Assos: A beautiful city with a fascinating history

Today we spent the whole day visiting historical Assos. To start the day we visited the Acropolis, where the famous temple of Athena was located. When you look at the temple of Athena you can only imagine what the atmosphere surrounding the temple would have been like. The temple is massive and beautiful with strong doric pillars. The wind at the top of the Acropolis is strong and the temple, which sits at the edge of a cliff, must have beckoned respect from miles around. From our hotel we can see the temple and I can understand how the temple would have been the first thing any one sailing into the city would have seen.

What the temple would have looked like then

What it looks like today

The entire group at the temple site

For Paul, Assos was a reandevous point. He traveled from Troas by foot and met his comrades in Assos before continuing on his missionary journey across the sea. The reason that he traveled by foot instead of boat, scholars believe, is because the voyage from Troas to Assos by boat was said to be very dangerous. When we look at the historical Assos we can also see the atmosphere of immorality that Paul was attempting to preach to. Our tour guide painted a picture for us of orgies occuring outside the temple of Athena while there were animals being sacrificed inside. Although the atmosphere surround the temple lifestyle may appear to us as corrupt and pagan, we have to remember that this was the start of 'believing' in something for the Gentiles and Greeks. This paved the path for Paul to minister to them.

Here's the land that Paul would have crossed from Alexander Troas to Assos while his companions sailed by sea

The harbor below

We also visited the Theatre in Assos which was the people's source of entertainment back in the day. The people were hard workers, but around mid-day they would take a break and go to the theatre to enjoy a play. We were all amazed at the acoustics in  the Assos theatre. From the top row we could hear someone speak from the stage as clear as day. The theatre in Assos could handle up to 7,000 audience members because they were likely sitting very closely side by side. We learned that the Assos theatre is more like a Greek theatre than a Roman ampitheatre. For starters, The theatre stage was close to the first row of the audience so the cast members could interact with the audience. In a Roman theatre there were often fights between gladiators or animal fights so the stage was much lower than the first row of the audience in order to protect the audience. Also, Roman theatres had protection barriers between the stage and the audience, which this theatre did not. This will be our first of many theatres, but it was an exciting and well-build first one to see.

View of the theater from the acropolis above

 

I can say that Assos is a beautiful place with a very rich history, and it is a place that won't soon be forgotten for it's long and prosperous past. It's harbour today whispers remnants of it's past prosperity where thousands of people must have sailed in to worship Athena the war goddess. Aristotle thought that this city was prosperous enough that he choose to teach here, at the top of the Acropolis. He also taught in the infamous and beautiful theatre. Assos is a city with a very rich past indeed.

By Lindsey Houser