The time is spring, 88 B.C. In Pergamon, the cultural center of Asia Minor, in Ephesus, home of the great temple of Artemis, in Caunus, in Tralles, in towns throughout what we now call Turkey there was a surprise attack on Romans. The Romans had migrated there from Italy, many enriching themselves at the expense of the natives. The attack of 88 was organized by King Mithradates of Pontus, an attack against hated western civilization. Estimates of the slaughter run from 80,000 to 150,000.
Much later St. Augustine wrote, “Imagine the miserable spectacle as each person was suddenly and treacherously murdered wherever he or she happened to be, in bed or at table, in the fields or in the streets, in markets or in temples! Think of the tears and groans of the dying. What cruel necessity compelled these ordinary people to suddenly change from bland neighbors into ruthless murderers?”
9-11 shocked America out of our complacent belief there is no terrible evil in the world. Historian R. Bruce Hitchner: “It’s high time we acknowledge the darker side of antiquity. The massacre of 88 B.C. certainly looks like terrorism, genocide and a crime against humanity.” Sadly, there is sin; there is evil. “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9; Adrienne Mayor, “The Poison King,” 13, 19, 23)
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