Visitors Respond to Wonders of Ancient Ephesus

There’s something about strolling along an avenue of white marble that makes it natural and pleasant to slip back in time 2,000 years or more.

And after you’ve noticed the chariot wheel ruts in the pavement, it’s easy to imagine Alexander the Great riding by as he did on this avenue in 334 BC, after taking Ephesus from the Asia Minor Greeks.

As you approach the 24,000-seat Grand Amphitheater, also of marble, you can visualize St. Paul being arrested on its stage in AD 66 for preaching about a new god. This is the same amphitheater that now is filled every May during the annual Turkish folkloric festival. Its fine acoustics are still enhanced by gentle breezes from the Aegean Sea.

The venerable city-state of Ephesus, born about 1300 BC, makes a mockery of time. Its ruins and landmarks can transport you instantly backward or forward over the centuries, depending on the remains of which monuments, temples, fountains and other structures you are observing.

Reveals Much

One of the greatest archeological sites, Ephesus brings out the archeologist in all who see it. It reveals much about the lives of the people of the Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires who inhabited it over the years.

Brochures of Aegean cruises and of bus tours through Turkey tend to list Ephesus merely as one of the sights. It’s much more. Once you’ve experienced this city that lived for 2,600 years, you’ll wonder why it’s not featured like the Acropolis, the Roman Forum or the Pyramids.

Fifteen hundred years ago Ephesus was the third most important city in the Western World, behind Rome and Antioch. With a population of 240,000, it was a wealthy city and, appropriately, had civilization’s first bank.

Scientists from Austria, Turkey, Germany and the United States are helping this Shangri-La of antiquity to emerge from the dust of the undulating hills of Turkey’s lovely Aegean seacoast. The topography and climate are like Southern California’s. The exposed architecture is abundant, although only one-fifth of the four-by-nine-mile “metropolitan area” has been uncovered. It was really several cities born at different times.

With its rich religious background, Ephesus has attracted pilgrims for centuries. It contains two important Christian shrines. A chapel marks the supposed last home of the Virgin Mary, who was brought to the city by St. John. The Vatican has commemorated the site. Remains of a church, completed in AD 565, rise above the grave of St. John.

Written by St. Paul

One of the seven original Christian churches was built in the city. The New Testament book of Ephesians was written by St. Paul to the early Christians here.

Near St. John’s basilica is the Mohammedan mosque of Isa Bey, completed in 1375 and fairly well-preserved. The city also has a temple that was built for worship of the Egyptian god Serapis. Built by Egyptian colonists of Egyptian granite, it was later converted into a Christian church.

Before Christianity, most Ephesians worshiped Artemis (Diana), goddess of fertility. They built her a great marble temple with 1,237 columns, each more than 60 feet high. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Only the foundation remains.

The temple was financed by wealthy Ephesians and by contributions of young women who occupied a brothel. Illegitimate offspring from the establishment were supported by the community as the children of Artemis. A sculptured footprint in the pavement near the old port still points the way for sailors to the bordello.

The main thoroughfare along which most modern tourists walk is the marble-paved Street of Curetes. It ends, or begins--depending on which direction you’re walking--at the beautiful, partly restored Library of Celsus. It was the third largest library in the Mediterranean world, behind those of Alexandria and Pergamum, and contained 50,000 parchment scrolls.

The Street of Curetes must have presented a spectacular sight during the days of Roman rule. The gently sloping roadway is lined with the remains of a magnificent array of white marble temples and statuary, most of them honoring Roman emperors. The handsomest temple, still impressive after nearly 2,000 years, glorified Emperor Hadrian. It so pleased him that he lowered the city’s taxes.

Ruins of a Hospital

Beside the street are ruins of a hospital bearing the reassuring Latin inscription: “Nobody dies here,” and the remains of two agoras, or small malls. Above the arches of one are remnants of homes of the wealthy, who didn’t have far to go for their shopping.

Segments of a network of red clay pipes, showing in breaks in the marble pavement, show that the street was washed and cooled by flowing water on hot summer nights.

Curetes Street also had an elaborate 18-holer. Not for golf but as a public restroom with marble seats. A stream of water still flows three feet below the seats.

Another main marble thoroughfare is Arkadiane Way, which extended nearly 2,000 feet from the Grand Amphitheater to the old port. It’s 30 feet wide for chariots and carts and is flanked on each side by colonnades whose sidewalks were paved with mosaics. The roofed colonnades protected people from sun and rain as they walked from shop to shop. Some columns and marble flagstones are all that’s left.

Ephesus was destroyed in the 1400s by a combination of fires, earthquakes and mosquitoes. Malaria from the insects accounted for 200,000 deaths.

Fortunately, marshes where the mosquitoes propagated are gone. The Kayster River’s expanding delta has pushed the Aegean Sea back three miles from the once-great port.

In the city’s metropolitan area are the remains of a medieval castle and the Seljuk Museum, one of Turkey’s finest. It houses Ephesian works of art, including full-length portraits and busts of people from the early Christian period, and statues of the multi-breasted fertility goddess Artemis.

A bit off the major European tour routes, Ephesus is accessible by land and sea. Turkish ships and tour buses stop at Kusadasi, only 12 miles south. So do many Aegean cruise ships. Kusadasi, with good, reasonably priced hotels and restaurants and a year-round yacht harbor, is the best headquarters for exploring the area.

A Variety of Items

Its myriad shops and stalls, including some gaudy ones, offer a variety of brassware, stoneware, leather goods, costume jewelry mosaics, woodcarvings and silk clothing. Also Turkey’s magnificent carpets, with colors from tobacco plants, watermelons and pomegranates. The good-humored salespeople love the banter of bargaining.

Kusadasi’s best-rated accommodations are the Club Mediterranee, the Tusan and Imbat hotels and the Akdeniz Motel. Restaurants feature Turkish and continental menus.

The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has an office in Kusadasi where you can get information on lodging, transportation and good guides. Take care in selecting your guide. One knowledgeable in Greek and Roman history will make your visit to Ephesus something you’ll never forget.

For further information: Turkish Consulate, 4801 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 310, Los Angeles 90010.