This was an incredible stop. Ephesus was an ancient Greco-Roman city--it is one of the largest sites of ancient ruins. Only 15% of it has been uncovered, yet what is already shown stretches out for about a mile. In 100 AD, the estimated population of Roman Ephesus was 400,000-500,000!
We had a fantastic tour guide who was full of details. The site is very "open," nothing is roped off...and by the same token, it has very little if any signage. A good tour guide is a must.
Speaking of...here's a great website about Ephesus, including a map and lots of info:
The goddess Nike
Main excavated street through the ruins.
Walking down that street is indescribable. Literally in the footsteps of history, putting together the roman stories and the biblical stories and beginning to understand what was meant by "nothing new under the sun."
Walking down that street is indescribable. Literally in the footsteps of history, putting together the roman stories and the biblical stories and beginning to understand what was meant by "nothing new under the sun."
To demonstrate how colorful and vibrant the city must have been, the guide threw some water on some of the tiles...under the dust--look at all the color!
Medusa?
The library!
The theater, which would have held 25,000 people.
At the road to the port.
Yes, this is the road that Mark Antony and Cleopatra came up in a grand processional when they arrived in Ephesus - that is recorded/described in one of the surviving contemporary accounts.
Of course, Mark Antony is the guy credited with "losing" the republic, after Caesar got whacked and the republic was under a triumvirate rule - which of course devolved into chaos. He and Cleopatra committed suicide after Mark Antony's side lost the battles. But for that moment in Ephesus they were the center of the Roman universe.
Tragically romantic, what?
When you come from a land with almost no trees, you end up taking photos of trees just to try to hand onto their smell and shade and sounds. Oh, I miss my pine trees.
And I might have picked up a pinecone from Ephesus...and I might have smuggled it home...cause it might sprout into some trees for me someday...
I'm not thinking the Ephesus seeds will take. But the ones from the Parthenon, errr, I mean some other random seeds we got somewhere, have sprouted and may (ensha'Allah) make great pine trees.
I'm not thinking the Ephesus seeds will take. But the ones from the Parthenon, errr, I mean some other random seeds we got somewhere, have sprouted and may (ensha'Allah) make great pine trees.
Near where our tour bus gathered us back up was a little row of shops.
And they sold fresh squeezed orange juice! It was heavenly...and so cool to both
(1) come from Turkish oranges and
(2) remind me of my grandmother's orange grove in south Texas.
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