once a mighty city...

---

the great and mighty Ephesus! Capital city of Asia during the Roman period, sometime home to St Paul and St John, rumored burial place of St Mary. But the most awesome part of staying in Selcuk (so close to the ruins and at various times in history the location of the city) is the millenia of history unfolding before us. The great greek temple of Artemis, one of the original 7 wonders of the world (correction from Pergamon entry) is now a pond, a sunken field, and one lonely column, but I could imagine it as grander than the Parthenon. The temple was located on top of an earlier (we are talking maybe 1000 BC) temple to the then mother goddess Cybele. Flash to the Roman Ephesus city ruins, built (of course) on top of the Greek. Like so many before me, I was incredibly moved by walking through the once vibrant city with 2 makets, a council hall, theatre, gymnasim and gladiator stadium, and a magnificnt library burned by the Goths, even a small Egyptian temple for the Egyptian "guest workers" to worship. In modern Selcuk a Byzantine fortress guards the town and the ruins of the grand church of St Paul, now being restored by an Ohio Christian nonprofit to celebrate the alleged burial place of St John. Right below it on the hill, an elegant and simple 14th century mosque. I am finally getting the different architectures straight enough in my mind that I am not alwasy asking, now who built this one? And in Selcuk the kids ask you to take their photo, not for money, but because they want you to send it to them.

I am convinced the more you pay for a hotel the less you interact with other guests and the staff, as real people. In Selcuk we lucked into an extended family with a guest house, carpet shop, jewelry store, and family olive farm. They'd just reopened after a couple of winter months harvesting olives and pressing the oil. And in Turkish fashion, to celebrate international womens' day, the guest house manager poured all the men a shot of raki at breakfast, then felt moved to offer the women homemade wine. We came real close to buying a carpet but could not agree on which one as the price kept dropping (we had it down to 3). Bonus prize: a liter of olive oil as a gift to take home.

---

Photos

civic duty
entrance to the Roman council chambers

Celsus library
looking up through the ruins of the 2 story library

terrace houses
like visiting upper East Side NY, these hillside apartments are spectacular

Nike, goddess of victory
most of the sculpture and other art found is now in museums in Europe, but some is still on site

city streets
one of the main streets of the Roman city had sidewalks and drainage

artemis
one of the main representations of Artemis in the Selkuk museum