If you've taken a break from reading my blog, you may want to check out a new page I created - 25th Anniversary Trip. All the posts about our trip are in chronological order. Some posts will not make sense if you haven't read previous ones. And if you're bored with our travels, check out my Friday Foodie page for recipes or Women of the Word, a study I did last year on women in the Bible.
We traveled from the home of Mary to Ancient Ephesus. The original name of the city is Efes. Greeks added "os," making it Efesos, which the English have translated to Ephesus. Warning: We took over 250 pictures during this part of our day! This is another one of those places that we could have spent the entire day exploring.
Ephesus, like much of that part of the world, was part of the Ancient Greek Empire, then was under Roman rule during the time of Christ and the early church. The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (we did not visit that site.) In 268 AD, the Temple was destroyed or damaged in a raid by the Goths.
Emperor Constantine the Great rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Following the Edict of Thessalonica from Emperor Theodosius I, what remained of the temple was destroyed in 401 A.D. by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom. The town was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 A.D. The city's importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. Today, what was the harbor is about 3 miles inland. The loss of its harbor caused Ephesus to lose its access to the Aegean Sea, which was important for trade. People started leaving the lowland of the city for the surrounding hills. The ruins of the temples were used as building blocks for new homes. Marble sculptures were ground to powder to make lime for plaster.
Sackings by the Arabs first in the year 654–655 by Caliph Muawiyah I, and later in 700 and 716 hastened the decline further. When the Seljuk Turks conquered Ephesus in 1090, it was a small village. The town knew again a short period of prosperity during the 14th century under Seljuk rulers. Ephesus was completely abandoned by the 15th century.
I found this wonderful map at Cultural Travel Guide that is very useful. Our bus dropped us off at the second entrance (on the right) and we walked through Ephesus to the first entrance. We didn't have time to stop at each location and since our pictures are in chronological order, I'll be counting down as far as the map goes.
First up was the Bath of Varius, built around the 2nd century A.D. It is built of cut blocks of marble. It has three sections, frigidarium (cold water), tepidarium (warm water) and caldarium (hot water).
Next we saw the Odeion, or Small Theater, also built in the 2nd century A.D by the order of Publius Vedius Antonius and his wife Flavia paiana, two wealthy citizens in Ephesus. It had a capacity of 1,500 spectators.
The State Agora was built in the 1st century B.C. It was a meeting place for government business.
On the southwest corner of the State Agora there are the remains of a fountain. According to an inscription the magnificent construction of this fountain was ordered by Gaius Laecanius Bassus in 80-82 A.D. Because of the enormous size of the fountain it has been referred to as the "Water Palace".
Domitian Temple was the first temple to be built in the name of an emperor (81 - 96A.D.)
The Memmius Monument was built between 50 and 30 B.C.
We walked down Curetes Street, one of the three main streets of Ephesus. It is made of marble and had fountains, monuments, statues and shops on the sides of the street.
The Fountain of Trajan was built around 104 A.D., it is one of the finest monuments in Ephesus. It was constructed for the honor of Emperor Trajan, and the statue of Trajan stood in the central niche on the facade overlooking the pool.
The Temple of Hadrian is one of the best preserved and most beautiful structures on Curetes Street. It was built before 138 A.D by P. Quintilius and was dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian, who came to visit the city from Athens in 128 A.D.
The Terrace Houses or "the houses of rich", were built as early as the 1st century B.C. and occupied until about the 7th century A.D. These are mosaics on the floor.
Next stop - Public Toilets! Built in the 1st century A.D., there was an entrance fee to use them. The toilets were side by side with no partition between them.
The Brothel was on the corner of Curetes Street and the Marble Road, dating to the 1st century A.D. A secret passageway between the Library of Celsus and the brothel meant that even the most frequent of visits could be disguised as a love of literature!
The Library of Celsus is magnificent! It was built in 117 A.D. The scrolls of the manuscripts were kept in cupboards in niches on the walls. There were double walls behind the bookcases to prevent them from the extremes of temperature and humidity. The capacity of the library was more than 12,000 scrolls.
The statues in the niches of the columns today are the copies of the originals. The statues symbolize wisdom (Sophia), knowledge (Episteme), intelligence (Ennoia) and valor (Arete).
And then you just look up...
and up...
and up!
One of our last stops was the Great Theater. It was first constructed in the Hellenistic Period, in the third century BC during the reign of Lysimachos, but then during the Roman Period, it was enlarged and formed its current style that is seen today. It is the largest in Anatolia and has the capacity of 25,000 seats.
We read about this theater in Acts chapter 19:
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; 25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. 26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. 29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. 31 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.
33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people. 34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
I'm still in awe that we stood in that place!
I had actually forgotten about this next picture. It was carved in the Marble Road. It is a Christian symbol called an Ichthus:
Most Christians know of the Fish symbol. In Greek IXOYE (Ichthus) is the word for “fish.” For ancient Christians, though, it held deeper symbolism: Iota is the first letter of the name Jesus in the Greek alphabet. X, or Chi, is the first letter for “Christ.” O, the letter Theta, is the first letter for the Greek term for God. Y, or Upsilon, represents “Son,” and E, or Sigma, is for Savior - "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." Hakan showed us how it was drawn by overlaying the letters:
Our final stop was the Theater Gymnasium, constructed in 125 A.D. Much of the excavation is not complete.
Can you believe this is only our second stop of five for the day?? This was the longest and most interesting part, but there is still plenty to come.
Before we traveled on, Hakan gave us about a 15 minute break. He also warned us about being late to the bus:
"If you are one minute late, you will have to sing.
If you are two minutes late, you will have to dance.
If you are three minutes late, you will sing and dance where the bus was!"
Haven't seen enough?? Many, many more pictures HERE!
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