Ephesus
Day Five - Turkey / Türkiye - 2023
Exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ephesus, once the crossroads of the world.
Editor’s Comment: Throughout this travelogue, I have made an effort to use the Turkish spelling of place names and locations when the terms are obvious cognates; however, whenever a term is more commonly well-known in the English language (Turkey vs. Türkiye, Basilica Cistern vs. Yerebatan Sarnıcı, etc.) I have provided the English term first, followed by the Turkish spelling afterwards.
1. The Baths of Varius
According to the Greek geographer Strabo, Ephesus (Efes) was once the second most important city in the Roman Empire behind only Rome itself.
Ephesus’ history is, simply put, long, complicated, and -at times- perplexing. I’ll do my best to unpack this succinctly, but stick with me because this is a bit of a weird ride. In the 10th century BC, a Greek prince followed a prophecy of the Oracle of Delphi and founded a city in present-day Selçuk which was called Ephesus. But not where present day Ephesus is; rather, closer to the edge of the modern city center. And there a temple to Artemis was to be built. But not the one whose remnants are visible today; rather, an older, less grandiose one upon which the newer Temples of Artemis were built. Yes, temples: there would be more than two. Confused yet?
So Ephesus soon joined the Ionian League, a confederation of twelve Greek city-states in Asia Minor formed in the mid-7th century BC. Around this time, the city was attacked by the Cimmerians and the first of the Temples of Artemis was destroyed. Control of the city changed hands multiple times in the following century before finally being conquered by the Lydians, whose leader -Croesus- rebuilt the Temple of Artemis and consolidated the local population again around its foundations. Eventually, the Lydians were defeated by the Persians and control of Ephesus was granted to them. This went on for some time before Alexander the Great emerged on the scene, but not before a lunatic named Herostratus burned down the Temple of Artemis, which the residents vowed to rebuild as soon as possible.
As I am sure you are aware, Alexander the Great defeats the Persians, and afterwards Ephesus becomes Hellenistic. It was around this time that the river nearby to the Temple of Artemis was silting and disease ran rampant. It was proposed to move the city to the shoreline, where the Ephesus archaeological site sits today. So, if you are keeping track at home: we are on our second Ephesus location, third Temple of Artemis, and at least fifth controlling interest or empire in charge of the city. Told you this was confusing.
Let’s spice it up: the Hellenistic rulers here were overthrown by Egyptians (didn’t see that coming, did you?) but regained control after a reconquest of sorts. Unfortunately, this was for naught in the long run, because the Hellenistic rulers turned over control of Ephesus to Rome around 129 BC.
Things at least settled down in Ephesus around this time. Ephesus’ wealth started to grow along with its influence. In 27 BC, it replaced Pergamon as the seat of Roman government in western Asia Minor and this raised the city’s status even further, and the port was keeping commerce strong. All good things must come to an end, and in 263 AD the Goths invaded and wrecked the city. Oh, yeah, they destroyed the Temple of Artemis, as well. It was never rebuilt … apparently three versions was enough.
Constantine the Great attempted to rebuild Ephesus, but it was never quite as prominent as it was during Roman times. Eventually, the city’s harbor silted up and sapped the city’s economic power. Natural disasters began to take its toll, as well. By the 15th century, the city was completely abandoned.
Excavations initiated by a British railways engineer, of all things, in the late 19th century led to the rediscovery of both the Temple of Artemis and large portions of Ephesus. Naturally, many of the discoveries found here were shipped back to the British Museum.
Whew.
So, after an early morning wake-up and a quick stop at a carpet weaving shop, we made our way to Ephesus. While this site is gigantic, it thankfully flows in a fairly linear manner which makes it easy to visit. I suspect most everyone traverses the route that we did, but so we’re on the same sheet of music we started at the gate furthest from the Theater and ended at the gate closest to the Theater. The first major milestone you come across on this route is the Baths of Varius. Besides torturing my spellcheck in Varius ways, these incompletely excavated Roman ruins provided bathers three temperatures of water: cold, lukewarm, and hot. Pretty novel!
There’s going to be 22 more photos from Ephesus - I’ll just fill in details here-and-there since you already got the main part of the story above.
2. The Basilica
This basilica is not holy; rather, it was a place used as a court of justice and where business transactions could be formalized.
3. Basilica Stoa
Stoa is a term for a covered walkway, in this case it was supported by the columns whose remains are still visible.
4. Bull’s Head Capital
The basilica stoa was noteworthy for these ornate bull columns.
5. Outside the Bouleuterion
A bouleuterion is a place where a city council could meet to discuss city business. This space also served as a odeon for public performances of music, poetry, etc. This space was constructed in the Hellenistic period, but was renovated in the Roman period.
6. Prytaneion
The prytaneion was the place where religious ceremonies, banquets, and receptions were held. This space also had an eternal flame and dates from the time of the city’s relocation in the Hellenistic period.
7. Looking Towards the Fountain of Pollio
The Fountain of Pollio commemorates the engineer responsible for the drinking water aqueducts in Ephesus (I’ll let you guess his name). This honor is pretty justified - some of the water sources for the city were 40 kilometers / 25 miles away.
8. Looking Towards the Sea That Once Was
The present shoreline is several kilometers from present-day Ephesus, but you can easily imagine where the harbor and shoreline would have been at that time.
9. Memmius Monument
Despite the name, this monument commemorates Sulla, who won the first large civil war in Roman history and brought great prosperity to Ephesus.
10. Nike
Despite a popular story to the contrary, there is no evidence that Carolyn Davidson, the university student who designed the Nike “Swoosh” logo, was inspired by this specific statue. But there’s no evidence it isn’t true, either.
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Now back to the travelogue!
11. Curetes Street
Curetes Street was one of three main streets (Marble and Harbor being the two others); many of the columns, temples, and buildings built along it were destroyed over the centuries by earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as foreign conquest.
12. The Headless Statue
I don’t know why, but I cannot unsee this statue as an incomplete proto-Buddy Christ.
13. Hercules Gate
Hercules (or Heracles, if you prefer) is shown here with the defeated Nemean lion. This gate was very narrow and ensured Curates Street would not be open to carts or wagons.
14. Carved Stone
No idea what this says, just thought it looked cool.
15. Fountain of Trajan
Based on accounts from the time (it was completed around 100 AD), this was the most beautiful monument in Ephesus.
16. Public Toilets
No dividers. You can even hold hands, if you want.
17. The Library of Celsus #1
The Library of Celsus was commissioned as a funeral monument and library around 110 AD, and was completed in the decade that followed; it held over 10,000 scrolls at its peak.
18. The Library of Celsus #2
In 262, as the result of a Gothic and an earthquake, the library’s interior was destroyed. 800 years later, the façade was felled by another earthquake. It was rebuilt piece-by-piece in the 1970s, which I think makes it the greatest puzzle ever constructed.
19. Statue of Arete
The façade of the Library of Celsus features statues of the four virtues: wisdom, knowledge, thought, and bravery. The statue of bravery was found destroyed during excavations, and so it was replaced with a random statue of a female from the same time period.
20. Statue of Sophia
So, too, was this statue of wisdom. In fact, all four statues were. It’s okay, they look the part.
21. Commercial Agora
Not sure if it is any better or worse than the non-profit agora….
22. The Great Theater
The Great Theater of Ephesus was constructed during the Hellenistic period but was expanded during the Roman period to hold approximately 24,000 spectators.
23. Temple of Artemis
Unfortunately, this is all that remains of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Upon finishing our day at Ephesus (with a quick stop at Şirince thrown in for good measure - read more about that here) we made our way back to Kuşadası for the evening. I rested up, knowing the next two days would bring us from the Mediterranean coast all the way to central Anatolia.
