EFES

An ancient city three km from the town of Selcuk south of Izmir. During both the Hellenistic and Roman periods Ephesus was the most important port and cultural centre of the eastern world. The remains of the city are still spellbinding today. The magnificent temples, public buildings, villas and streets of Ephesus have been excavated and restored by the Austrian Archaeological Institute, and it requires little effort to imagine the cily as it was in its heyday.
Efes, known in English as Ephesus, is Turkey’s most important antique city, and one of the best preserved and restored. Dating back 3,000 years, one can still for hours stroll for hours along its streets, past temples, theatres, libraries, houses, and statues. This was a place for cults. Artemis for whom the most sumptuous temple was built in Efes, considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world replaced Cyble, the Goddess of Anatolia.

Heraclitus of Ephesus was one of the most fascinating of the early philosophers. He introduced into philosophy a new self-consciousness about method and language and a self-critical interest in the faculties used to attain knowledge. He developed a theory of the human soul; he praised its creative resources and spoke of the importance of self-exploration. "The death of souls is to become water, the death of water to become earth; but from the earth water wins life, and from water the soul also wins life."
When he said that the universe is ruled by logos, he was probably speaking of the ordering of the shifting, changing world that is imposed by human beings in their discourse and thought. He always urged that close attention be given to the polarities and concealed structures embodied in language.
His famous claim that an individual can and cannot step into the same river twice reveals an interest in the criteria of unity and identity: even though all material constituents have undergone a change, it is still, in a sense, the same river. Preoccupied with change, he declared that fire is the central element of the universe and he postulated a world with no beginning and no end. Heraclitus’s influence can be seen in Stoicism and, most recently, in the style and thought of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.

According to the antique era writers Ephesus was found around 3000 B.C., like Symrna. When Symrna was found, Ephesus was among the important harbor cities of the period. The Ionians which had settled on the Agean coast after the Dor invasion, settled in Ephesus. In the period of the Lydian reign they developed their city. The traces of the Ionian, Roman, Byzantian. Selçuks and Ottoman civilizations can still be seen today. After the earthquake during the Roman period the people of Ephesus cultivated their city in the time of Tiberius. But this time instead of a Hellenistic construction style all of Ephesus was filled with constructions reflecting the Roman character. Ephesus which was growing more important politically and commercially, became an important religious center with the arrival of Virgin Mary and the fact that St. Jean lived there.

Later the city was abandoned because it was imposible to live there after the busy harbors on the sea route between Sardis and susa were filled as time passed. The people settled around the basilica of St. Jean which was built on Ayasuluk Peak by the Byzantion emperor Justinyen (527-565). In 1090 the city passed into the control of the Turks. In this way the city was reconstructed five times in history because of different invasions or earthquakes. The remains which we seen in the city are from third reconstruction of Ephesus.Ephesus is in the boundries of the district of Selcuk today.
As we have mentioned above Ephesus and Selcuk are the richest cities in terms of historical and archeological constructions with their remains from almost every civilization. Especially the Ephesus ruins and the Ephesus Museum attract a great number of tourists with the works of art they possess.

The Ephesus Museum :

The museum is in the town of Selcuk at the eastern foothill of Ayasuluk Hill. The two best finds exhibited in the museum are the marble statues of Artemis. One is from the 1C AD and the other 2C AD. Rows of egg-shaped marble pieces on the goddess’s chest have been interpreted differently as breasts, eggs, grapes or dates. In 1978 a new interpretation suggested that these pieces on the goddess’s chest were bulls’ testicles offered to her on feast days as symbols of fertility. Later excavations proved that the bull cult was really important. Similarly to Mother Goddess of Anatolia, she has two feline animals standing next to her.

The Vienna Ephesus Museum : It was started to be established after the first excavation started in 1895 by Austrians. According to the situation at that time during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamit II, Austrians were able to export finds from Ephesus. In 1907, a new law on antiquities was implemented in Turkey. According to this new law finds were not allowed to be taken away altogether.
Among the most important exhibits in the Vienna Ephesus Museum are the 40 m / 131 ft long frieze of the Parthian Monument and the bronze statue of an athlete from the Hercules - Centaur Group.

The Site : For the visitor today, there are two entrances to the site, one upper and one lower. As it is slightly downhill, it is a better idea to start from the upper gate. There are no shopping facilities nor toilets inside the site and that is why in summer months it is strongly recommended that the visitor bring drinking water and wear comfortable shoes as well as a hat. At the eastern end of the city, it is possible to see the remains of the Magnesian Gate before coming to today’s entrance. This gate was the point of departure of roads which connected Ephesus with Magnesia and Miletus. After entering the site from the upper gate, at the far right end there is the Bath of Varius, a 2C AD Roman bath complex.
The State Agora was a vast public square laid out and remodeled during the reign of Augustus (27 BC-14 AD). It was a public area where people gathered for political, commercial and social reasons. The north stoa also had the function of a basilica, Ionic in style and divided into two aisles and a nave by two rows of columns. This three-aisled basilica replaced the single-aisled Hellenistic Hall. Meetings of the law courts were probably held there in the basilica. The construction of the basilica in the proximity of the prytaneion would not have been a coincidence.
The foundations of a Peripteros Temple with 6x10 columns were excavated in the axis of the State Market. This was first interpreted to be a shrine of Isis but later a temple of Dionysus.
The building on the south-west side of the agora was identified as the Nymphaeum of Laecanius Bassus. It opens into the road in the west where the Domitian Temple also faces. Among the sculptures which decorated the fountain were Tritons and river gods.

THE EPHESUS RUINS

The first remains we come across at the Ephesus Ruins belong the Vedius Gymnasion.
The Vedius Gymnasion : It was built by an Ephesian in the name of Vedius Antonius in the second century A.D. It is a magnificent construction, in which sports and cultural education was given, with its courtyard on the East, ceremony hall in the middle, and changing room and Turkish Baths reflecting the characteristics of the period.
The Stadion : On the left side from the Vedius Gymnasion toward the ruins there dimensions 230x40 m. has been set on the northern slopes of the Panayır Mountain and its eastern front was placed on natural stones. In the eastern division of the stadion which is asserted to have been built in the period of the Roman Empire Neron (54-68 B.C.) there is a division for the gladiator games and another division for animals. The stadium in which all kinds of sporting races, games, olympic organizations and chariot races were held, met all the sporting and cultural needs of the period.

The Double Churches : (Council Church) The Double Churches which is located across from the Byzantian Baths, has an extremely special importance for the Christian world. The Churches, in which councils gathered between 431 and 438, is a constructions with the dimensions 265x29.5 m. The church which was dedicated to Virgin Mary was turned into a basilika in the 2nd century A.D. during the Roman period. Catholicism was born here after the 3rd council meeting here. The church is important because it is one of the first seven Christian Churches in the world.
A construction with hef was added to its west side an a large atrium was found past the Western entrance, while the bazilika was being turned into a church in the 4th century A.D. A nartexten with a mosaic floor must be passed through to pass to the church division. A baptism pool is found in the center of the baptism area and there are crucifix figures on the walls. A second church was built in the 7th century A.D. with a door which opened from the aspisis of the church. The name of the church became known as the "Double Churches". This newly opened division includes the portions reserved for the dwelling of religious men. The church and its surroundings are a center of religion because of the fact that it is the first church presented in the name of Virgin Mary.

Theatre Gymnasium : Many few remains of the Gymnasium, which dates back to the second century A.D. and is located on the right side of Arkadiane, have survived to our day. Here there is a courtyard in which athletism games were held and a portico which surrounds this courtyard. The sitting places on the north of the symetric planned structure can be clearly seen.

Theatre : The theatre, which is one of the most spectacular structures of the Ephesus ruins, is highly well-built and was easily used for festivals like the Ephesus Festival a short period ago. But because it was used too much and erosion began the restoration work was started again and it was taken into security. It is known that the theatre, which has a capacity of holding 25000 people, was first built in the Hellenistic era, but the theatre that is seen today started its reconstruction in the time of the emperor Claudius.

It was completed in the time of the emperor Trianus in the period between 98-117 A.D. Changing rooms, which are very sturdy and made of large stones, can be seen clearly in the front part of the theatre. There is a Hellenistic fountain with two ionic columns on the north west of the theater. The theater, which was made of three floors in the first period, was made up of three sections each which had 22 steps. The stage building is 18 m. High. It is said that St. Paul adressed the Ephesusians from this theater and he faced a big reaction for this. The back walls of the stage which has the dimensions 25x40, is highly decorated and there are statues inside of nisches.

The Marble Street : It is another main street between the library and the theater, but it was originally part of the processional road stretching to the Artemis Temple. Traces of wheeled vehicles can be seen here. On the west side somewhere in the middle of the marble road, on the pavement is a piece of marble with graffiti showing a woman with a crown, a heart and a left foot. This is accepted as being the earliest advertisement in the world probably of a lady in the so-called brothel for sailors. Among its various interpretations is that " if you want to make love with this particular lady (her name was written there) who was as beautiful as queens, keep going in this direction and she is on the left-hand side of the street".

The Marble paved Street, which stretches about 400 m’s. From the Magnesia door found at the southeast of Ephesus to the Koresos door found at the nortwest, was remade in the 5th century A.D. The sewer system which passes under it stretches to the sea. The west wing of the street was built by the emperor Neron between 58 and 68 A.D. The portikoya, which is at a level higher than the street, opens up to te second floor the Trade Agora. It is known that there was an Auditorium in the open area between the Marble Street and the Celsus Library, in which discussions and speeches using poems were made.

The Celsus Library : The construction of the Celsus Library, located next to the Trade Agora, was ordered by Julius Aquila in the name of his father the Asian Consultant Julius Celsus Palemaeanus. It was built by the Roman architect Vitruoya. Its dimensions are 60.9X16.72 m. On the outside it has two floors, and in the inside it has only one 15 m. Salon. Light comes in through the windows scattered on the walls and ttthe three floored galeries. There is a passage to Celsus’s grave through a door on the back wall. The statue that was located here is now in the Istanbul Archeological Museum. The decoration of the front totally reflects the Roman architectural style and is the most beautiful examples of its time. The four woman statues found between the colons of the front symbolize the elements of mind, Fate, Knowledge and Virtue. The originals of these statues are found in the Vienne Museum today. The parsomen book rolls used to be protected from the humidity with shelves closed by brick on both sides.

The House of Love : The House of Love is found at the point the Marble Street cuts the Kuretler Street. This fascinating house, which dates back to the first century A.D. is made up of a main hall and many rooms which open up to this hall. The mozaik girl portraits found here must have belonged to the girls working here. This large building, which covers an area of 12000 m2, is thought to have been built first as a bath and then turned into a House of Love in the Roman period. The area it covers is larger compared to the areas covered by the modern hotels of today. It is interesting to find a warming and cooling system equivalent to that of the modern cooling system of today inside the walls of the house of love. Inside it, it contains wine cellars, gigantic ovens, baths, pools, bedrooms, conferance salons and a great library.

Scolastica Bath : This bath which is dated to 400 A.D. was ordered to be errected by a wealthy Roman woman who was called "Scolastica" lived in Ephesus. In this bath that comprises four segments, there is a poo at the colaness segment, further the hot water vapor is passed by the walls with kunches(kunk). The bath which is warmed up by central-system is fascinating sample of the marble usage.

A front pediment remained from this temple. The temple is corintian style. There are two circular columns and a rectengular rank on the flank side in the entrance. The reliefs of the name of Hadrian and Tyche (godess of fate) are seen on the base of the pediment. Like many Anatolian cities, Ephesus city necessiated the demand of severing a temple for Emperor Devotian Place and this temple is the second holy construction that is restricted for the emperor, after the Domitian Temple. Cities were designated with the protectors of the temple while their names were emphasized. Hence, Hadrian Temple was not included to this category, because it was consecrated to the king by a person. The most interesting mythologic panaroma was the one that was depicted on the Temple’s architrav was the panoroma of slaughtering of the pig by the mythologic king Androklos who was the originater of Ephesus.

Trajan Fountain : It is situated after passing the Hadrian Temple, a little on the left. The fountain is 5.20x11.90 meters of dimension. It encircles a big pool by three sides. The construction is two-staged and the water was flowing down from the Emperor Trajan Sculpture which heighs up two stages pool. Corintian columns are utilized on the top stage and a composit is used on the ground stage in the fountain which was made in 2 A.D. The sculptures that adorns the stages of the fountain are demostrated in the Ephesus Museum.

Yamaç (Hillside villas) Houses : There were houses after twirling from Celsus Library to Kuretler Street, on the right at Bülbül Mountain’s slopes where the wealthy people of Ephesus existed. These houses which were restored recently attained closer to its origin, they inaugurate verticaly to the street with extensive steps. There are fresks and marbles that were garnished with mosaics on their walls.

Domitian Temple : It is the earliest temple that was errected in the name of an Emperor in Ephesus. It was settled just across the state Agora which was the most elegant and central side of the city. It is 50x100 m. of extent. A terrace was constructured over the low-vaulted structures. The shops took their places on the ground floor that beholded to the square. The Terrace was used as a mabett (place of worship). The great dimensional Domitian that only its head and arm endured is exhibited in Izmir Archeological Museum today and its induction altar is display in Ephesus Museum.

The State Agora : The State Agora appears after you walk along Kuretler Street that is surrounded by columns and pass the two Herakles reliefs which narrow down the road. Remnants belonging to the ancient eras have been found under neath the State Agora. A basilika that is 165 m. high and Roman made in the first century A.D. and is reached by climbing up four steps is found in the Agora, which had the same function the trade stock exchange of Efes had. Religious and official ceremonies took place here. Also trade was made in the control of the state here.

Priapus : was the son of Aphrodite and Dionysus. Portrayed as a grotesque little man with a huge phallus, he was associated particularly with fertility rites and also protected crops and gardens from animals, birds and thieves. Library Square, in addition to being an important stopping point on the processional route in archaic times, was also part of a burial street until the 3C BC with buildings like the Octagon, Heroon, Celsus Library and the Sarcophagus of the sophist Claudius Flavianus Dionysius Rhetor under the ramp of the Marble Road. Octagon was a vaulted burial chamber placed on a square pedestal with the skeleton of a 20-year old woman in a marble sarcophagus. According to an interpretation Octagon was a monument to Ptolemy Arsinoe IV who was murdered in Ephesus in 41 BC.

Mazaeus - Mithridates Gate : It is the triple gateway next to the Celsus Library which opens into the commercial agora forming its southeast gate. According to the inscriptions in Latin, it was built by two freed slaves Mazaeus and Mithridates in honor of Augustus, his wife Livia, his daughter Julia and his son - in - law Agrippa. According to the inscriptions in Greek, Mazaeus and Mithridates dedicated the gate to their masters. The reconstruction of the gate was only completed in 1988. Missing parts were replaced with concrete and its surface was plastered. Mazaeus - Mithridates Gate is earthquake - proof like the Celsus Library.

The Arcadiane : It was a great colonnaded avenue which was renovated at the beginning of the 5C AD in honor of Emperor Arcadius. It was 530 m / 1740 ft long and 11 m / 36 ft wide leading from the harbor to the theater. It was paved in marble and had shops behind the colonnades. The two pedestrian walks in the colonnades were 5 m / 16 ft wide and paved with mosaics. At night the Arcadiane was lit by torches, making Ephesus, along with Rome and Antioch, one of the three ancient cities known to have had street lighting. Somewhere in the middle of the avenue stood a monument of four Corinthian columns probably erected in the 6C AD which supported the statues of the four apostles.

The Municipality Palace: (Prytaneion) The Hestia temple which is found on the right side of the municipality palace was considered the holy point of Ephesus. A sacred fire always burned in the temple. It was the place where the political work of Prytaneion was performed and important ceremonies, banquest and acceptances were made. The first finding of a Ephesian Artemis here shows how emportant Prytaneion was religiously.The Prytaneion was the official administrative building or the city hall which housed the senior city officials. What characterized a prytaneion building as different from a bouleterion was an eternal flame or the sacred hearth of Hestia in the prytaneion which is kept burning eternally by the Curetes, the six (later nine) priestesses of Hestia.

From an architectural standpoint it was like a private house. It contained an assembly hall, administrative rooms, the state archives and a dining hall in which officials and foreign visitors were welcomed. In front of the assembly hall there was a Doric courtyard. Some of the stones of the prytaneion were used in the restoration of the Scholastica Baths. Three statues of Artemis, "big", "beautiful" and "small" were found there. One life-size and the other double life-size Artemis statues are kept in the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk. Memmius Monument had an inscription which referred to dictator Sulla’s capture of Ephesus in the 1C BC. The monument was a memorial which was dedicated to Memmius, son of Caius and grandson of Sulla.

Odeon : Odeon, which was made by Public Vedius Antonius, a rich Ephesusian in the 2nd century A.D., used to be covered with wood. It has a capacity of 1450 seats. It was a place in which official meetings were held and concerts were given. The Odeon in Ephesus It had a double function. First it was a theater for theatrical performances as well as being the Bouleterion. It was the Senate House which was used by the boule, the advisory council of the city. It has always been very difficult to identify bouleterion buildings as they did not have typical characteristics. It was a two-storied building covered with a wooden roof with a seating capacity of 1,400 people. It consisted of three main sections; cavea, skene and proskene.

The Polio Fountain : was a 2C AD building which was later restored in the 3C AD. Water brought by aqueducts is distributed from this fountain by a branching system of baked clay pipes. Richly decorated sculpture from the Hellenistic period was excavated there. The sculpture depicts Odysseus while he was blinding Polyphemus (cyclops) in order to escape from his cave. During the Roman period, Ephesians erected many buildings and temples, and dedicated them to emperors in order to secure good relations and the support of Rome. The Domitian Temple is one of them and is a 1C AD building. In the substructure of the building, parts of a huge statue which is four times larger than life were excavated and interpreted to be Emperor Domitian’s. This is the reason that the building was named as the Domitian Temple. But according to more recent research the statue is of the Emperor Titus. Before this recent research it was believed to be the first temple erected in the name of a Roman emperor who referred to himself as "ruler and god". At the end of the 1C AD, when he was assassinated, his statue was smashed to pieces on the ground by a mob as he was not well-liked. The name of the temple might change anytime but still, it is believed to be the first temple of the cult of emperors in Ephesus.

The Hercules Gate : can easily be identified by two reliefs of Hercules wearing lion’s skin. The pillars date from the 2C AD but were taken there to be used in the construction of a narrow gate house only in the 6C AD having originally stood elsewhere. The gate was made narrow to prevent wheeled vehicles which came from the Magnesian Gate going into the city.

The Nymphaeum of Trajan : is a 2C AD building with two stories built by an Ephesian in memory of the Emperor Trajan. In front of the building there was a pool with water cascading from beneath the colossal statue of Trajan. One foot of his statue can still be seen. The pool was flanked by the building on three sides. The facade of the building is highly ornate with Corinthian columns on the upper story and Composite columns on the lower. Statues of other emperors, gods and heroes stood in niches.

After the temple was destroyed after an earthquake the Ephesusians rebuilt a more glorious one with the help of the Roman emperor. After Alexander the Great came to Anatolia it is said that he wanted the temple to be in his name, but the Ephesusians did not accept it so they completed the temple on their own. Of the Ephesus Artemib Temple, which is known as one of the seven beauties of the world, only the base remnants remain today.
It is stated that the belief in the virgin goddess of nature Artemis is an Anatolian based belief and it is based on Kibele, the main goddess of the Hittites. In Ephesus these two goddesses were a symbol of abundance and fruitfulness. The temple, which we see the remains of on the right side of the entrance to the Kuşadası road, is made up of 127 columns and 36 of the columns in the front have reliefs. The temple is 125m. long, 60m. wide and 25m. high. The oldest remains of the temple date back to the 6th century B.C. The temple which was lastly invaded by the Got’s in 263 A.D., was destroyed and plundered.

The St. Jean Basilika : The Basilika, which was made in the name of St. Jean by the Byzantian emperor Justinyen in the 6th century A.D., is located on the Ayasuluk Peak. The ediface, which has the dimensions 40x110 m. and is entered from the west, is the shape of a cross. The real church section is covered with six big domes carriedby thick elephants feet. The nartex is covered with 5 domes. There are sections in which priests lived in the middle of the basilika, under the dome and on the east side of St. Jean’s tomb which is underground. These structures separate from the church in a half circular form. Frescos made up of pictures of saint are found on the north of the grave area. Monograms of the Emperor Justinyen and his wife Theodora are found on the heads of the columns which were restored in the church. St. Jeans grave is under the section of the dome in the center. It is believed that the sacred dust that comes out of a hole in the grave is good for curing illnesses. St. Jeans grave has been one of the most important places in the world throughout the medieval ages.

The Seven Sleepers : It is believed that the place of the seven sleepers was built in the period around the 5th and the 6th century. It is a center of religion. According to the legend, before the acceptance of Christianity as an official religion, seven young people ran away from pagans and took refuge here and they fell asleap and woke up 200 years later. When they woke up christianity had become an official religion. After this miraculous event it is believed that the 7 people were buried here again after they died and a large structure was made in their name. In the excavations a large structure, mostly carved rock grave remains two churches and catacombs were found. The remains of which we can see four floors of is possibly seven floors in total. The corridors found on the ground floor which were used for religious education, gives it the appearance of a monastary.

The Belevi Tomb Monument : The tomb which is found in the Belevi Village which is about 5 kms. away from Selcuk, and is dated back to the early Hellenistic era, is believed to belong to a very important person. Only traces of the base are left of the monument, which is a small sample of the Moseleum in Bodrum. This monument which was built on top of a pedestal, in the form of a temple was decorated in the corinthian style with column capitals. Also there were decorative frigons and stone vase pictures on the tombs roof.

The House Of Virgin Mary : The chapel near Ephesus is believed to be the final resting place of the Virgin Mary. It has become one of the world’s most visited sites of pilgrimage, More than five thousand places of worship serve Muslim, Christian and Jewish believers under the shelter of the secular Turkish State, and every year more and more foreign tourists visit these sacred places,
This holy Christian shrine on Mt. Bulbul between Selcuk and Ephesus was sanctifìed by Pope Paul VI in 1967, after the Vatican confirmed that the Virgin Mary had spent the last years of her life here. Numerous travel agencies in Izmir organize day tours to the House of the Virgin Mary and Ephesus. The House of Virgin Mary, the sacred mother of Christianity is situated on the Bulbul (Canary) Mountain. It is believed that the holy place, also called (Panaya Kapulu) by Christians, was built in the 4th century A.D. Mary was handed over by Christ to St. Jean, Mary’s friend and a postle right before he was crucified. After Christ was crucified St. Jean thought it was dangerous for Mary to stay in Bethlehem so he carried her off and brought her here. Eventhough these rumors became legends, there are indications of proof that it is real.

St. Jean who was given the sacred duty of spreading the religion of Christianity chose. Ephesus, the greatest city of the era, as a larget. He hid Mary in a cabin in a corner covered by dense trees at the feet of the Bulbul Mountains because he did not want to let Mary into the Pagans land. It is known that St. Jean secretly visited her everyday, brought her food and something to drink, and checked on her. It is stated that the holy virgin lived in the Bulbul Mountains until she was 101 and she died here. St. Jean buried Virgin Mary somewhere on this mountain where nobody else knows.
A cross shaped church was built by the Christians who found the place of Virgin Mary with the guidance of a German nun who was paralyzed and could not come to Turkey, after Christianity was spread.
One of the first seven churches built in the name of Virgin Mary was erected in Ephesus.