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Ephesus, ancient
Greek city in now-Muslim Turkey: a window into the past
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)
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this Article • About
the Author • Bibliography/Sources
Ephesus, located now in Kuşadası,
Turkey, is among the most well-preserved archaeological and
historic sites available in the world. Whereas Rome, Athens,
and Luxor offer sparse (yet magnificent) treasures in generally
poor condition, now-Muslim Ephesus allows the opportunity
for one to traverse through an ancient city virtually in its
original preserved entirety. The city's treasures can be reached
via a half-hour ride over a long and curving mountain range
from the port of Kuşadası (Koosh-a-dasuh).
It may strike the uninformed
observer as strange that arguably the greatest Greek treasures
would lay in modern Muslim Turkey. However, Anatolia (the
peninsula where modern Turkey lies) has a complicated ethnic
and cultural history. Originally occupied by Iranian tribes
such as the Scythians, Hittites, Lydians, and Phyrgians, the
western coastline was then settled by Greek colonists after
2000BCE. The famous city of Troy was one of these Greek cities,
along with most coastal settlements in the whole region that
evolved into modern cities of new nations today. The Iranian
racial stock returned with the mighty global Persian Empire,
the largest the world had ever seen, until Anatolia again
fell to Greek cultural and ethnic hegemony thanks to Philip
and Alexander of Macedonia in the 4th century BCE. Greeks
remained in the majority until the Turkic race -- recently
converted to Sunni Islam -- expanded to the southeast from
Central Asia under the Seljuks, eventually dominating most
of the Greek tribes. The succeeding Turkish Ottoman Empire
conquered all of Anatolia, converting it to Islam and then
conquering the region of modern Greece (there was never a
Greek nation) along with it. All ethnic Greeks were expelled
from Turkey after the Greco-Turkish Wars of the early 20th
century. Today, ethnic Turkish Muslims live in a land once
occupied by a tremendous array of cultures and empires. As
a result, Anatolia is easily the most historically and archeologically
rich regions of the world.
Ephesus was one of the ancient
trading centers and regional capitals of the ancient Greek
colonial period. Its prime geographic location made it an
invaluable waypoint for every empire of the eastern Mediterannean.
The Temple of Artemis, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World,
lies in ruin here due to earthquake damage. It is so ruined
that one can easily walk past it without noticing. After Anatolia
was incorporated into the Roman Empire during the Syrian Wars
(when the Greek Seleucids were conquered by Pompey), Ephesus
remained a wealthy and significant trading city. Although
there was never a Greece before the 19th century, Ephesus
could easily have been described as a "capital city."
It is the best preserved of all ancient cities of the world,
including Rome.
As Roman stability became
corroded by proliferating minority religious cults, such as
that of Isis and Mithraism, Christianity found a stronghold
in Ephesus. The once-pagan city thus became one of the greatest
of all Christian pilgrimage sites and cities. Peter and Paul
are alleged to have traveled here.
Ephesus remained one of
the most important sites in Christendom, and remains such
today. The original doctors of the church viewed it as the
focal point from which the Gospel was spread to the Roman
Empire. On the way to Ephesus, the House of the Virgin Mary
can be visited as a world site of pilgrimage for centuries.
Alleged to be the original final resting place of the Virgin
Mary, a nearby prayer wall is adorned with thousands and thousands
of notes and donations placed by Catholic and Orthodox visitors
to reach Mary and Jesus in the skies above. Though there is
no evidence that this is Mary's original home in Anatolia,
the Catholic church places great primacy to the very innocuous
home with ancient stone walls and a collapsing roof. The exterior
is distinguished between original stone and restored stone
by a faint red paint line denoting the age differentiation.
With the ascension of Constantinople
under the new Christian emperor Constantine the Great, assaults
from the jihad of the Muslim Arabs against the Byzantine Empire,
and a buildup of silt and grime in the city's distant shipping
yard, Ephesus began to stale as as a thriving city of the
past.
Despite this vast history
of triumph and decline under the pre-Christian Greek, Roman,
Orthodox Christian, and finally Islamic religions in succession,
the ancient provincial capital of Ephesus remains arguably
the world's greatest archaeological site in preservation along
with Pompeii in Italy. Local scholars report that only roughly
15% of it is unearthed. Several kilometers of walking through
the city reveal a wide array of temples to the old Greek and
later Roman gods, multiple large amphitheatres, elaborate
Roman baths, pillared walkways, stone-paved roads, latrines
and wasterooms, prayer temples, arched and domed structures,
and advanced pipe systems for water delivery and heating for
showers and cooking. Ephesus offers the opportunity to step
back in time. The Roman Celsus Library, the largest bibliotheque
in the world at the time before that of Alexandria, Rome,
Damascus, and Baghdad, surpasses the Parthenon in the minds
of many. Therein lay over 7,000 books until being incinerated
by foe or fire (local historians disagree).
Below are photos from my
vacation to Muslim Turkey and to the lovely capital.
a dilapidated building. (click to enlarge)
a felled temple. (click to enlarge)
a magnificent arch to a "pagan" temple. (click
to enlarge)
a closeup of the arch of the temple. (click to enlarge)
a massive amphitheatre undergoing restoration. Concerts are
held here today. (click to enlarge)
another angle of the amphitheatre. (click to enlarge)
a Greek-language inscription on a pillar.
the main walkway in the city of Ephesus. (click to
enlarge)
a mighty temple complete with statues of the goddess Artemis.
(click to enlarge)
the magnificent Roman Celsus Library, the largest in the world
other than that of Alexandria at the time.. (click
to enlarge)
a closeup of the Celsus Library with Greek inscriptions. (click
to enlarge)
the House of the Virgin Mary. Is it legitimate??
a wall of Catholic prayer notes to Mary. They are burnt after
a period.
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ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
James Mayfield is a historian
and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have
a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies
(language and history), am presently working for my Masters
in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate.
I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic
identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles
of native European and immigrant minority identities. See
my staff entry for more information.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES
USED:
No additional citations or
sources necessary.
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