| |
Ephesus is less than
20 kms. from Kusadasi.
It was an ancient Greek city, and later a major
Roman city. In fact, Ephesus was the
second largest city in the world (after
Rome) in the 1st century BC, with a population of more than 250,000.
The
city first gained fame for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC),
which was
one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Emperor
Constantine I, who reigned over the Roman Empire from 306 to 337,
rebuilt
much of the city and erected new public baths.
These are the ruins we see
and they are very impressive.
But the town was again partially destroyed by
an earthquake in 614 AD.
The final blow was the silting of the harbour which
killed the city's importance as a commercial center.
Because of centuries
of silting, the city that was a major port is now 10 kms inland. |
Ephesus - Upper Town |
Closer view of Upper Town street
and columns |
Close-up of columns - the 3
different architectural types right next to each other |
From the top-most part of
the city, we walked down this street.
Our private guide is on the left. |
Temples and secular
buildings lined the way. |
What Bader liked most about Ephesus
-- Nothing was roped off. We could walk anywhere and touch anything.
What
Boden liked most -- Imagining Anthony and Cleopatra walking hand in hand on
these streets. |
Beautiful stone carving |
My favorite shot of Ephesus, it is
looking down toward the main part of the ruins
from the Gate of Hercules and
out to the plain that used to be the harbour.
Think about Alexander the
Great parading down this street! |
Temple of Hadrian
close-up |
Temple of Hadrian
super close-up of frieze |
the famous Library and plaza - long view |
Statue in a nook of the library |
Close-up of the Libary
facade |
The Great Theatre of
Ephesus, a huge amphitheatre.
This is the grandest structure in the
ancient city. The Great Theatre is located on the slope of a hill, easily seen
from the surrounding areas. It was first constructed in the Hellenistic Period,
in the third century BC. During the Roman Period, it was enlarged and
redesigned as it is seen today. It has a capacity of 25,000. The seats are in
66 rows divided into three horizontal sections. The stage building is
three-storied and 18 meters high. The theatre was used not only for concerts
and plays, but also for religious, political and philosophical discussions, and
for gladiator and animal fights.
and for concerts by Elton John and Sting.
Oh, but that was in the 1980's. Never mind.
The ancient harbour was just
down this street a hundred meters or so. It is now 10 kms away. |
The last part of our day's tour was
a very short (less than 10 min.) drive from the main ruins
to see this
single column. Why?
This is all that remains standing of the beautiful,
legendary
Temple
of Artemis, one of the
Seven
Wonders of The Ancient World.
The massive temple was destroyed in 401
AD by a religion-crazed mob. |
Here's what we can no
longer see, except for that one column.
This is a scale model reconstruction
of the Temple of Artemis (ca. 550 BCE),
It was HUGE. One source says it
was 55 x 115 meters; another says 80 x 130 meters.
Either way, it was much
larger than a modern football/soccer field.
Compare this to the Parthenon,
which was pretty big itself at 30.9 x 69.5 meters.
Check
this out:
To see a video of what the ancient city of Ephesus used to
look like, click
here. |
|
|
