Where goddesses loved and fought

"Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away."

The fury of the gods and goddesses has long subsided, and the seething sea through which the Grecian fleets sailed toward Troy has calmed.

The moment of the most heartrending beauty for Pamukkale came at sunset, when light drenched the white mountain in colors from burnt orange to crimson to ocher. The changing hues added an element of drama to the place's solemn and stately beauty.

And drama is what the goddesses loved, judging by the fact that no Greco-Roman city is complete without a theater. Magnificently built with wonderful sound-gathering effect, theaters formed a crucial part of the locals' public life, with a far-reaching effect that many believe has influenced Western democracy.

We left Pamukkale at dusk, the place wrapped in a velvety blue, and Homer's words from the Iliad came to mind. "Any moment might be our last," he wrote, the original in Attic Greek. "You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."

zhaoxu@chinadaily.com.cn