Revealing Ancient Pergamum

Revealing Ancient Pergamum

One of the Seven Churches of Asia referred to by St.John in the Book of Revelation, the city of Pergamum became the center of a large kingdom in the 3rd century B.C. and retained its status as a political and cultural leader into the Byzantine period. Leaving the port of Dikili, we drive outside of the city and north to Pergamum. The drive will take approximately 45 minutes through beautiful countryside along the way.

The city of Pergamum was first settled by the Aeolic Greeks in the 8th century BC. Pergamum came into prominence after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.Because of its great library, many scholars and teachers lived in this city of culture. Parchment paper was invented in Pergamum. Upon arrival to Pergamum, we visit the Acropolis which is at a height of 275m. It was surrounded by three walls and had many public and private buildings including temples and palaces. The temple was build of marble, probably on the site of a previous Hellenistic building. The Great Altar of Pergamon is in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin but the base of this altar remains on the upper part of the Acropolis. It was perhaps this altar, believed to be dedicated to Zeus, that John of Patmos referred to as "Satan's Throne" in his Book of Revelation.

Our next visit will be to the Library of Pergamum, which was second only to the library in Alexandria, Egypt, with a collection of 20,000 volumes. We continue to visit the Temple of Trajan, built by Hadrian. Both these Roman emperors worshiped here. Our next stop is to view the largest structure and best-known attraction in the town which is the Kizil Avlu (Red Basilica), a temple made of red brick dedicated to the gods of Egypt. The temple lies in what is now the modern day town of Bergama. The two pools in the temple with towers indicate ritual cleansing rites and a religious background that was neither Greek nor Roman. Our final visit will be to the ancient healing center of Asclepion. The complex was built to honor the god of medicine, Asclepio. Asclepion had its peak in the Roman period. Following this we will drive back to the port at Dikili.

Notes: Note: Guests must be able to walk over even paved and uneven surfaces. Comfortable clothing and shoes are recommended. A minimum participation is required to operate all Yachting Land Adventures and some have limited capacity. All adventures and prices in the SeaDream Yachting Land Adventures program are subject to change.

Port: Dikili

Duration: 4.5 hours

Current Price: 149 USD