Ephesus, Turkey

I never made the connection between the book of Ephesians in the Bible and Turkey's Ephesus; so I Googled the significance of my photographs, after the fact:

"The first Christian community in Ephesus was established by St John and developed by St Paul. Here is where St.Paul visited and preached early Christianity to the people.  In a short time, Ephesus became the third important city of Christianity after Jerusalem and Antioch."

Following the House of the Virgin Mary, our bus continued to this amazing site. The weather was gorgeous - not too hot but pretty windy.  I kept my hat off, and was learning the advantage of those sun hats with straps.

The entrance looked not unlike any other park, but once inside the show starts almost immediately. I had my cane and worried walking on the stone streets seen in the brochure might be troublesome, but... 

...was pleasantly surprised to see the path looked like a boardwalk. I immediately relaxed because, being from 'Jersey, I'm familiar with walking on those.

Here's a nice structure: the public Bath of Varius, built by a wealthy citizen who included a private room for himself and his wife.  It has a strange shape because of a number of restorations performed throughout the centuries.  Built of marble, there are three sections: for cold, warm and hot water.

(Photo: r to l) Next comes the Basilica Stoa (stoa meaning covered walkway, thus all the columns); behind that is the State Agora (a meeting place for government discussions); and the Odean Theater after that.  At least I think that's what this is  After awhile, the ruins all look alike.

"In the first century B.C. the city had a population of more than 250,000, making Ephesus the second largest city in the Roman Empire, after Rome."

Who knew?

I know nothing about this sarcophagus, except it was on the side of the road.

The Odeon Theater (l), with a capacity of 1500, was used for performances as well as small political meetings.  Built in the 2nd century A.D by two wealthy citizens.

We continued downhill until we reached the Memmius Monument, below:

"Built by Memmius, a prominent citizen, in 87 BC to honor Roman Dictator Sulla. It is one of the few architectural monuments which has survived to the present date at Ephesus and dates from the late Hellenistic Period.  The 4-sided arch symbolizes Roman victory over the Pontic Empire and the liberation of Ephesus."  I never heard of any of this.

Our guide pointed out an inscription, written in both Latin and Greek, by the beautiful Trajan Fountain (below) which says it was built in the 2nd centuiry AD and erected in honor of the Emperor Trajan.  Apparently the fountains were loaded with statues of Emperors and Gods, and whatever survived is now in the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Selcuk (not part of the tour).

"A lower, narrower pool surrounded with Composite-style columns (part Ionic; part Corinthian) was located directly beneath the pool that held the emperor’s statue. After water filled the top pool, it would flow from the channel into the front pool where the people of Ephesus would have pulled it from the fountain."

I'll admit, I had difficulty imagining not-quite-all of this based upon leftover stones and dry pools.  This popular stone depicting Winged Nike, the Goddess of Victory (l) is interesting:

"In her left hand the flying Nike holds out a wreath of olive leaves to crown a victor in war or sport, and her right hand nabs a palm tree branch, symbolizing 'the fruits of victory' like peace and prosperity."  We're instructed by the guide to note the swoop of her (dress?), middle left, which became footwear Nike's logo and the basis for their name.

Uh-oh - the boardwalk ended, so I walked slowly over the well-worn stones, called Curetas Road (r), one of three main streets in Ephesus.  Look at this - can you imagine being able to visit any time - practically in people's backyards.

(l)  On the left side of the road were former Shops, with a beautiful mosaic floor in front, once shaded by canapes. (Just wanted to see if you're paying attention...canopies.) The shopping district was destroyed by fire in 615 AD.

In the background, up on a hill and protected from the sun, are terrace homes of wealthy citizens, currently being excavated.  There are incredible sights inside, but the Excursion List rated that portion of Ephesus the highest level for walking/exercise, so I passed; I already doubted my physical stamina.  I signed up for an excursion each day and so far-so good, but I didn't want to press my luck.

I tweaked the brightness/contrast levels of the mosaic (r) so you can better appreciate what was.  

Next came Hadrian's Temple (below), another impressive structure:

"Built before 138 A.D by P. Quintilius and dedicated to Emperor Hadrian, who came to visit the city from Athens in 128 A.D. The facade of the temple has four Corinthian columns supporting a curved arch, in the middle of which contains a relief of Tyche, goddess of victory."

I tried to shoot photos to create a composite of the beautiful archway directly above my head. Surely there's a way to take wide-angle photos, and as I fiddled with my camera my group walked on.

They weren't far - stopped at a particular stone in the street which is quite popular on tours: the Brothel Advertisement, with directions:

"The footprint: Your foot had to have been that size; an age restriction thing.  The box (bottom right): This was the library. The foot to the left indicates that the brothel could be entered to the left of it. There was a tunnel that led to the brothel from the library; so men could say to their wives that they were going to the library, but they were actually going to the “left” or to the brothel. The pretty lady (above the box): That’s what you would find there.  The heart (above left of the foot):  Shows that love-making happened at this place. The hole (above the heart): The price of a visit. You had to have enough coinage to fill this hole.  The location (right of the hole): Though it is quite faded, the cross streets are shown. Such directions were necessary because ancient Ephesus hosted thousands of visitors every year as they came to worship Artemis at the local temple. "  The Temple of Artemis was twice the size of the Parthenon.

The guide was pointing out the brothel ruins, but I couldn't tell what she was talking about so I tried to shoot Ephesus's jewel in the crown:  the Library of Celsus (below, r), repository of over 12,000 scrolls; "...the third richest library in ancient times after Alexandria and Pergamum."

By-the-by, in case you weren't aware of another change in our society which confused me during my research:  re-defining BC and AD.  BC is now BCE, or Before the Common Era; and AD is CE, or Common Era.  I read they can also mean Before the Christian Era and Cristian Era.  Me, I'm sticking with the originals. 

 

The Library was built to honor Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, former procounsel of Asia, by his son.  It was constructed around 115 AD and completed in 135 A.D.  The elder's marble sarcophagus was placed in a crypt beneath the library.

I don't know how you could manage to visit the site off-hours or -season, but it would be great to see it up close and personal.  We remained on the road (time restrictions) and there were loads of tourists mucking up photos, but what can you do. Here are some notes of architectural interest about the Library:

"The two storied façade is intensely ornated with 16 columns arranged in pairs. Columns at the center of the façade are shorter than the others which is an optical illusion giving the impression of greater size. Four female statues placed in the façade’s niches represent Sofia (Wisdom’), Arete (‘Virtue’), Ennoia (‘Insight’), and Episteme (‘Knowledge’), inscriptions under the statues.  They are personifications of the virtues of Celsus but also of the virtues the life of high Roman officials should have. The library was restored with the aid of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the originals of the statues were taken to Ephesus Museum in Vienna in 1910."

Joined on the right is the Gate of Mazeus and Mithridates (r), which led to the large Commercial Agora, or center. 

"The gate features three main inscriptions over its arches: on the sides, there are Latin texts, but the central text is in Greek. They inform that the gate was erected by two Freedmen of Octavian Augustus and Marcus Agrippa, called Mazaeus and Mithridates.

"As a gravestone (l) found in Ephesus states that Mithridates was the freedman of Agrippa, Mazeus must have been the one (freed) by Augustus. Thankful for the manumission (freedom), they had this gate built in the honour of Octavian Augustus, his wife Livia, his son-in-law Marcus Agrippa, and Julia the elder, the daughter of Augustus and the wife of Agrippa."

After that we wandered down the Marble Road (r), which runs between the Library and the Great Theater.  Dates from the 1st cenury AD and rebuilt in the 5th century.

Midway down there was a beautiful tree I had to stop and photograph, the Judas Tree, of the pea family (Fabaceae):

"The common notion is the name derives from the belief that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from this tree species after he betrayed Jesus. The second is that it is a derivation from the French Arbre de Judée (tree of Judea) where the tree was a common sight.  It has other common names, too, with more cheerful connotations—including the love tree and the Mediterranean redbud."

We were on our way to the Great Theater (r), where Paul had to defend himself against accusations of atheism, originating from disgruntled craftsmen who feared lost revenue of their popular Artemis statues, as proclaimed by silversmith Demetrius:

"'You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all." 

The acoustics were terrific, as proven by a soprano from the tour who sang out a few verses to an appreciative audience.

"The Ephesus Great Theatre is located on the slope of Panayir (Pion) Hill, opposite Harbor Street, (below). The theater was built in the 1st and 2nd century AD, and was able to seat 25,000."

Paul, defended by friendly government officials, was judged here, found guilty, imprisoned and ultimately forced to flee the city, making his way to Macedonia in AD 54.  At least that's one version.

So what happened to this once thriving port city?  Fascinating:

"Today, the ruins of Ephesus are quite far from the shoreline (about 3 mi, or 5 km), and the once busy Port of Ephesus is completely covered with soil and dust as it was successively filled up with debris and deposits from the ancient Caystros River. Cayster River floodplain has been prograding seaward since mid-Holocene time and silting up of the port caused by the river is the main reason why Ephesus fell into decline and gradually abandoned over years.

"The area around Ephesus and the harbor turned into a swamp. Mosquitoes increased more and more. A series of malaria epidemics decimated the population and the Ephesians abandoned the city almost in one hundred years. Instead of settling in Ephesus again, they found a new port city for themselves and they called there Scala Nuova which means a new port.  Kusadasi."

What's left?  Piles upon piles of ancient puzzle pieces waiting for archaeologists to fit together.  I'd love to do something like that.

Next:  Visiting the Minotaur

From the beginning:  Athens and the Acropolis