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