Monday, June 27th
Weather - 78 degrees & sunny
Plans - Ephesus ruins, Ephesus Museum of Archeology, St. John's Basilica, Sirince
Ephesus Ruins
I'm not sure if there are any cities in the world as well preserved as Ephesus. At its height, this city's population reached 250,000, 2nd in the world to Constantinople. Chosen for settlement because its one-of-a-kind harbor and natural mountainous protection, Ephesus became a mecca in both the Greek world (home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the original 7 Wonders of the World) and the Roman world for its importance in Ionia and its housing of St. John the Apostle, and, possibly, Mother Mary until her death.
I could go on and on about this place, but since I was just slammed by stomach sickness today, I'm going to be as concise as possible.
Speaking of which, I woke up this morning not feeling right, and, as the day progressed, my stomach just pained me worse with each passing hour. I don't know what happened or how it happened, all I know is it felt like fireworks were being set off in my tum-tum. I tried papaya enzyme from my 4th adoptive mother Peggy, a librarian from Montana, Tums, Mylanta, tea - you think it, I tried it - to no avail. I was finally rescued when I came back to the hotel to have some Imodium and Cipro Max. Thank god for these two, as I can now walk and just received an order of boiled potatoes and bread, which I'm eating as I'm blogging. Recovery is a son-of-a-gun here!
Anyways, back to Ephesus: the ancient city's entrance opens up to a promenade with a Roman bath. Afterward we made our way down some of the ancient streets in the city, which were covered and adorned with towering Ionic columns.
Next stop on the walk was the public bathroom, which was pretty funny to see. Apparently the dignitaries sat in the middle and chatted when others were doing their business. The baths housed about 40 toilets, complete with freshwater plumbing. Across the street, for whatever reason, was a wealthy neighborhood - I thought it would've killed property value, but apparently it was the place to be.
After that was a public water system set up by an aqueduct and in the shadow of a tribute to the Emperor Trajan, a Roman emperor. I found this incredibly interesting because even in the first century AD, the Romans (Ephesians) knew that the world was round, something the West forgot just a few hundred years later. We then walked down the street to the public square, made a right into the 2nd of 4 Roman baths, and then walked up to a balcony overlooking the famous Celsus Library, which is truly a beauty of the ancient age. Complete with 12,000 scrolls, the library was the 3rd largest in the ancient age. I enjoyed picking on Mark here because, as the Harrisburg High librarian, his school had 3,000 less "books" than a 2,000 year old library. That didn't stop him from doing burpees, though - http://youtube/r9cidLl581Y
Check out the must see video of the library here, too -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXBlzcpAajI
Afterward we walked next door through the famous Augustus gateway into the agora, or marketplace. This place was massive, probably bigger than a Super Wal-Mart, and home to one of the largest marketplaces of its day. I sat down, stomach churning and all, and tried to imagine the crowds of people buying Artemis figurines, eating fish with friends, or listening to Paul the Apostle preach from the nearby coliseum, which we visited next.
I really was in awe of this place, which was constructed around 70 AD and housed plays, performances, gladiator battles, and, of course, Paul's famous speech to the Ephesians, who he chastised for their idolatry of the ancient Greek goddess of Artemis, who presided over women, childbirth, and virginity. Our tour guide Ohran told us about the popularity of her worship, and people came here as part of tourism to pay homage to the goddess at her temple. I tried to sit in one of the seats and envision Paul receiving a collection of boos from the 25,000 seat capacity amphitheater, leading to his later arrest and imprisonment in the town. I also liked to think about some of the later performances that occurred there, as Ray Charles and a few other contemporary artists played in the confines of this acoustic masterpiece. Check out video of the amphitheater here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM6xxArW2sg
After this we trekked to the Church of St. Mary. It was mostly in ruins thanks to an earthquake, but our tour guide said this became a popular destination for locals and travelers alike as they began to pay their tributes to another Roman "goddess" - the Virgin Mother. Apparently for many people, Mary was more important for Jesus because it was an easy transition to go from Artemis to Mary.
Ephesus Archeological Museum
This place was quite neat, but I sat down most of the time. The stomach was killing me. I did, however, snap some decent photos of Artemis statues, and those of the Roman emperors during the time.
St. John's Basilica
After Jesus died, he entrusted his closest companion, John the Apostle (and popular writer of the
New Testament, including Revelations), to take care of his mother. It is with this Biblical reading that many people believe that John protected Mary in the sanctity of Ephesus, even causing some people to believe her final resting place was a cottage on the other side of the mountain (although there's no scientific evidence to thus). There is evidence, though that John died here and was buried in his tomb at approximately the age of 100 years old. The site later served as an emphasis for later emperors, Constantine and Justinian, who constructed this massive, two-tiered church on top of (and paying homage to) John's tomb, which is pictured here.Sirince
I'm too lazy to look for the Turkish characters, but this little village was a fun place to visit. It's too bad I didn't get to walk around much, as I just sat in a chair near the WC (bathroom) and waited until I needed to use it, over and again. The part that struck me the most was each time I entered I had to pay 1 TL, even though I tried to explain to the husband / wife employees who charged the fee to use the WC that I was sick and, besides, the bathroom was disgusting. Chock this one up for a time when I wished I knew Turkish, especially ways to show my distemper!
Time to sign off and expedite my recovery. I'm at about 70% right now, and hopefully a good night's sleep brings me near 100% again. I'll need it for our long bus ride to Aphrodisius and Pammukale hot springs tomorrow.
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