Day 8: Adventures in Ephesus- Avery Shipp and Kalen Morrison

 Today we left the Ramada Suites dark and early before the sun rose to make our way up nearby Nightingale Mountain (the English name) to visit the supposed final home of Virgin Mary. 

Supposedly, the Virgin Mary traveled to Ephesus with St.John between 37-47 CE and stayed in this house about 4 miles away from Ephesus. The reason she stayed so far from Ephesus was to avoid Christian persecution while John worked in the city to expand the Christian community. 

Today, Mary’s house is seen as a holy site for many Christians who make the pilgrimage to worship at it, as it is also a still active church. Along with the Christians, Mary’s house is also a holy site in Islam too, as Mary is the only woman to be mentioned within the Quran, making this one of the only sites worshiped by both religions. This is an interesting little change from many of the sites we have seen in the past couple days that were either a place of worship for one or it had been converted (like many churches to mosques). 

Additional evidence of both religion and tradition can be seen on the path away from Mary’s house, similar to the lock bridge in France, is a wall of wishes. Many believe that by tying a small piece of paper with their wish on it to the wall, that God will listen, similar to how he would a prayer.

After Mary’s house we wound our way back down the mountain (she was quite high up) and over to the top of the Ephesus valley. Ephesus was designed to sit between two mountains and slope downwards to a cape (that no longer exists) that made it an ideal location to act as a trading city. 

Ephesus was founded originally as a Greek city, but in the 5th century BCE is was occupied by Persians. However, Lysimachos after being given a prophecy that he would start a great city, so he regained control of the city in approximately 480 BCE. Ephesus thrived for centuries and at its peak was estimated to house 250,000 people. They lived there until the end of 7th/beginning of the 8th century CE when the city was forced to be abandoned because of threat of attack. They moved to the foothills till 1924 when the persecution of Greeks in Turkey began, but that's much more modern than what we focused on today.

As we walked through Ephesus we were able to see not just ruins but actual remains of a thriving city. Many of the great monuments were still standing like the Odeion (pictured below) which was a smaller theater meant for holding ancient Off-Broadway shows and city council meetings. Now it’s much more popular as a home to many of Ephesus’s stray cats and dogs. 

The Romans had a tradition of whenever an emporer would visit their city they would offer to build them a new building, alter, or in some cases fountain to act as a place of worship for the people of the city. In ancient times it was common for emporers to be regarded and worshipped in the same was as God, as they believed he was chosen by God. Below is a fun one that Saba explained came from a convenient misunderstanding. 

In the second century CE, Emperor Hadrian agreed to have a temple built for him in Ephesus before his arrival. However, by this time Ephesus was already quite full and they were running low on space to build a grand temple as he expected. So their solution was to take a small space on the side of the the boathouse/gymnasium and build a grand façade. You’ll notice that right behind the opening for the door there’s a wall. This is because the temple really was only the front wall. To keep Hadrian from noticing and wanting to enter, they carved the head of Medusa into the arch above the door, having heard that Hadrian was greatly afraid of him. Hadrian was very happy to glance at it then continue on, and everyone was happy, so the story goes. 

Like many cities of its time (and even now), Ephesus was divided by class. The upper class primarily lived in what are called the Terrace Houses (pictured above) built into the side of the mountain because they had a view of much of the town and in the distance behind the library, they could see the bay. Currently they are still in the process of excavating these homes, but many of them can been seen with their frescos (colored plaster pictures) and mosaics still intact. Some of the houses were being used as storage and organization rooms where they had mosaic pieces laid out on tables as they tried to rearrange them. 

We learned a lot about Paul and the role he had with spreading Christianity in Ephesus. We learned that not every Ephesian was open to Paul’s Christian message, and a riot was planned by a man named Demetrius. Those who rioted feared the spread of Christianity and chased Paul throughout the city to the Hellenistic Theater. The Ephesian officials, however, protected St. Paul because of his Roman citizenship. These officials feared the Roman Empire, and having a Roman citizen being killed in a Roman city was not a good look for them.

Unlike Paul we did not have to run through the theater for safety, instead we enjoyed climbing up it for a great view of the mountains and great acoustics. 

This is the Library of Celcus, the most famous and photographed part of Ephesus. As the 3rd largest library in the world (in ancient times) it had 24000 volumes and was 2 stories. 70% original material was used in the reconstruction by Austrian archeologists in 1978. The top balconies used to have 4 emperors statues, while the bottom had 4 women statues whose names meant Virtue, Wisdom, Acknowledgment, and Intelligence. Double walls to keep from humidity.

The next place we went to was the Ephesus Archeological Museum. It was fitting to go here next because a lot of the statues that were discovered in the Ancient city of Ephesus, were collected and put in this museum. It was really cool to imagine these statues in the temples we had seen only a few hours earlier. 

The temple of Artemis (one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world) was not actually in Ephesus; it was actually a couple miles down the hill. Only one pillar still stands as British took whatever was left in the 1860s (now in the British museum if you would like to see it in it’s true glory). There was a pilgrimage road that the people of Ephesus would walk down on their knees from Ephesus to get to the temple for worship. They could see the marble shining from long distances away. It was like a light tower when the sun hit it.

This is one of the statues of Artemis. Featuring animals around her skirt and the model of a temple on her head. 

Our last place we visited was the Basilica of St John and the Ise Bey Mosque. These were on a nearby hill that faces Ephesus and the valley below, it is the site of the foothills that the people of Ephesus fled to in the 8th century. At the time that they settled, it was already considered to be a holy site as St John’s resting place (supposedly). Justinian was the one who commissioned a church to be built there, aiming to unite the surrounding areas by adding a new “community” building. The church’s size almost rivaled the Hagia Sophia, though it was made of 6 smaller domes in the shape of a cross. 

This small circular pool was where the Baptisms occurred. Many people would line up to get baptized by the Priest of the Church, making it necessary to have a bath that is easy to walk through making the baptisms quicker. When you are baptized, all your sins are forgiven. After one has been reborn in Christ, there is nothing to prevent one's entry into God's Kingdom.Many of the mosques we’ve visited while in Turkey were originally churches that were converted to mosques during the Byzantines’ rule (like St John’s church when the Seljuks came), however this one was built to be a mosque. Using solely recycled materials such as rubble and stones from the long destroyed basilica and neighboring ancient homes, the mosque was built with a special connection to the area surrounding it. 

Thanks for following along with us! Now enjoy the cats of Ephesus!