Lavish sultans’ palaces vie for attention with ancient Byzantine basilicas or underground Roman cisterns. A city of stark contrasts where East meets West, modern and ancient exist in a harmonious, exotic blend.
Once known as Constantinople, Istanbul lies partially in Europe and partially in Asia. While Ankara is the capital of Turkey, Istanbul is the largest city with approximately fifteen million people. A cradle of civilization, the traces of mankind’s religious journey throughout history are evident in the pagan temples, Christian basilicas, and Muslim mosques that are scattered everywhere throughout the cities and countryside. The Hittites, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans, along with lesser known cultures, invaded, conquered, flourished and left the ruins of their once mighty empires for us to behold with curiosity and awe. In fact, there are arguably more Greek, Roman, and Christian ruins in Turkey than in either Greece or Italy.Ĭolorful and diverse, Turkey is an enthralling land. In actuality, many of the familiar stories in the Old Testament took place in what is now Turkey, and the major portion of the New Testament was either written on Turkish soil or to believers living in Turkey, not the country of Greece as we know of today. Much of modern Turkey once belonged to Greece, but this information is not always readily apparent and is a source of confusion, even to the most seasoned biblical students and scholars. The land that is now Turkey was at the heart of human civilization, trade, and consequently, biblical history. This land is where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers begin and was a key crossroad in the ancient world. Turkey, as a nation by that name, only came into existence in 1920, just after WWI with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Or is it? Incredibly, the land that is now Turkey was the location for many of the people and events in biblical history. One page carries a drawing of a tree, and another eight lines of Syriac script.Įxperts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake.Įxperts said the use of gold lettering on the manuscript was likely to date it later than 2,000 years.Nowhere in the Bible is the country of Turkey mentioned. The manuscript carries excerpts of the Bible written in gold lettering on vellum and loosely strung together, photos provided to Reuters showed. Turkish Cypriot police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript could be about 2,000 years old. The manuscript was found in a police raid on suspected antiquity smugglers. To match Reuters Life! CYPRUS-BIBLE/ REUTERS/Kibris/Handout Experts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake.
An undated handout photo released to Reuters Februshows an ancient manuscript which authorities in northern Cyprus believe is an ancient version of the Bible written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus.
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