ITINERARY

• The goddess of love and beauty, a city dedicated to Aphrodite, had over 200,000 visitors last year, and signs show that it is about to increase. It is one of the few settlements that have survived invasions and devastation throughout the ages but reoccupy itself on the merits of its strategic location and was included in 2014 on UNESCO's UNESCO World Heritage List. Pergamon prehistory goes back to the second millennium BC, as confirmation of the findings from the excavations held. The town survived Alexander the Great's Persian domination and conquest. The brilliant phase of its history lasted nearly one hundred fifty years when, in the third and second centuries BC, it was the capital for the Kingdom of Pergamon. One of the world's largest libraries was constructed here, and the city was converted into a centre of healing. The arts were also flourishing and the city became especially famous for its splendid sculptures. Pergamon kept its importance during the Roman era.
• The historic gateway of Pergamon with old temples, theatres, the library, cultural heritage, and riches is located close to Izmir. In the Aegean region, Pergamon is high over the plain of Bakircay. Bergama (Pergamon), once a great centre of culture, survives as one of Turkey's finest archaeological sites. On the Acropolis, a hill above the modern town, are the remains of the celebrated library, a steep and impressive theatre, the Temples of Trojan and Dionysus, the monumental altar of Zeus, the sanctuary of Demeter, a gymnasium laid out on three terraces and the Agora. The Asclepion, located to the southwest of the lower city, was a sanctuary dedicated to the god of health, Asclepios.
• Almost a million visitors annually visit Bergama and the ruins of the ancient city of Pergamon, the first historical town of Bergama. The first parchment to be used was one of the most significant of these. Script creation has been a major breakthrough for human history and parchment innovation was quite important as it created a medium for quick and stable script recording. Parchments were developed in such a way that the city became a major centre of arts and science during the 2nd century BC and created a bookstore of manuscripts rivalling the world-famous Alexandrian library. One of the first seven early Christian Churches was held in Pergamon, and the Bible cites its name. The first wooden stage theatre; the first trade union; the first market law; the first regulation of public buildings; first strike and collective agreement were among the first in Pergamon 's history.
• The principal ruins of ancient Pergamon, which comprise all religious, social and commercial structures, are found in the Acropolis. Of these most notable, the ruins of Pergamon Library, one of the largest ruins of the world at that time, housed a collection of 200,000 manuscripts. Wow!
• While we are in Bergama we will also visit the Archaeological and Ethnographical Museum; nearby, the site of a temple dedicated to Serapis, later one of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse, and subsequently converted by the Byzantines into a basilica.
• In the Acropolis could also be seen the base of the Grand Altar of Pergamon or the altar of Zeus. However, in the late Ottoman era, the whole superstructure of the Altar was demolished, and now it is displayed here in Berlin – the Altar and its friezes show some of the best examples of Pergamon's works of art and architecture in the Hellenistic era.
• The Serapis Temple was one of the main Romanesque buildings, and because of the colour of the bricks, it was known as the Red Basilica. This remarkably large structure was transformed into a church during the Byzantine era, which is one of the first seven Churches quoted in the Bible.
• The Asclepius Sanctuary, one of the most important ancient health centres, where the patients were treated with sounds of water, mud and healing spring waters. The town also stood in Pergamon, in the history of medicine and pharmaceuticals by Physician Galen, the father of pharmacology.