't too much to see, but Thessaloniki has been built over so much, it's really hard to get to the Roman level without destroying much of the city. We did note where a subway track is being built, and it looked like they came across the old Via Egnatia and were working around it. From the Agora, we walked to St. Demetri's Basilica. This is an old church which dates its history back to the martyr Demetrius in the 4th century. The building and interior are rather a mixed bag since it has been destroyed or burnt and rebuilt so many times. I found the crypt under the altar area to be the most interesting, and you'll note that 11 of the 28 pics I pulled for this day are from there. Our guide said that this had formerly been the 'locker room' of the stadium which was just to the north, and that it was here, according to tradition, that Demetrius had been killed. Be sure to take the time to go down there if you visit the basilica.
From there we went up to the Byzantine walls in the upper part of the city near the Round Tower with its wonderful view of the city below and across the harbor to Mt. Athos. Driving past the White Tower, we continued west basically following the Via Egnatia and Paul's route. (Acts 17.10-15) We stopped at Beroea (or Berea, modern Veria) where some of the ancient road is still visible alongside the modern one. Not much to see, but there is a monument and mosaic commemoration of Paul near where an ancient synagogue used to be.
(If we ever come by here again, apparently it is well worth the time to visit Vergina and the tomb of Philip II about 15 miles away.)
The rest of the day was spent driving to Kalambaka at the foot of the Meteora complex. 
Enjoy the pics!

Neapolis > Philippi > Thessaloniki

HERE are some pics...
We drove through Kavala which was ancient Neapolis where Paul first landed in Macedonia. (Acts 16:11) There is a church there to commemorate the event--with actual stones from the first century! 
We next visited the location on the stream just west of Philippi which commemorates Lydia and her baptism (Acts 16:14-15), then headed to the ancient city itself. We were able to visit the area east of the agora (which had been closed in 2004) where the Octagonal Church is. Otherwise the rest of the site appears much the same as 7 years ago, though it looks like the theater (used for modern performances) has been fixed a bit. The main sites to see here are the bema in the forum (Acts 16:19-20), the Via Egnatia, and the 'traditional' prison of Paul and Silas.
Continuing on to Thessaloniki the road basically follows the old Via Egnatia (and that's what the highway is called still today). It passes by Amphipolis, but the new highway is now open on the north side of Lake Volvi, so you don't go through Appolonia any more. (Acts 17:1) 
As for Bible and tech... I brought my Droid X with me on the trip. I knew phone service was unavailable, but I have my Android Bibles on it, and it also has GPS. I had downloaded the free Endomondo app which is an exercise tracker type of app, but I used it as we were walking around the various sites. Once I got back in WiFi range, it pulled up the path on Google Maps and also uploads it to the web where it includes elevation, pace, etc. It comes in handy for quickly locating where we were and walking through the pics I took as I reviewed them and organized them. Here is how it works on the web--Lydia and Philippi--but you can also see the graphic below. In the upper left is the Lydia site, and then you can see how we took the bus to Philippi itself and then walked around the site.

Turkey > Greece

The next day was basically a travel day from Istanbul, cross the border into Greece, and heading on toward Kavala/Neapolis and Philippi. The pic above is in Alexandroupoli(s) where we stopped for lunch.

Istanbul: Blue Mosque, Topkapi, Hagia Sophia

Spent the whole day in Istanbul and saw all the standard sites: Blue Mosque, Topkapi, Hagia Sophia, and the Grand Bazaar. When we visited in 2004, the interior of Hagia Sophia was filled with scaffolding, but it had been removed recently. (Apparently the work had been completed for some time, but it took a couple years to get the money to pay for the removal!) It's a big, impressive space... Not much else to add, so HERE are the pics.

Troy and Canakkale

We stayed overnight in Canakkale and walked around the city a bit that evening. By the waterfront, you can now get a picture of the Trojan horse used in the 2004 movie Troy. 

In the morning we backtracked a bit to visit the ancient city of Troy. I was glad to hear our knowledgeable guide described the site as "complicated," because I have found it to be a confusing place to visit. Two reasons: 

1. It is such an old site and there are so many periods/layers. It's hard to get a sense of the place at any one time. This pic on the right tries to show the different layers, but you can see that it is hard to get a sense of the place.
2. The excavations are somewhat random, and it partly can be blamed on Schliemann and the clumsy trenches he dug in the late 19th century.

There is a small museum at the site that does have some very helpful illustrations showing the development of Troy and what it looked like at the various periods. Probably the highlight of the visit for most people (who by now have already seen a lot of ruins...) is to climb up into the Trojan horse that is there... Just 7 pics from this day HERE.

The rest of the day was spent traveling: back to Canakkale, the ferry across the Dardanelles, and on to Istanbul. 

A few things: Troy does not have any biblical significance, but it seems to get confused regularly with the important port city of Alexandria Troas located about 10 miles south. (It is confused on quite a few biblical maps, e.g., the old Logos Deluxe Maps set. It is correctly located on the attractive new set of maps in Logos4. Pic on left shows locations of Assos, Troas, Troy, and Canakkale.) This Troas, along with Assos a bit further south, was an important gateway on Paul's travels (Acts 16:5-11; 2Cor 2:12; 2Tim 4:13) and was home to sleepy Eutychus (Acts 20:5-12). If I get another chance to visit Turkey again, I would be happy to skip Troy and instead visit Assos and Troas. They are not as easily accessible, so it may add an extra day, and they are still in early stages of excavations. For more info, here's a start:

• An excellent overlay of Alexandria Troas
• Info and pic on the recently excavated stadium at Troas 
• The Troas Project (PDF) as described by Robert Jewett (from 2005. I can't seem to find any recent info on how this project is progressing.) 
• Assos

Pergamum

Leaving Izmir, we headed north and spent most of the day in Pergamum, now modern Bergama, aka, the place "where Satan's throne is." (Rev 2:13 - This could be a reference to the prominent Temple of Trajan, since Pergamum had a leading role in imperial worship.) When we had visited 7 years ago, there had been a light snow overnight, but it had cleared up by late morning, and the whole place was brillantly white. As you can see from the pics this time, we again had a beautiful day, and it was no less striking. 35 pics HERE. 

The big development here is that there is now a cable car service you must use to get to the acropolis. It was a challenge for buses before to wind the way up to the small parking area, and the new system is quite nice. I didn't notice much new with the excavations. 

From the Acropolis, we next stopped at the Red Hall, a building originally used for worship of Egyptian deities and later converted into a Christian church. We went next to the Asklepion. Again, nothing new that I recognized, but all these sites are well worth the visit.

I did especially appreciate Pergamum, because I had been reading (and since finished) Bruce W. Longenecker's The Lost Letters of Pergamum, The: A Story from the New Testament World

It is a historical fiction of a correspondence between Antipas--who is mentioned in Rev 2:13 as having been martyred in Pergamum--and Luke who is helping explain Jesus to Antipas as he is reading Luke's account of Jesus. I think it does an excellent job of highlighting the honor / shame dynamics of that time. It illustrates how radical Christianity must have seemed in the culture of that time and the sort of sacrifices Christians would have made to remain faithful. The book is well-written, and I highly recommend it.

Before heading to Canakkale for the night, we stopped at the Bergama Weavers' Association for a chance to see how Turkish rugs are made.

Philadelphia, Sardis, and Izmir / Smyrna

HERE are the 36 pics from this day.
 
Continuing on from Pamukkale, we headed west, first stopping at Philadelphia. Not much to see here except the remains of a Byzantine church. No one would really stop here except that it is one of the churches mentioned in Revelation...


Sardis, on the other hand, is a great place to visit. Something about the place evokes the sense of its history. The setting of the Temple of Artemis does inspire a sense of awe. It is perhaps more notable that this magnificent temple, now reduced to ruins, has a very early Christian church (a chapel would be a better word) attached to it. No one is worshiping Artemis any more...


On to Izmir, formerly known as Smyrna... There are only some Byzantine remains on the Acropolis, but from there you can see the harbor and some excavations on the ancient agora.


So, we did visit the sites of the 7 churches of Revelation except for Thyatira (which is rather out of the way and not much to see...).