One of my favorite archaeological sites that we visited in Turkey was Ephesus, which is located just outside of Kuşadasi.
The ancient city of Ephesus
What surprised me most about the ancient city of Ephesus was how lively it feels, even today, thousands of years later.
There are elegant mosaics painted on the walls of what used to be someone’s home, and these paintings miraculously still have color!
Something that I didn’t realize until this trip was that most statues, temples, and other ruins were originally painted with many colors. The reason they are all an off-white color is due to the fading of the paint over time. Of course, this seems obvious to me now. If we like colors, of course people living thousands of years ago would like them too! I’m sure I’m not the only one who didn’t realize this, though… and if I was, then that’s okay too 😉
In addition to colorful mosaics, the ruins of the many luxurious houses in Ephesus featured elements that showcased the ancient inhabitant’s wealth. The houses were very spacious with multiple rooms. They also contained marble structures. If I remember correctly, one of the houses had a hole in the ceiling that was for lowering food down to the dining room!
One of the most impressive structures found in ancient Ephesus is the library.
There are four statues at the front of the library (one is shown above) that represent wisdom, bravery, knowledge, and thought. It was awesome to see how reading and learning were so highly valued in Ancient Rome! If I had a library like this, I would never leave.
For reference, this is how tall the ancient library is:
Utterly magnificent.
Paul’s Grotto
Part way through our tour of Ephesus, we were told that there was a surprise for us. We followed our tour guide to a gate where a local man was waiting. When we arrived, he told us that we were going to see Paul’s Grotto.
The grotto is only a short hike from Ephesus, but it is a restricted site and therefore not open to the public. Apparently, only one other school (I want to say Yale or some other Ivy) is allowed to access the site.
My professor, Jason, was so excited. This was the first time he, too, would ever see Paul’s Grotto!
When we arrived at the small, dark cave, Jason led the first half of our group in. The rest of us waited outside and listened to everyone else ooohing and aaahing, wondering what kind of fascinating details were awaiting us inside. I will never forget how happy Jason was when he walked out of the grotto. He was smiling ear to ear and couldn’t wait to go back in with the rest of us.
I wish I remembered more about Paul’s Grotto and the carvings inside, but I guess that’s what I get for trying to write the post 2 years later!
What I can offer is an excerpt from my daily reading reflections (yes, I saved them!):
In the Roman Empire, the family structure was patriarchal and nuclear. We can see this through the story of Thecla. When Thecla says she does not want to marry her fiance, her entire family is distraught, and people try to kill her several times. Their reactions reveal the importance of having a nuclear family during that time. Both the Virgin Mary and Thecla are examples of powerful women who do not participate in the typical family structure, yet they are very important people within Christianity. How is it then that Christians still tend to idealize the nuclear family structure?
Okay, WOW. Now, I am really missing my liberal arts college experience!
Good laughs
I would be remiss if I did not mention the bathroom situation at Ephesus.
No, not the bathroom bathroom, I’m talking about the ancient toilets!!!
Everybody got a kick out of seeing toilets that were thousands of years old. Especially since they were all right next to each other.
For a brief moment, I imagined what it would be like to have to use the toilet right next to all of my classmates. That was a disturbing thought, so I let it pass as quickly as it came 😅.
One particularly interesting (and disgusting) feature of these toilets is the water channel that ran directly in front of them. This was where people washed their hands. So, you know what that means… if you were sitting at the end of the toilet chain, you were washing your hands with dirty water! Yuck.
It would be really shitty (haha) to end this post talking about toilets… so here’s a picture of my friend, Haakon, and a sweet dog (one of his many dog friends on this trip) looking out over Ephesus.
Until next time,
Clara