The first stop on our 7-day cruise was Kusadasi, Turkiye (Turkey).
We started making reservations for our entire trip about four months before we left home, and everything came together in about two months, except for Turkiye. We had a list of places we wanted to visit, and we didn't want to be part of a cruise ship tour with 50 other people that only stopped at a few major attractions, so we tried to find a private local guide who had his own vehicle. This had worked well at other locations in the past, but this time we couldn't find a local guide recommended by other people. We emailed our desired agenda to several other guides, but most didn't respond. The few that did respond wanted us to follow one of their standard tours and weren't interested in a custom tour. Finally, one guide said he would modify one of his full-day standard tours, and we could discuss our desired route when we arrived. Of course, he wanted payment in advance.
After we disembarked in Kusadasi, our guide was nowhere to be found. We tried to reach him by phone, but he finally arrived with a van and driver. I asked him if he had received our desired route and agenda; he said he had, but he had a better route. He said he always started his tours at the Ephesus ruins, which were about 30 minutes away.
Once at the ruins, we first stopped at the Ephesus Experience Museum. This amazing multimedia presentation helped us visualize what Ephesus looked and felt like in the 1st century. Instead of looking at artifacts in display cases, we were surrounded by digital images projected onto the walls, floors, and ceilings. The 360-degree projections included three-dimensional sound, music, lighting, fog, and even scents.
As we went from room to room, the story covered Ephesus from its origins through the Greek and Roman periods and into the Christian era. While immersed in the presentation, we encountered reconstructed streets, monuments, houses, and public spaces, as well as historical and legendary figures associated with the city, including Androklos, Artemis, Cleopatra, Mark Antony, and St. Paul. The tour ended with an earthquake, using projected imagery, vibrations, and spatial sound.
Ephesus is one of the best-preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean area. It was founded in the 10th century BC and later came under Lydian and Persian control. In 290 BC, Alexander the Great took possession of the city, and it became the capital of the Roman province of Asia. By the 1st century AD, the city became the largest and most important city in Roman Asia Minor because of its harbor and location along major trade routes. It was also home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the largest and most magnificent temples of its time, and one of the seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Christianity was also important in Ephesus. St. Paul spent considerable time in the city, and Ephesus figures prominently in the Acts of the Apostles. The Letter to the Ephesians in the New Testament is associated with Christianity and also connects Ephesus with St. John the Apostle and the Virgin Mary.
After the 2nd century, Ephesus was gradually abandoned as the harbor silted up, moving the coastline farther from the city. Earthquakes, changing trade routes, invasions, and political changes also contributed to its decline, so many people moved to Selcuk about two miles away.
When we walked through the Ephesus ruins, we saw the Library of Celsus, the Great Theatre, the Temple of Hadrian, Terrace Houses with preserved mosaics and frescoes, public baths and toilets, fountains, and public buildings.
Upon entering the city, we first encountered the Roman bathing facility with four bathing rooms and an unexcavated area to the south. Some of the underground water lines were still visible.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Sophia |
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| Picture by Sophia |
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The Bouleuterion was where the boule (council) met to discuss laws, finances, public works, and other civic matters. It also functioned as an odeon (theater) for concerts, speeches, poetry readings, and other performances. The Bouleuterion seated about 1,500 people.
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| Picture by Ashley |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Ashley |
The Prytaneum (an important civic and religious building) and the Rhodian Peristyle (an open courtyard surrounded by columns) are located just west of the Bouleuterion.
Within the Prytaneum, officials entertained important visitors and honored citizens, all at public expense. Ceremonies, official receptions, and religious activities also took place here. One of the workers' most important duties at the Prytaneum was to maintain the Sacred Eternal Flame of Hestia, the Greek goddess of the hearth. The flame symbolized Ephesus's continuing life and well-being and was kept burning at all times. This is where during excavations, archaeologists found statues of Artemis of Ephesus buried within the complex.
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| Picture by Sophia |
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| Picture by Ashley |
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| Picture by Sophia |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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The Hydreion was a public water fountain along Curetes Street that provided water to the people. It was part of a sophisticated system that supplied water to fountains, baths, homes, and public buildings throughout the city.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Ashley |
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Curetes Street is the main roadway through Ephesus, passing columns, statues, monuments, temples, and houses before arriving at the Library of Celus.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Ashley |
The Nymphaeum Traiani (Fountain of Trajan) was one of the most impressive monumental fountains in Ephesus. It stood 9.5 meters (31 feet) tall and featured two stories of columns, niches, statues, and architectural decorations surrounding a large water basin. At the basin's center stood a 12-meter (39 feet) tall statue of Emperor Trajan with water flowing around the statue and into the fountain's basin. This served as both a public water source and an architectural highlight of ancient Ephesus.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Temple of Hadrian at Ephesus is one of the most photographed monuments along Curetes Street. It has a curved arch over the entrance that contains a carving of Tyche, the goddess/personification of the city's fortune.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Sophia |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Near the Temple of Hadrian are the public latrines, where people sat directly on keyhole-shaped openings and a sewer channel ran underneath the seats, carrying away the waste. Ephesus had a complex, sophisticated water and sewer system for its time.
The Terrace Houses are located across Curetes Street from the public latrines. Scholars assume Terrace House 1 was owned by a very important person because it has its own private courtyard and does not follow the city's orthogonal grid plan.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Terrace House 2 is a complex maze of seven interconnected residential structures on Mount Bulbul's hillside, now protected by an enclosed canopy. After walking up through the complex, we had to go down the stairs outside the protective canopy to reach Curetes Street.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Sophia |
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| Picture by Sophia |
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The Library of Celsus was built around AD 110 in honor of Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, a prominent Roman official and governor of the province of Asia. The library held approximately 12,000 scrolls, making it one of the most important libraries in the Roman world.
However, the library was more than a repository for thousands of scrolls; it was also an elaborate monument and tomb. Celsus was buried in a marble sarcophagus in a chamber beneath the library, where his tomb remains today. When visitors stand in front of the library, they are standing directly above the tomb. The tomb is not open to the public.
Four female statues on the front of the library represent qualities attributed to Celsus. The statues are Sophia (Wisdom), Arete (Virtue), Ennoia (intelligence or Thought), and Episteme (knowledge).
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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To the right of the library is the Gate of Mazeus and Mithridates that led into the Commercial Agora (Ephesus's marketplace).
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| Picture by Ashley |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Great Theatre is built into the western slope of Panayir Dagi (Mount Pion). It was one of the largest theatres in the Roman world and could accommodate about 25,000 people for theatrical performances, musical events, religious ceremonies, public assemblies, and gladiatorial contests.
The theatre also has an important connection with Christianity. According to Acts 19:23-41, Apostle Paul's preaching threatened the business of craftsmen who produced silver shrines of Artemis, the city's patron goddess. Demetrius, a silversmith, then stirred up a crowd against Paul, and the crowd went to the theatre, where the people reportedly shouted, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians," for about two hours. The city clerk eventually quieted the crowd and persuaded them to disperse.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Ashley |
(Part II of the Turkiye Adventure will be in the next blog.)
