Dec. 1, 2013 Izmir, Turkey. Ephesus and House of Virgin Mary

Dec l, 2013

We docked at Izmir, Turkey at 8 am.  About 14c today.  

White pelican was entertaining us from our balcony.

Izmir Port

Our excursion started at 8:15 and little did we know that we had a private tour all to ourselves.  Tour guide Aysemour was waiting with a sign.  

                   Key-hole shaped baptismal pool that Apostle John and Mary used 
                                   as they converted followers to Christianity. 

This picture is a good representation of the original foundation

 (the darker brick is original)

John 19:26

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,”

John 19:27

and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Inside the house

There is a statue of Mary in the apse which has been there for centuries. There was a fireplace at the front where gray marble separated it from the rest of the house. During excavations coal and household utensils were found dating to the 1st century AD.

The peaceful site is sacred to both Christians and Muslims, 

and is visited by many tourists and pilgrims.

 Below the chapel, along the wall are several recesses offering access to water from the spring, which is said to have healing properties. Today it is still regarded as holy water and many claims have been made of cures by drinking this water.

Jennie at the fountain. 

Also below the chapel, next to the fountain there is a wall where thousands of people have attached prayers written on pieces of paper, seeking The Virgin Mary’s intervention and help with difficulties in their lives. They are stuffed, hung and tied together in such a way that from a distance they give the appearance of a white shag carpet!

A slight smile for the camera.  

Gorgeous red berries. 

Our private van.  Our guide and driver in the window, and myself on the right. 

Ayse sat with us so she could talk to us.

Windy roads with spectacular scenery on the way to Ephesus. 

Not an edible fig.  Won't try it...learned a lesson with the oranges. 

Bath of Varius  

The bath of Varius, dating to the Roman period. Baths played an important role in Roman social life.  This was not only the place to refresh oneself from everyday life, but also to find entertainment and to conduct engaging political and philosophical discussions.  The construction dates to the 2nd century A.D and the mosaics in the 40 meters long corridor dates to the 5th century. It is built of cut blocks of marble. It has three sections, frigidarium (cold water), tepidarium (warm water) and caldarium (hot water). The excavations have not been completed yet.

Drawing of original basilica Stoa. 

Basilica Stoa (Royal Colonnade) Ephesus

It is a typical Roman Basilica (building). It is 160 meters long, and located on the northern part of the state agora and has a nave and three-aisles. The Ionic columns in the basilica are adorned with bulls' head figures dating to the 1st century A.D. The basilica was used for stock exchange and commercial business. Meetings of the law courts were also  held there in the basilica. It has three gates opening onto a stoa leading to the Bath of Varius. The statues of Augustus and his wife Livia were found at the east end, and now they are displayed in Ephesus Museum. So we can understand that the Basilica was rebuilt for the last time during the reign of the Emperor Agustus.It was destroyed by an earthquake in the middle of the Fourth Century AD.

Bull's head figure.

Entrance to the Bouleuterion.  A small theater.

The Bouleuterion

The structure consist of three main sections which are found in all other theatres: the cavea (auditorium), the orchestra (place of action for the actors) and the skene (the stage building). 

Prytaneion

It was a sort of city hall, serving religious purposes, official receptions and banquets.

The eternal fire, which symbolized the hearths of Ephesus, burned within it. 

Marble Road

It is the road starting form the great theatre to the Celsus Library, which is the portion of the sacred way that leads to the Temple of Artemis.

Memmius Monument - before 

Memmius Monument - after

It was constructed during the reign of Augustus in the 1st century A.D by Memmius, the grand son of dictator Sulla. One can see the figures of his father and grandfather on the blocks today. The structure has four facades, in the 4th century A.D, a square fountain was built on the northwest facade.

The Relief of Nike goddess of victory.  She holds a wreath made from laurel leaves, an emblem of victory in her left hand and a stalk of wheat in her right hand; she is in a flying position. Once formed part of the Gate of Herakles.

Fountain of Traian - before

Fountain of Traian - after 

This is a game like backgammon carved right into the marble sidewalk.

This mark was on the sidewalk, and Ayse, our guide explained it beautifully.

She drew it in my book, showed how the 5 symbols are found in the circle.  

The circle with the symbols secretly represented the Christian faith. The other dark circles were so that people would not slip when entering.

ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthys) is an acronym for "Ίησοῦς Χριστός,Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ", which translates into English as 

"Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior".

Ichthys  from the Koine Greek word for fish  One would draw half a fish in the sand with his toe, if the other person was also a christian, then he would draw the other half of the fish with his foot. The profile of a fish, used by early Christians as a secret Christian symbol and now known colloquially as the "sign of the fish" or the "Jesus fish."

Entrance to the public latrine.

Public latrine

“Taking care of business”

Latrine at Ephesus, (Turkey). They were part of the Scholastica Baths and built in the 1st century AD. They were the public toilets of the city. There was an entrance fee to use them.  The small trench contained warm running water. A plant, with similar texture to a sponge, was dipped into the water and used as we would use toilet paper. After use it was dropped into the toilet where the running water of the sewer system eventually washed to the sea.

Before the rich people used the toilets their slaves sat 
and heated the stone toilets for their masters?

I remember the freezing outhouses and seats when we first immigrated..

                                        Port Ave.  Road to the stadium - before

Port Ave.  Road to the stadium - after

 Ephesus terrace houses are covered with protective roofing which resembles Roman houses. The mosaics on the floor and the frescos have been consolidated and two houses have been opened to the public as a museum.  Ephesus terrace houses are located on the hill, opposite the Hadrian Temple. Also called as "the houses of rich", important for the reason give us information about family life during  the Roman period.

The size of the homes are starting from 1000 square feet and the  largest one was 6000 square feet. 

They date back to the 1C AD and some of them  were used up to the 7C AD. 

The heating system of the terrace houses were the same as that in baths. Clay pipes beneath the floors and behind the walls carried hot air through the houses. The houses also had cold and hot water. The rooms had no window, only illuminated with light coming from the open hall, so that most of the rooms were dim. 

They had interior courtyards (peristyle) in the center, with the ceiling open. They were mostly two-storied, upper stories have collapsed during time. On the ground floor there were living and dining rooms opening to the hall, and upstairs there were bedrooms and guest rooms.

Feeding the left over bun. Turkey has a huge problem with free-roaming dogs and cats and the country is struggling with ways to manage the problem.  The Turkish federal government passed a law a few years ago requiring cities to control the roaming dogs.  The strategy being tried in Turkey is trap-spay/neuter-vaccinate/treat and release.  Free-roaming dogs are picked up off the streets and taken to local shelters where they are spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies and other diseases, treated for minor illnesses, ear-tagged for identification, and then released back to the neighborhood where they were trapped.  

This Celsus library is one of the most beautiful structures in Ephesus. It was built in 117 A.D. It was a monumental tomb for Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the governor of the province of Asia; from his son Galius Julius Aquila. The grave of Celsus was beneath the ground floor, across the entrance and there was a statue of Athena over it. Because Athena was the goddess of the wisdom.

Between the niches in the columns. These are the wisdom (Sophia), 

knowledge (Episteme), thought (Ennoia) and virtue (Arete) of Celsus. 

The statues are copies - originals in the Ephesus Museum in Vienna. 

The scrolls of the manuscripts were kept in cupboards in niches on the walls. There were double walls behind the bookcases to pretect them from the extremes of temperature and humidity. The capacity of the library was more than 12,000 scrolls. It was the third richest library in ancient times. 

Ceiling above the entrance to the library.

The Gate of Mazeus and Mithridates

The gate with three passage ways at the right of the Celsus Library was built in 40 A.D by the slaves Mazeus and Mythridates for their emperor, Augustus, who gave them their freedom.  It was 16 m tall and it had four niches. Inscriptions had been engraved on the top of its façade.

On the steps leading up to the entrance of the library, there is an easily missed carving, perhaps a piece of ancient graffiti.  It is a menorah, a Jewish symbol. It was carved into the steps by some unknown Jewish resident of Ephesus sometime after the building of the library.

Sidewalk carving.

Claimed to be the world's first advertisement over 2000 years old. It involves a pretty woman, money, heart, and a left foot indicating the left side of the street (where the brothel is).  If your foot was larger than the carving, you were old enough to enter. 

Ephesus Market Square

Theater

The stage building is three-storied and 18 meters high. The facade facing the audience was ornamented with columns with niches, windows and statues. There are five doors opening to the orchestra area, the middle one of which is wider than the rest. This enhanced the appearance of the stage, giving it a bigger, monumental look.

Immy pointing at the place where Paul stood preaching. 

She wanted her picture taken there. 

The Evangelization of Ephesus (Acts 19:8-41)And according to ( Acts 19:23-41), the theater was the site of the "riot of the silversmiths" in which those who made silver figures of Artemis rioted because Paul's preaching was bad for business.

Immy (with her arm up), standing in the center where Paul stood. 

Theater

This is the most magnificent structure in Ephesus ancient city. It is the largest in Asia minor and has the capacity of 25,000 seats.

The theater was used not only for concerts and plays, but also for religious, political and philosophical discussions and for gladiator and animal fights.

Coffins

The Prison in Ephesus on top of the hill.

Although  Paul in the letters he addressed to the churches in Greece, Macedonia and Anatolia frequently refers to the persecutions he suffered it is difficult to guess what exactly these persecutions were and where he suffered them. It is not known if his words about 'the affliction that came to us in the province of Asia' (2 Cor 1:8) involves an imprisonment. According to the apocryphal Acts of  Paul however, in the Ephesus the furious population put  Paul's feet into irons, and shut him up in the prison, till he should be exposed as a prey to the lions. 

Our next stop was lunch...and of course a little shopping.   

The cafe we ate in.  We share some kind of pancake. 

Ayse was joined by her hubby.    

The Artemis - before
St. John's basilica and castle behind the building.

 St. John’s Basilica, a church that was built on the believed site of John’s (the apostle) grave. Construction was started in 536 by the Emperor Justinian and took almost 20 years to complete. Historians and others think that John lived in Ephesus where he wrote the Gospel of John and possibly the book of Revelation in the Bible (some scholars dispute the latter). John lived to a nice ripe old age and died in Ephesus. Apparently, he may have also taken care of Jesus’ mother Mary as well 
while they both lived in the Ephesus area.

In this picture:

Three periods of history in Selcuk: Temple of Artemis (front), St. John's Basilica/Isa Bey Mosque (middle), the Celcuk castle (back)

St. John's basilica - before
The monumental basilica was in the shape of a cross and was covered with six domes. Its construction, being of stone and brick, is an extremely rare find amongst the architecture of its time. Raised by two steps and covered with marble, the tomb of St John was under the central dome, that was once carried by the four columns at the corners. The columns in the courtyard reveals the monograms of Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. Constructed in the 5th century AD, the baptistery is north of the nave, with its key hole shape. Rampart walls around the church were constructed for protection from the Arabian attracts in the 7th - 8th centuries AD. The impressive 10th century AD frescoes representing St John, Jesus and a Saint, ornament the chapel. With the invasion of Turks, the chapel was used as a mosque in the 14th century; unfortunately Basilica of Saint John became unusable due to the serious earthquake in the same century.

St. John's Basilica - after

On our way to our next outing, we were stopped by the police.  

Our driver was not wearing his seat belt.  Unfortunately he got a ticket. 

Carpet weaving.  The pattern is on top.

Explaining the art of weaving

The silk in the basket comes from the city of Bursa, 

from the silk worm of the mulberry bush/trees.  We were allowed to take one.

 The mulberry tree leaves are the only food that the silkworms will eat; as a result, 

the silkworms grow a cocoon which would then be used to make silk.

The cocoons float in water and scooped with a bristle brush to catch the silk threads. 

The silk threads are gathers and turned on a wheel.  The cocoons spin in the water till only the silk worm is left.

 Dead silk worm floating in the water.

The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 meters (1,000 to 3,000 feet) long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 micrometers (1/2,500th of an inch) in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (≈0,4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion pounds of cocoons...and that is why the carpets are so expensive.

Fine silk around the finger.

Turning the silk onto the wheel.

The size of a cocoon in my hand.

More information about the art of silk.

The Turkish are very hospitable.  We were offered wine or turkish coffee. 

The serving tray we have seen on a few occasions. 

Marcel enjoying his glass of wine.

As well as Immy

Ayse was being so patient with all of us.

Such a treasure.

Carpets kept coming and coming from all directions flying through the air.  

Soon the ground was covered.

I also had my first cup of Turkish coffee.  All of the coffee in the pot is poured into cups, but not all of it is drunk. The thick layer of sludgy grounds at the bottom of the cup is left behind.  Very strong, but very lekker. 

Four men on their knees..what could be better than that.

Ah, yes!  All that begging and Immy gave in.  A beautiful piece of art. 

And this looks great on the dining room table. 

Back at the ship at 4:15.  Best day yet. 

These singers met us at the ship.  

At the entrance each day we receive a cup of chicken broth and a wet facecloth.

Decoration on the ceiling above the elevator.  

Dinner and another show at the stardust theater: Showdown, a vocal battle contest. 
Winner was chosen by the audience.  Lots of fun. 

Till tomorrow.