The Ancient Witnesses

26 • The Ancient Witnesses: A Journey to Discover Our Sacred Roots

“We don’t really know what’s over there,” Joseph replied. With that, he began climbing the wall where Cesar had climbed up. Preacher soon followed. I moved back in time to see them walking atop the wall in opposite directions, calling out for Cesar. Soon they were out of sight, and even the sound of their voices faded. Feeling restless, I decided to climb up before it was too dark to see anything. Following their moves, I made my way up the rubble pausing to scope out potential footholds in the wall. Luckily, the cracks were wider than

they appeared from below. Wedging my hands and feet between rocks, I ascended the wall by a series of small steps until I was able to lift a leg over and lie down on top of the wall. It wasn’t as flat as I’d hoped. I looked over the edge and down into the dark, calm waters, lapping below. Then I looked out onto the lake, which was black as pitch but ringed by a tiny string of lights on the distant Fig. 2 Remains of the 4th century Byzantine wall constructed with thin brick and courses of marble. Iznik, Turkey. By courtesy of Roberto Piperno.