The Bible in Greece Explained: Ancient Destinations & Lost History

At the time of Christ, Greek civilization in one form or another had already been in existence for over 3,000 years. We don't immediately think of Greece in the context of the Bible. But of course, it was in existence all the time and there are many connections, especially with the New Testament. It's these we're going to explore in these programs. Welcome to Ancient Bible Destinations. I'm David Suchet. I've been fortunate enough to visit and travel extensively around Greece. Yet even if you lived here, there still wouldn't be enough time to journey through the full length of its remarkably long history. So I'm going to look at what Greece was like at the time the first apostles of Christianity were setting out to tell their amazing story to the world. Of course, I'm going to encounter some ancient history along the way and a lot of modern Greece too, as it's one of the world's leading tourist destinations. Oh, did I mention the food? The culture? The sunshine? Or the beaches? Like so many of the 21 million tourists who flock here each year, I'm going to start in the Greek capital, Athens. Probably one of the most recognizable cities on the planet and a place where history is deeply embedded in every square metre. Then we're going to head north to the region of Macedonia, which is where St Paul first set foot on European soil. Our next stop is the area south-west of Athens called the Peloponnese, which is perhaps most famous for somewhere called Olympia. But I'm particularly interested in the equally ancient city of Corinth. And then, finally, you can't come to Greece and not visit some of its famous islands. So we're heading for a group called the Dodecanese, which includes Patmos. Patmos has all the vital ingredients of a Greek island. Blue sky, blue ocean, whitewashed buildings, beaches, historical ruins and an old port. But it was here that, while in exile, St John glimpsed into the far future and wrote the powerfully apocalyptic last book of the Bible called Revelation. So, Patmos is probably also the perfect place to end our journey through the ancient Bible destinations of Greece. But right now, let's get started in Athens. Even if you've never been here before, there are probably more famous ancient sites than you'll recognize immediately. And, of course, they were all here when St Paul arrived in the city in AD 50, on his own and very much a man on a mission. Joining us is Dr Michael Scott, Associate Professor in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. I've been studying and teaching about the ancient Greeks for years and they really are an extraordinary force in world history. The creators of the first Olympic Games, the creators of democracy, philosophy, drama. Our world would simply not be the same without the ancient Greeks. And they knew it. And so did many of the cultures who came after them in the Mediterranean world. Even the Romans, who really thought they knew a thing or two. They knew when they were beat as well. One of the great Roman poets, Horace, said this, ''Captured Greece captured her uncouth conqueror.'' The Greeks and especially the Athenians knew that they were important people and so they were a tough audience. And the message that Paul wanted to give them went against pretty much everything they had held dear for centuries. When you start to appreciate what he was up against in Athens, essentially an unknown loner challenging millennia of cultural practice and ideas, you begin to get an idea of just how deep was Paul's conviction about the story he had to tell. And just how much courage was needed to actually do the telling. As we visit Athens' many historic sites, we'll encounter St Paul more than a few times. But first, let's have a look at what life is like here today. Modern Athens is home to around 3.8 million people. But many more millions of tourists visit the city every year. So it's hard not to bump into a few of them along the way. Like here on Lycavitos Hill, which provides panoramic views across Athens to the Aegean Sea. In Greek mythology, the rocky hill was created by the goddess Athena and at one time it was topped by a temple dedicated to Zeus. It's hard to believe now, but at the time of liberation from the Ottomans, Lycavitos was completely bare. Reforestation commenced in 1880 and was completed in 1915. Winding your way back down to the centre of Athens, you'll come to Syntagma Square, the home of Greece's parliament and really the birthplace of modern Greece. An impressive marble war memorial was built in front of the parliament to commemorate the greatest battles of the modern Greek army since independence. In its centre is depicted a slain soldier and the monument is guarded day and night Here they are in their distinctive uniforms, performing the hourly changing of the guard with such discipline and precision. These uniforms also have historical significance as they're based on the ones worn by the kleftes, who were mountain-based freedom fighters. So this square is not just geographically at the heart of Athens, but it's historically at the heart of modern Greece. And if you want to enjoy it in style, you can stay right here in the rather grand Hotel Grand Bretagne. It became so popular with visiting celebrities, politicians and even royalty, it became known as the Greek state's official guesthouse. There are just so many levels of history in Athens, you're never very far away from some aspect of it. So here, in the Monastiraki district, the narrow streets and neoclassical-style small buildings are characteristic of the Ottoman times. And in the Monastiraki square is the 10th century Byzantine Padanasa church, which once belonged to the monastery that gives this district its name. Another era in history is represented by the 18th century mosque that also stands on this square. But in addition to plenty of history, Monastiraki is also known for the sheer variety of its little shops and, perhaps more importantly for tourists, its food stalls and restaurants. There can't be a more evocative place to sample gyros, which is one of Greece's more popular takeaway food, served with chips. In Greece, gyros essentially means turn, as the meat in this traditional snack is cooked on a vertical spit. If you're ready for a more substantial meal, it's only a short walk to the Plaka district, the oldest neighbourhood in Athens and particularly known for its more traditional tavernas. When St Paul came to Athens in the summer of AD 50, the city was of course even smaller. But for him, travel certainly wasn't a luxury. Often it was a necessity. On quite a number of occasions he had to flee to avoid imprisonment or something worse, and he travelled to Athens on just such one of these occasions. He arrived by sea, the boat anchoring in Phallero, then the main port for Athens. Today, if you arrive in Athens by ship, you'll dock here in Piraeus, which is right next door to Phallero. Paul sailed to Athens from northern Greece after fleeing from Thessaloniki. He was escorted by unknown men, most likely sympathisers, who simply dropped him off and then returned north. What we do know is that now he was entirely on his own. Paul, being Paul, decided to make the most of the wait. The Book of Acts in the New Testament tells us that Paul wasted no time before he was making his presence known in the city. He had noted immediately the number of idols that were being worshipped and was stunned to see one altar that was dedicated to an unknown god. The Athenians were hedging their bets just in case they'd overlooked the really important god. Paul's message was about the one and only god, so he could be forgiven for possibly expecting a receptive audience. That the Athenians were clearly open to new ideas might have also encouraged him, and initially, at least, he was indeed given a hearing. We're also told in Acts that Paul was preaching, and I quote, That marketplace would almost certainly have been here at the ancient Agora, although it wouldn't have been called ancient in those days. The basic translation of Agora is marketplace, and, of course, it was that. People came from all over Athens to gather their goods, buy whatever it is they wanted and get their water from the public fountain. But it was also so much more than that. This was where the democratic institutions of Athens were. This is where the business took place. It was also a religious space. The Athenians had their altar of the 12 gods in the Agora. And it was also a legal space. This is where the law courts were, dispensing justice over 250 days a year. And when the era of the classical world had ended and the Hellenistic world began, the monarchs of the wider Mediterranean world wanted their place in this crucial space. They built beautiful buildings, stores, places in which people could walk, discuss, debate, think. And when the Roman emperors came to power, they too wanted to build in the Agora. Augustus set up an odeon, a place to speak and to be heard. So when Paul came to Athens, the Agora was the obvious place to go. It was a place of the people, the equivalent of the Roman forum. And from the word Agora, we get agoraphobia, meaning a fear of going into places where there are lots of people. When Paul was here, the Agora's large square would have been surrounded by many government buildings, and everywhere he looked were the temples and altars to the myriad of pagan gods worshipped by the Athenians. And here's one of them, the beautifully preserved temple of Hephaestus, also called the Thession. Inside it housed statues to both Hephaestus and Athena. It dates back to the middle of the 5th century BC and has survived largely as it was originally built over 2,500 years ago. It would have been surrounded by the small, busy workshops of potters, metalworkers and sculptors. While it was built as a pagan temple, from the Middle Ages onward it was a Christian church. The other impressive building on this site is the Stoa of Attalos, but this isn't the original because it was destroyed in the year 267. It was reconstructed in the early 1950s and today houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora. Because it's an absolutely faithful reproduction down to the very last detail, it's also often used in the study of ancient monuments. Completed in 159 BC and subsequently donated to the city by King Attalos II, the original was the world's first shopping mall and housed 21 shops on each of its two floors. Looking down across the ancient Agora from the Acropolis, the sheer size of the Stoa is particularly apparent. The temple of Hephaestus can be seen on the left and the most prominent ruins in the centre of this view are of the Odeon of Agrippa, which was built in 15 BC. Over the centuries, the Agora was gradually abandoned and eventually built over, becoming a residential area. When excavations for the Athens to Piraeus rail line started in 1890, some of the first ruins were uncovered. Athletic competitions are one of the many concepts ancient Greece has given the modern world, including the Olympic Games, which have their origins in the ancient Panathenaic Games, dating back to 566 BC. And this is arguably the spiritual home of all athletics. The stadium looks exactly the way it would have looked back in 140 AD, although it was skilfully reconstructed from the ruins of the original. Perhaps not all that surprisingly, it's the only all-marble sports stadium in the world and it's here that the first modern era Olympics were held in 1896. Another ancient venue still being used today is this remarkable arena in the shadow of the Acropolis called the Odeon of Herodotus Atticus. It was built in 161 AD, seats 5,000 people and today is the main venue for the annual Athens Festival. Next door is an even bigger venue, the ancient Theatre of Dionysus, and it was here that the innovative plays of the great Greek poets Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus and Aristophanes had their premieres. At the time of Paul, Greece was actually under Roman rule and had been for 200 years, but Athens remained a free city because the Romans were so impressed with its schools. Hadrian in particular went on a building spree in the middle of the 2nd century AD. He paid for the completion of the Temple of Olympian Zeus which had remained unfinished for over 630 years. The remaining ruins are very impressive in themselves and give some idea of the colossal scale of the completed temple. Only 15 of the 104 columns remain standing while there's a 16th on the ground. It fell down during a huge storm in 1852. Close by is Hadrian's Arch, which actually wasn't built by the emperor, but was named after him to acknowledge his contribution to the city, particularly the completion of Zeus' temple. On one side, an inscription credits Hadrian as the founder of the new Athens. On the other, facing the Acropolis, Theseus is acknowledged as the founder of the old city. Another Roman emperor, Vespiasannus, wasn't quite so fortunate when it came to having things named after him. These are the ruins of the public lavatories in the Roman Agora and they're called the Vespiasanes. The Parthenon was a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, which must have made Paul shudder every time he saw it, although in practical terms it was mostly used as a treasury building. At the end of the 6th century AD, it became a Christian church, and then after the Ottoman invasion in 1456, it was occasionally used as a mosque. It wasn't until after Greek independence that the Parthenon became a protected monument, and serious attempts at restoration only commenced in 1975. It's still ongoing, as the constant presence of scaffolding and cranes attest. And among the many conservation issues is managing the hundreds of thousands of tourists who crawl over it every year. The sculptors considered most important or most at risk of damage, now mostly from atmospheric pollution, have been removed and are now on display in the new Acropolis Museum. These include some of the metopes, the freeze blocks above the architraves, which have been replaced with copies made of artificial stone. The freezes, carved in high relief, depict various mythical battles. The new Acropolis Museum is arguably one of the most remarkable museums in the world. The contrast of the modern and the ancient really is breathtaking, and it's built to the scale of the original. It doesn't disappoint on the inside either. There's over 4,000 square metres of ancient ruins in here. The main building is deliberately orientated to provide absolutely stunning views of the Parthenon, so it's sort of a museum within a museum. The restoration work performed here is painstaking and, not surprisingly, never-ending. Here, the karyatides are being cleaned using lasers so as to avoid any damage. These particular five statues served as columns on the smaller Erechtheion temple up on the Acropolis. Named after the sun god, Erechtheus, and completed in 420 BC, the Erechtheion stands on the exact spot where Athena was said to have planted her olive tree. Visiting the Acropolis is a memorable experience. The history is fascinating, and the views across Athens are stunning. If you can stay until sunset, you'll be treated with a magical sight as the monuments are rendered as silhouettes and you really could be back in ancient times. Even if you're only in Athens for a short time, a tour of the Acropolis has to be a priority. Although, as you look out across everything else that the city has to offer, you'll want to stay longer. It's easy to see why Athens is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the planet. Paul's daily visits to the marketplace at the ancient Agora soon attracted the attention of higher authorities. He was soon summoned to a meeting of the Areopagos Council. That meeting took place on Mars Hill, next to the Acropolis, with all its grand symbols of Greek civilization as the backdrop. The Areopagos was a council of aristocratic elders who were responsible for determining many administrative, religious, and educational matters. These were important people. And Mars Hill was a very significant site too, because it was here that the first Athenian citizen-based parliaments had assembled, giving birth to the notion of democratic decision-making and enshrining the right to freedom of speech as well as human equality. In the late 6th century BC, the Athenians managed to break the power of the aristocrats and for the first time in history, the single citizen, regardless of status, could have a say in the running of the government. This was the birth of democracy. Dimash, meaning those of the land, and Kratos, meaning power. The assembly of the people was called the Ekklesia, a word which specifically implies a gathering drawn together from many different places. Jesus used it in reference to his little group of followers and the English derivative, ecclesiastical, is still used in reference to matters concerning the church. A key element of democracy was freedom of speech and when your turn came in the Ekklesia, you stood on a simple block of stone called a bima and Paul would have stood on one as he addressed the Areopagic Council. Paul believed in destiny and as he stood before this group of statesmen, he must have been even more convinced that he was in the right place at the right time. It was summer so the sun would have been baking this rough outcrop of limestone rock but Paul seized his opportunity and here is what he told them. Now what you worship is something unknown. I'm going to proclaim to you the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands and he's not served by human hands as if he needed anything because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. He then told them for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Now that last bit really set the cat among the pigeons. The book of Acts tells us that some sneered but others said we want to hear you again on this subject. Much more positively though we're told a few men became followers of Paul and believed. One of these was even a member of the Areopagus. Paul must have felt he'd made some headway. As he left the council meeting and headed home Paul would have undoubtedly have been very aware of this building particularly its pagan associations. Today it's one of the most recognisable man-made structures in the world. The Parthenon is the crowning glory of Athens' famous Acropolis which is also called the Sacred Rock. Acropolis literally means high city and there have been monuments on this flat-topped outcrop since the Neolithic era. But most of what is seen today dates from the 5th century BC. If the Agora was the beating heart of Athens then the Acropolis was its head. This was the place where the Athenians from the earliest days built their palaces and then in the classical era their temples. Their temples to the city's patron deity, Athena. Tyrants built them, Democrats built them and over the years it became not just the religious head of the city but its flagship. The Parthenon, the temple that sits on the Acropolis today is still the most famous monument of Greece. It says Greece to the rest of the world. My favourite fact about it is this that there's not a single straight line in the Parthenon because 2,500 years ago the engineers and architects who constructed it understood that if they did build it with exactly straight lines it would actually look to us wonky. 2,500 years ago they were able to understand that and correct for the optical illusion just enough with every line just slightly curved so that it looks to us straight. This was the extraordinary nature of this extraordinary building sitting on top of this incredible pinnacle at the heart of this most fantastic city. Athens offers a rich palette of food, entertainment, culture and art. There's just so much here. One visit is never going to be enough. Paul had mixed success in Athens but importantly his message had been heard and there'd been some positive responses. He had done as much as he could for the moment so it was time to move on. Paul may have left Athens a little frustrated at his lack of headway but in reality he'd done important groundwork and over the next three or four centuries Christianity took hold in Greece very rapidly leading to the great era of Greek Byzantium. Paul's arrival in Macedonia a few months before he fled to Athens represented the start of something truly momentous the arrival of the Christian message on European soil. Paul went to Macedonia in the middle of AD 50 landing at the far eastern port of Kavala. Back then it was called Neapolis and Paul arrived here after sailing across the Aegean from... ...