BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Biblical and Historical Turkey: Sites to See

Places to go in Turkey to explore archaeologist discoveries

Explore the archaeology and history of Turkey! Sites to see include Ephesus, one of the most famous Biblical places to go in Turkey. Prepare for your upcoming visit to Turkey (or take a virtual journey without leaving home) with these articles and books on archaeologist discoveries, archaeological sites and Biblical history in Turkey.

Fully-Illustrated Feature Articles on Biblical and Historical Turkey

Sites to see in Turkey like Ephesus, where you will be surrounded by archaeologist discoveries

Ephesus, one of the most important Biblical archaeology places to see in Turkey, where you will be surrounded by archaeologist discoveries. Photo: Sonia Halliday

Ephesus Uncovered

by Peter Scherrer
from Archaeology Odyssey Mar/Apr 2001

Ephesus is one of the most popular places to go in Turkey for travelers interested in Biblical and historical sites. Unlike other great Hellenistic/Roman cities—Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, Constantinople—Ephesus was abandoned in antiquity. These other cities continue to thrive today, which means that they cannot be completely excavated. These other cities continue to thrive today, which, unfortunately for archaeologists, means that they cannot be excavated, at least not completely. The principal remains we have from ancient Alexandria, for example, are catacombs and debris from the harbor floor; archaeologists digging at Antioch in the 1930s discovered that most of that splendid ancient city is buried under the sprawling modern one. We can view these sites only in the imagination, with the help of literary sources. Not so Ephesus where archaeologist discoveries abound. Read more.
 

Ephesus: Key to a Vision in Revelation

by Steven Friesen
from Biblical Archaeology Review May/June 1993

The last book of the New Testament canon, Revelation records the fantastic heavenly revelations received by a certain John. Known as the Revelation of John or the Revelation to John, the book is also called the Apocalypse, which is simply the Greek word for revelation. By studying archaeologist discoveries from Ephesus, one of the most popular Biblical places to go in Turkey, we can deepen our understanding of one of the visions in the Revelation of John, perhaps the most difficult book of the New Testament. Read more.
 

Recommended Books on Biblical and Historical Turkey

Sites to see in Turkey, like the Seven Churches of Revelation, Psidian Antioch and Ephesus where archaeologist discoveries illuminate the Bible

A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey

by Clyde E. Fant and Mitchell Reddish

In A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey, two well-known, well-traveled Biblical scholars offer a fascinating guide to archaeologist discoveries at Biblical sites in this region. The authors reveal countless new insights into the biblical text while reliably guiding the traveler through every significant location mentioned in the Bible, including of course Biblical places to go in Turkey. Sites to see include locations the apostle Paul visited throughout Turkey (ancient Asia Minor), Greece, Cyprus, and all the islands of the Mediterranean.
 
 
 

Pisidian Antioch

by Stephen Mitchell

Pisidian Antioch was the most important colony in the eastern Roman Empire and is currently one of the most popular Biblical places to go in Turkey. This study, based on a two-season survey, traces the monumental development of the city from the 2nd century BC to Byzantine times against a backdrop of political history and forms a sequence to the same author’s Cremna in Pisidia.
 
 
 

Ephesos, Metropolis of Asia: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Its Archaeology, Religion, and Culture

(Harvard Theological Studies)
by Helmut Koester, ed.

This volume brings together studies of Ephesus—a major city in the Greco-Roman period and a primary center for the spread of Christianity into the Western world—by an international array of scholars from the fields of classics, fine arts, history of religion, New Testament, ancient Christianity, and archaeology.
 
 
 

The Letters to Seven Churches: Updated Edition

by W. M. Ramsay

This edited and updated edition of Ramsay’s classic work has, except for the omission of a lengthy poem in chapter 14, left the original material intact. The language and style were updated for the modern reader, modern place names were used, and a modern translation is the source of scripture citations.
 
 
 

The HarperCollins Visual Guide to the New Testament: What Archaeology Reveals about the First Christians

by Jonathan Reed

This one-of-a-kind presentation of the New Testament world and its archaeological treasures provides a new, more complete understanding of the world in which Christianity was born. Through lavish photographs, architectural plans, extensive maps, and detailed charts, you can explore the landscape of Nazareth where Jesus grew up; sit at the shores of Galilee where he preached; and enter the streets and temple of Jerusalem where his ministry was fulfilled.
 
 
 

Jewish Communities in Asia Minor

(Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)
by Paul Trebilco

Scholarly assessment of Jewish communities in the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman Diaspora has, in the past, been dominated by our knowledge of the large and influential communities in Rome and Alexandria. This book brings together the evidence for significant Jewish communities in another part of the Diaspora, namely Asia Minor. By collating archaeological, epigraphic, classical, New Testament and patristic sources, the book provides an invaluable and coherent description of the life of Jewish communities in Asia Minor, and so gives a more complete picture than was previously available of Jewish life at the time.
 
 
 

In Search of Paul: How Jesus’ Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom

by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan Reed

Crossan and Reed make a compelling case for the idea that culture, politics and quest for empire played as large a part in the formation of the Apostle Paul as did theology and religious training. It is an approach that will leave some wondering just how much of a role spirituality played in the Paul story.
 
 
 

Classical Turkey

(Architectural Guides for Travelers)
by John Freely

You don’t need to be a student of architecture to find this book useful for planning what ancient sites you want to see while in Turkey. If you’re planning to visit Ephesus (Efes) without a tour guide, then the maps, site details and site history in this book are invaluable. For other sites, sketches and photos help you envision what the lumps of dirt you’re looking at once were! For architecture novices, there is a handy glossary of common terms.
 
 
 

Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology

by Steven Fine

Art and Judaism During the Greco-Roman Period explores the Jewish experience with art during the Greco-Roman period-from the Hellenistic period through the rise of Islam. It starts from with the premise that Jewish art in antiquity was a “minority” or “ethnic” art and surveys ways that Jews fully participated in, transformed, and at times rejected the art of their general environment.
 
 
 

Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins

by Steven Friesen

After more than a century of debate about the significance of imperial cults for the interpretation of Revelation, this is the first study to examine both the archaeological evidence and the Biblical text in depth. Friesen argues that a detailed analysis of imperial cults as they were practiced in the first century CE in the region where John was active allows us to understand John’s criticism of his society’s dominant values.