Pisidian Antioch

We headed to the Isparta area on Saturday.  The back route (leaving the main road at Polatli) is very scenic and the road is quite good except where it is under construction.  We reached the town of Aksehir after about three hours and made a quick detour to the tomb of Nasrettin Hoca.  Like Yunus Emre the Hoca apparently has a number of tombs throughout Turkey but this felt like the correct one.  It is within a crowded and still active (judging from the recent tombstones) graveyard along a river of sorts that goes through the town center.  After paying our respects we viewed the four statues of the Hoca and got back on the road.

Tomb of the Nasrettin Hoca, a legendary wiseman whose wit and wisdom are still revered today

The tomb - simple but in a lovely setting

The tomb is the centerpiece of this still active cemetary

Alice with one of the four statues of the Hoca demonstrating some if his famous fables

Randy at the "center of the world" just before the tomb

Our destination was Yalvac, a town of some 50,000 nestled in the mountains.   We met our old friend Gultekin Ozdemir (a professor at Suleyman Demirel University in Isparta) and his friend Ali Riza.  Ali Riza is married to the sister of a woman in Auburn so it is a small world indeed.  Ali Riza is also from Yalvac and provided the role of local guide. Next to Yalvac is one of the important ancient city ruins in Anatolia - that of Pisidian Antioch (given the Pisidian tag to distinguish it from the Syrian version).  This is a city of many civilizations.  Starting with ancient peoples and moving up to the Romans (who worshiped Cybele and Men there) and then the Jews and very early Christians.  It was followed by Byzantines and finally Arabs and Turks.  Saint Paul preached there three times, apparently to great effect.

The ruins are extensive as this city held 50,000 in ancient times.  The ruins include a theater, temple (at the highest point), baths, shops, streets and several Byzantine churches including one at the location of where Paul spoke.  Most are pretty ruined but the carvings are amazing and the setting spectacular.  And, of course, no one was there.  (Although when we drove by later, a tour bus had pulled up.)  A kilometer or two away along a dirt track are the amazing aquaducts, reportedly the best preserved in Anatolia.  These were situated on a lonely hillside, again with views to die for.  A few local teenage boys were hanging out (in a very non-threatening way) and smoking.

The entrance to Pisidean Antioch, the capital and largest city of the Pisidean civilization

A wonderful horse mermaid (?) carving

Another carving remnant including a mermaid tail

A double headed eagle (or two eagles) facing each other

Details of the intricate vine and leave carving

A fun man with a big horn (?)

Ali Riza and Gultekin at the theater

The line of bull carvings leading to the temple of Augustus (first Cybele, then Men, then Augustus) with the Sultan Mountains in the background

Detail of one of the bulls

A fluted column

The well preserved baths

Despite the cold rain and wet snow of the day, spring is here

The basilica of Saint Paul

One of the Roman inscriptions

I hypothesize that these are drainage components that brought the water from the aqueduct to the city

Randy and Alice at the aqueduct about 1 km from the city proper

Detail of the aqueduct - amazing engineering

Another view of the extensive remains of the aqueduct with flowering fruit tree

We next tried to find the elusive Temple of Men.  Men was an ancient female moon deity worshiped in Roman times.  After a few kilometers along a dirt track we arrived at the town garbage dump.  Not the Men temple.  Wrong way so we headed back to town and by then it was raining steadily.  We decided to have lunch (kebab, the good local cheese, and a very nice lamacoun) and sort things out.  During lunch a local official who was a friend of Ali Riza came by.  He knew the way but it is along a dirt track up a mountain and he advised it would be too muddy.  We concurred and headed for the Yalvac Museum.  This is an excellent collection, both inside and outside, of remains from Antioch, the Temple of Men and other nearby historic places.  There were fossilized bones of animals like an ancient horse and elephant millions of years old.  And, of course, no one was there.

Crosses from the city after the effect of Saint Paul at the Museum of Yalvac

Detail of carving with doves and cross

Ancient statues of Cybele, the mother god, at the museum.  I won't comment on her anatomy

A wonderful lion head spigot - why can't we do things like this today?

Details of more exquisite carvings

Remains of Zeus statue

A Roman eagle - reminded me of the Auburn War Eagle

The museum had a small Ottoman room set up - this gentleman is smoking the hookah

The moon goddess Men.  Even though we could not find her temple we saw the best remains of it at the museum

From the Temple of Men - note the half moons

A rugged but somehow sensitive horse head

We looked out the museum windows to find it was snowing!  I viewed the outside stuff in the snow while the men stayed warm inside.  We next went to the Devlethan Mosque, a 13th century Selcuk forest mosque.  The most outstanding feature in my opinion is the paint colors and designs.  Having completed my list for today, Ali Riza suggested viewing the old tree.  This is a plane tree of some 1200 years antiquity.  It sits in the middle of town in a lovely garden area with many tea rooms (in Europe or America it would be a perfect place for a beer garden).  After tea and Turkish coffee, we headed to the butcher's.  Apparently the beef in the area is wholly natural and quite renowned.  Ali Riza and Gultekin bought a lot of that and some sucuk, the yummy Turkish sausage.

Outside of the museum was a wealth of statuary including this fish (always a favorite subject in art of mine)

Another rugged but sensitive example of Roman art

Detail of the lion above - both realistic but wonderfully stylized

The mosque ceiling - I love the combination of colors

A column detail of this forest mosque - so called because there are many pillars of wood - a Selcuk style

The mosque entrance - notice the big snow flakes

The mosque -  plain on the outside but colorful on the inside

The 1200 year old Cinar (plane tree) in the town center

Bark detail

More bark detail of this venerable tree

My first Turkish coffee of the trip

Alice and Randy at the coffee shop on the square surrounding the ancient tree

The butcher emerges from his scary looking cellar meat locket

The butcher keeps a cute homage to his wares

Gultekin, Randy and Ali Riza consider the serious business of selecting meat - notice the intense concentration on their faces

Homemade sucuk

We drove to Egirdir (more on that in the next post) to check into our hotel.  And, thence, to Casa Ozdemir for a casual dinner with Ayse (his M.D. wife) and the girls (Eda, age 13, and Ayca, age 10).  We dined on borek, manti and grilled sucuk bought earlier that day.

Randy showing his photos to Ayca and Eda at Casa Ozdemir

Gultekin grilling the newly bought sucuk on his balcony

Gultekin with his girls - both born at Auburn