Bergama

Small but informative, a good orientation before exploring the big sites.

Stonking great red-brick ruin, once part of a vast religious complex spanning the River Selinus. It was probably built in the reign of Hadrian, circa 130 AD, as a temple to the Egyptian gods Serapis, Isis, Osiris, Harpocrates, and any other deity that might do him a good turn in the after-life. This red brick style was common in Italy at that time but not locally, so there must have been a big importation of skilled labor. At some point the temple burnt out, and in the 5th century a Christian basilica was built within it, but that was destroyed by the Arabs in 716 AD. The temple is flanked by two rotundas: the south (latterly an olive oil factory) is part of the same precinct, the north is nowadays a mosque. There's an extensive underground network of chambers and passageways.

This extensive site is the main reason to visit Bergama and will take a couple of hours to explore. The only ticket sales point and entrance is at the top by the cable car station; accordingly the sights are described here north to south. Most date to 2nd century BC, when an ancient higgledy-piggledy settlement was beautified by Eumenes II and Attalus II to try to outshine Athens. The Arsenal at the north tip of the site is scrappy and you only go that far for the views. The Altar to Zeus measures some 35 x 33 m and may have been the "Satan's seat" that St John raged against in Revelation. It was decorated by an ornamental frieze depicting the war between the giants and the Olympian gods. In the 19th century thousands of frieze fragments were re-assembled in the Pergamon Museum of Berlin: what's here is a replica, and naturally there's a campaign to reclaim the original. South of the altar is the upper agora or market place, and the sparse remains of a temple to Dionysus. The structures near the entrance gate are Heroons (tombs of heroes), the stumps of a propylon (monumental gate) and the low-lying remnants of the Temple of Athena. That temple's north side is the likeliest site of the Library of Pergamon, which held 200,000 scrolls, and sought to rival the Great Library of Alexandria. The scrolls were on parchment, forerunner to paper, much easier to handle than papyrus and breaking the Egyptian grip on that product (indeed the name "parchment" derives from Pergamon, though it wasn't invented here). The library fell into disuse after the Roman takeover of 133 BC: Antonius gave the contents to Cleopatra as a wedding gift, probably to re-stock her damaged library in Alexandria. The Theatre of Pergamon is a very steeply-raked amphitheatre with seating for 10,000. The terrain was too steep for a permanent orchestra or stage, so a temporary wooden stage was erected for performances. Built in the 3rd century BC, this is the oldest of the city's theatres but the best preserved. The Temple of Trajan just south of the theatre was started by Trajan circa 110 AD and completed by his successor Hadrian. It's been extensively restored, the sort of elegant Corinthian marble columns you depict on banknotes. That concludes the Upper Acropolis, now descend south. Building Z, halfway down the slope, has beautiful mosaics. Lower Acropolis is less preserved and suffers by comparison to what you've already seen: if you drove up, it's time for one of you to re-ascend the site to bring the car round to the lower gate. Down here are the Temple of Demeter and the Temple of Hera. The Gymnasium complex is on three levels, with the boy novices practising at the base and the top jocks showing their moves and muscles on the upper deck. The Gate of Eumenes II is a fortification tower, and the House of Attalos has mosaics. Exit via the gate in the lower agora, to find yourself back near the city centre.

Aesculapius was the god of health and medicine, and an Asclepeion was a "healing temple", a sort of clinic-cum-spa. Over 300 are known across the Roman world, and Pergamon is one of the best preserved. Traditionally you approached along Via Tecta, a great colonnaded "holy way", bathed in the holy waters, and made various ritual observances, prayers and offerings. You listened to the soothing sound of water, or to music in a 3500-seater theatre, or got slathered in mud. And you could sleep over, and the deity might cure you overnight or give instructions in your dreams. You related your dreams to the priests (notably to Galen 129–216 AD), who built up volumes of interpretive lore – of huge interest to Freud 1800 years later as he delved into the roots of mental ill health but somehow overlooked the role of mud. The temple was built around the 4th century BC, when Aristides documented its methods, but what you see nowadays is 2nd century AD, when Hadrian restored the site. The main structures are the theatre, the north and south Stoas (colonnaded walkways that gave their name to "stoic" philosophers), the main temple of Asclepius, the circular "healing area" or Temple of Telesphorus, the Via Tecta and the propylon or ceremonial gateway.