Canakkale

The city of Canakkale lies at the narrow, 1,200 meter entrance to the Canakkale Strait (the Dardanelles ) that connects the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean. People have been living in this land continuously since 3000 B.C. It is the first-waterway on the way to Istanbul , the place where 500,000 soldiers lost their lives at Gallipoli, homeland of many civilizations including the ancient city known as Troy, the city of Heroes:

Canakkale is one of the Turkish cities, located on the Hellespoint at the north-west part of Turkey. The city has always been strategically important because it has been a crossing point for armies, traders, and migrating people since before history.

The Dardanelles Strait is one of the most important geological features of Canakkale. This is the almost 60 km (38 miles) long ribbon of water separating the continent of Europe from Asia Minor. Throughout history, anyone who controlled this gateway commanded a highly strategic area. There are many stories told about this place.

A lovely story is told ear to ear; Abydose and Sestus were two towns of ancient Canakkale that faced one another across the Straits. Leander was a handsome youth from Abydos who was in love with an Aphrodite priestess, Hero. Every night he would swim from Abydos to Sestus to see her. One night there was a terrible storm and he never arrived. Hero, assuming that Leander had drowned, threw herself into the sea.

The Dardanelles played an important role during World War I. The British and her Allies, who wanted to take Istanbul , could not pass through the Dardanelles. The eight month-long struggle between the Allies and Turkish forces is known as the Battle of Gallipoli. So serious were the casualties on both sides, that Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England, was removed from his office.

To honor the 500,000 soldiers who gave their lives at Gelibolu (Gallipoli), this peninsula has been made a national park of remembrance. The park includes memorials, monuments, cemeteries, the natural beauty of the Ariburnu Cliffs and Tuz Golu ( Salt Lake ). The beauty of the green hills, sandy beaches and blue waters provides an honorable resting place for the soldiers who bravely fought and died in this historic place. You cannot help but sense the heart of the Turkish nation in the patriotic spirit of the place.

Every year on April 25th, Gallipoli is invaded again not by Allied troops, but by their descendants, other veterans, and tourists. The sounds of the riffle fire ring out at Anzac Cove, but this time as a salute to heroes by the Turkish Honor Guard.

Before the city of Canakkale was built, people settled a place which is 7 km away from the southern entrance of the Hellespont and north of the Scamander river ( Menderes Nehri ). Troy (Truva), also called Illium, is located at Hisarlik today. The Wooden Horse and the Achilles'' Heel came from here. Troy is spoken of in the Iliad and the Odyssey in the tale of Helen, the most beautiful woman whose beauty was said to have launched the Trojan War. Troy existed for 4000 years and suddenly disappeared from the Earth until the ruins at Hisarlik were discovered in 1800s. Archaeological excavations have revealed nine separate periods of settlement and the ruins of city walls, house foundations, a temple and a theater. Now a symbolic wooden Trojan horse commemorates the legendary war.

Pergamum , (105 kms north of Izmir ) is one of the major sites of antiquity in Turkey . This ancient Hellenistic site has remarkable remains from the Greco-Roman and Byzantine periods. A great center of culture, Pergamum was the rival of Ephesus in the field of commerce, and of Alexandria in the fields of learning and arts. Pergamum was the city that invented parchment after Egypt cut off the supply of papyrus. The ruins date back to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Unfortunately, most of the ruins from the Acropolis were taken to Berlin where they are now displayed in the Pergamum Museum . Only the monumental foundation of the Altar of Zeus remains, as well as the Temple of Athena dating to the end of the fourth century. The most significant ruins are the great library of Pergamum that once housed over 200,000 volumes and a restored theater built into the steep, hillside that seated 10,000. According to Selim, water for the city, which is set on a rocky mountain some 350 meters above sea level, was provided by a triumph of ancient engineering which carried water through an aqueduct 3km from the mountain Madra Dagi which rises to 376 meters.

White Stone

This white stone at Pergamum with names inscribed reminds of Jesus' words: "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write...He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it " (Rev 2:12, 17).

Picture at top and bottom courtesy of www.bibleplaces.com