7 Churches Tour - Ephesus Day 2

The next morning we did the main excavated Ephesus, with the Library of Celcus, the Odeon, where music would have been performed and the senators would have met, the site of the temple of Domitian, the bath house and toilets, the terraced houses, and the theater, which was the largest theater in the ancient world when it was at its largest. It could hold over 25,000 people.  I just think of the St. Louis Muny and how it holds 11,000 people and how that feels large to me, and then I go and sit in something more than twice as large. It’s hard to describe visiting a place that you have dreamed about going for so long, that when you’re actually there, it feels like a dream. Did I actually see those sites? I did. I have pictures! There is so much to see at Ephesus. Yet only about 10% of the city has been excavated in the past 100 years of excavations. The excavations are continuing, but, according to archaeologists, it will take hundreds of years to complete the excavation.

The main road in Ephesus

The Temple of Hadrian

Ephesus was also a major port city in ancient times. Constantine thought about making it the capital of the Roman empire but chose the site where Constantinople (now Istanbul) is instead. The river that feeds into the harbor at Ephesus is a very fast river and carries a lot of silt with it, thus filling in the harbor. The city has been moved 5 times to try and keep it close to the water, but to no avail. The city that we know today as Ephesus was the 3^rd rebuilding of the ancient city. Today, the ocean is about 5 miles away from these ruins.

The Library of Celcus

The Theater

The body of believers in Ephesus included many names you will be familiar with: Paul (who spent 3 years here on his second missionary journey), the apostle John, Mary, Jesus' mother, Timothy (who was the pastor/church leader here), Aquila and Priscilla (who traveled with Paul from Corinth to Ephesus and remained here), Apollos (who only knew about the baptism of John and did not know anything about Jesus. Aquila and Priscilla shared with him about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and he became a great evangelist). In the letter to the church, God praises the them for being a very active group of believers, doing many activities. Their problem was that they had lost their first love, meaning they lost the proper motivation for the work they were doing. The church body had their regular routine of activities without any reason behind it, creating a rut. The message is: Remember your love and excitement for the Lord when you first heard the Gospel. If you have all of this motion without the right motivation, your work is not helping anything. Do things not out of obligation or tradition. Do things out of your love for the Lord.

We had lunch at a local restaurant called Bizim Ev (our house), and then went to the Bascilica of St. John, where John is actually buried. This Basilica was built by Justinian and his wife Theodora. They also built the Hagia Sophia. The Basilica of St. John was the second largest, second most grand basilica after the Hagia Sophia during the Byzantine era. Unfortunately, it is in ruins now, but you can still get an idea of how massive it would have been in its glory.

The Basilica of St. John

What the Basilica would have looked like

The view from the altar

Afterwards we went to take a few pictures of the remains of the Temple of Artemis, which was one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient world. There is only 1 pillar left. According to tradition, a man by the name of Herostratus, wanted to become famous, so her set the temple of fire on the same night that Alexander the Great was born. Maybe more of the temple would have remained if this guy would not have had this horrible idea. Regardless, I was still excited to see it, as it is a continuation of my dream to see all 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.

The Temple of Artemis

7 Churches Tour - Smyrna, Ephesus Day 1

Thursday morning we departed for Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara) to visit the ancient city of Smyrna. As with Philadelphia and Thyatira, the current city was built right on top of the old, so only small parts of the old city have been excavated. We went to the ancient Agora, where all of the shopping, selling, and bartering would have taken place. This Agora is unique in that it ascends up the hillside, making 3 tiers or levels of shopping instead of a flat shopping area. Many of the archways have been reconstructed to give the viewer an idea of the beauty of this Agora.

Smyrna was one of the most important cities of the ancient world. It had about 200,000 inhabitants and was a port city. They had a close relationship with Rome at least 100 years before the Roman empire conquered Anatolia (Turkey) as part of their empire. They built temples to Roman gods and emperors to honor of the city of Rome. The Christians in Smyrna were persecuted due to their different beliefs. as they only wanted to worship the One True God. Because the Jewish people had contributed in many ways to the success of the Roman empire, the Roman empire allowed the Jews to only worship their God, so they got a "get jail out of free" card on this issue.

The church body in Smyrna was being persecuted from all sides. Rome persecuted Christians not for what they believed but because the Christians did not worship all the other gods and emperors. Rome wanted to create a vast body of gods for all their subjects to worship, which would unify the empire. They wanted Jesus to be added to this collection. The Christians would not agree with this, thus they were seen as a threat and as traitors to the Roman empire. The Jews wanted to be the only "special" group in the eyes of Rome and did not want to lose their privileges, so they persecuted the Christians.  The Jews in Smyrna would reveal the Christians in Smyrna to the Roman government because they did not like them and what they were teaching. The Lord says to the church in Smyrna “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of Life.” God knew that many Christians in Smyrna would be martyred and wanted to encourage them to remain steadfast in Him. He also tells them that there will be 10 days of persecution. This could be 10 literal days or it could reference something else. It’s fascinating that there were 10 emperors of Rome that were ruthless in their reigns to Christians where persecution was horrible. These include Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimus Severus, Maximum, and, worst of all, Valerin. Eternal death is worse than physical death. Hold on to your faith even in the face of death.

We then drove down to Selcuk, which is modern day Ephesus, and went to the Ephesus Museum, where they have many of the artefacts found at the site of Ephesus, including the famous Artemis statue, and the pieces of the huge statue of Emperor Domitian. It is a very nice museum where everything is being well preserved away from the elements. The hard part is trying to piece together what you see in the museum to where it would have been in the city of Ephesus.

Just to give you an idea of how big
he would have been

We went and had coffee/tea/ice cream in a local coffee house that is owned by a Turkish Christian. The place is called St. John’s coffee shop. I of course got ice cream with fresh strawberries. It was so yummy. The owner was so kind. I am so grateful for the Christian community all around the world. The Lord is indeed good!

Then, my dream came true. We went to a pottery store where they demonstrated how to make pottery on a pottery wheel. Then they asked if anyone would like to try. My hand shot up so fast. I have always wanted to try the pottery wheel, as it is one of the most amazing things to me. Let me tell you, it takes skill. The masters make it look easy. It is hard to control the clay and make it form the exact shape you want. In order to even have a chance, the wheel must be going at a very fast speed, which is hard to keep consistent while your hands are trying to be steady on the pottery. The master potter just spun the wheel while I attempted to make something. Ah! It was so neat! I really want to take a potter class now and use the wheel again. It was so incredible.

Lastly, we visited the House of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that when John came to live in Ephesus, he brought Mary the mother of Jesus with him as he was her caretaker now. John was exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the Book of John and the Book of Revelation. Once Domitian died, the emperor who exiled him, he was allowed to return to Ephesus, where he died. It is believed that Mary would have died here too. There is a house where she could have lived that is now dedicated as a chapel. It is a very reverent place, where I think monks and nuns live to take care of it. They have a tradition where people can write a prayer on a piece of cloth or paper and tie it up on a wall near the house. There is also a stream of fresh, clean, spring water where you can drink the water. I filled up my water bottle here and it tasted good. It is quite a neat site. And only 5 km up the road from the main site of Ephesus, so when you come, you should go and see it.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the chapel,
but this is a picture of what it looks like inside

The prayer wall

Beginning Turkish

In honor of my family arriving in one week, here is your beginning Turkish course, followed by some of my favorite phrases or words that I have learned. I attempted to sound them out for you as accurately as I could:

Hello - Merhaba (Looks like it sounds)
Please - Lütfen (Lewt-fehn)
Thank you - Teşekkür ederim (Te-sheh-kur eh-der-im)
Pardon/ Excuse me - Pardon
Good morning - Günaydın (Gew-nye-duhn)
Good night - Iyi geceler (Eeyee ge-je-ler)
How much is this? -  Kaç lira? (Kach lira)
Where?  - Nerede? (Looks like it sounds)
What time is it?  - Saat kaç? (Sa-aht kach)
Where is the bathroom? - Banyo Nerede? (Looks like it sounds)
OK - Tamam (Looks like it sounds)

Really, all you have to remember when reading Turkish is:
C makes J sound
Ş is SH
Ç is CH
Ü is EW like the German vowel in Für Elise
Ö is I as in "Bird"
I without the dot is like "Uh"

With these under your belt, you can read anything in Turkish, as it is a Phonetic language.

When someone sneezes, you say "çok yaşa," (choke yasha) which literally means "live long"
Anytime someone is about to eat, is eating, or just finished eating, you say to them "afiyet olsun"
(ah-fee-yet ol-sun) which is like Turkey's bon appetit
So-So - söyle böyle (shur-ley bur-ley) It's just so fun to say!
Mr. - Bey (Bay or Bae as my brother would say)

I know there are more, but this is a start for all those wishing to know a little bit of Turkish.

To my family, study hard!