Day 05 - Ephesus

Günaydın!

We are nearing the end of our jounrey. Today some of us in the group were discussing how each day we are so satisifed and amazed at all we see and learn about, then suprisingly the latter days rival the former, in terms of just how much we have seen that has forever changed our understanding of the Bible, culture, archaeaology and excavations, and history. We remearked that this has been the most amazing, meaningful, valuable trip we have ever been on, not just for what we have seen and learned which is astonishing in and of itself, but also for the relationships that we have built and the fellowship we have had with one another.

Ephesus:

Ephesus is a very notable city during the time of Paul and the early church. It is notable for other people as well. Ayasuluk or Isla Theologias is the place where it is believed that St. John the Evagelist was buried. However, as our guide notes, there are too many Johns to know for sure.

The symbol of the honey bee is also important here in Ephesus, and is associated with the Temple of Artemis as a Luvian symbol. It was featured on coins from 600 BCE to about 133 BCE and served as a representation of the cities agricultural wealth.

This was a coastal city, and was a vital interconnected place of trade for many different places, hence the saying “all roads lead to Ephesus”. It is the biggest city in Asia Minor.

There were 127 columns, these columns had a 60 foot column and were 100 feet all together.

Lydian people built the first Artemis temple. The agora in this city had 2 rows of columns. There was also a water palace which distributed water through the use of water-pressure. We then saw a basilica which is a state room or a courtroom.

John was traditionally located here, the author of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. However, the letters of John have been dated later, more towards the reign of Domitian.

Titus is the emperor who destroyed Jerusalem. He reigns two years before dying of an illness. His brother Domitian takes over, who calls himself lord and god within his own lifetime. Usually an emperor would be deified of this nature, only after they had died. Domitian is believed to have been megalomaniacal.

We also saw many depictions of other gods and goddesses in this city including Hermes, Nike or Nika, and Tyche. One of the roads was lined with statues of famous or important people with blessing and prayers inscribed underneath to the goddess Tyche, the goddess of good fortune. “Dear Tyche, bless ____”.

There were around 250,000 people living here during the time of Paul.

Ephesus was also a Neokoros city with 5 temples to different emperors or honoring the emperors as a whole. These included the temple of Hadrian, Trajan, Domitian, and the emperors as one whole unit.

Ozan infomred us that the ruins must be excavated and then restored to prevent weathering, and erosive factors from further destroying what has actually been preserved through burial and pressure of the soil. By removing the soil, if restoration and protection does not occur, more harm than good can be done.

We were then guided to a living example of this, the home of Mr. Optus, believed to be a high priest of the temple of Dionysus, whose living quarters were truly magnificient and extensive. One of the first rooms of this home had imported marble from 5 different places arranged in very artistic configurations, the artwork of the home was also of a great quality and revealed a window of some regard into the culture and perceptions of the time. The home itself was used for 250 years.

Dr. Henning then gave a lecture on Ephesus in the Bible ad what we know regarding the coupling of religion, the temple of Artemis, and trade such as silversmiths who sold the image of Artemis.

We continued the day by viewing the museum of Ephesus, and saw many of the artifacts that embodied the knowledge of the region including complete depictions of the temple of Artemis, the history of Kibbalah, Cybele, and Artemis, and statues of her, which were peculiar to put it lightly.

After this, we had traditional Turkish ice cream, which is slightly gummy because of some kind of orchid flower ingredient, it was delicious.

Then we went to one more shop, where beautiful Turkish plates are made. These plates are hand scultputed, and painted with natural inks made in house. They also had beautiful ‘glow in the dark’ pieces of art and pottery. Here too, some of us bought plates and pieces of exquisitely crafted art.

 - Corin