The Archeologists of Laodicea

The whole group: Professors, Archeologists, and Myself

Standing along the Pillars of a Laodicean Temple

My host Mother who is a professor at the Pamukkale University, the local university in my city, had helped organize a national health sciences conference hosted by the University. The meeting involved several professors around the country in which they discussed the education system of the health science programs at each represented university throughout Turkey. Professors would discuss the education of the students, the methods of teaching and the research topics their students were taking part.

Standing with a Professor from Van

 On the last day of this 3 day seminar all of the professors were invited to go tour the archeological projects near the University in the ancient cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis. My mother invited me to join her and her colleagues on this day. I arrived that morning and as I expected was immediately overwhelmed by meeting all these new people. They’re were professors from all over the country; Izmir, Adana, Van, Istanbul, Kayseri to name a few. I had the opportunity to eat in the faculty restaurant that morning before we left where I really enjoyed talking with them all about their cities and what they taught and the similarities and differences between American universities and Turkish universities.

The huge doorway to the most famous Roman Temple

Touring these ancient cities with the archeologists and the historical architects that work there made me more interested in the history of my current home than I ever have before. We had the opportunity to enter areas and sites that were closed off to the public. I was able to tour through the most ancient church of the city which was mentioned in the book of Revelations and Colossians and is one of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse. I observed archeologists brush of the dirt over top the ancient floor murals in this church that won’t be opened to the public until 2017.

Listening to an Archeologist speak. He has been living and working in the ancient city for 7 years now.

 This was also the first time where I had encountered guests in my own city. The professors didn’t know much about my city and some had never been before. So when I was teaching these Turks about my city, recommending restaurants and places of interest and helping with directions I really felt like I could call this my home.

One of the closed off Archeological digs I was able to peruse

Some Archeologists who yelled at me for taking pictures in the closed off areas