Sunday, June 3, 2018

2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Day 40, Ephesus

We spent our day in Ephesus, a city with great history and renown for both students of Ancient Greece and Rome and for Christians. Ephesus was a major community in the Classic Greek world. It reached its peak in this incarnation up until the time of the coming of the Persians in the 5th Century BC. Ephesus chose to resist the Persians, was conquered and burnt.

The city rebounded. By the time that Alexander the Great was conquering the Persian world, Ephesus was again a major city. It was already known at that time for the cult of the Goddess Artemis. About this time the famous Temple that became one of the wonders of the ancient world was built. It had 120 pillars.

Ephesus was absorbed into the Roman Empire in the First Century BC. It became the capital of the Province of Asia Minor, one of the richest in all the Empire. During the next three hundred or so years it would grow to a city of around 250,000 with all the monuments and amenities one would expect.

During the First Century AD, Christianity entered the picture. The Apostle John came to Ephesus after the crucifixion. A cult developed in the 18th century that the Virgin Mary followed him their as well. Paul followed, stayed for three and a half years, wrote his letters to the Ephesians and left a significant Christian community.

Alas Ephesus had reached its peak in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD. It's port began silting up cutting of trade. Earthquakes caused major damage. It remained a good sized community but in decline until the coming of the first Arab raids in the 8th Century AD. From this point on it recedes in historic importance.

The actual visit was nice. The ruins are not as impressive as some we  have visited but they are laid out in way that allows you to visualize the city much better than others we have visited. We also saw an ancient church erected in the honor of St. John and visited a very good museum. Pictures galore were taken which we will get to you later this week.

Ephesus is very close to where we are staying so we did not have to spend the hours in a vehicle we did yesterday and we got back at 4 PM with plenty of time to relax.

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