Ephesus

From the House of Mary, we traveled to Ephesus, an Ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia. It was built in the 10th century BC. It came under Roman control in 129 BC. Ephesus was once a thriving port city of over 250,000 people, making it the 4th largest city in the Roman Empire and a busy centre of commerce, politics, and pagan worship. But to Christians, it is the place where St. Paul preached for more than two years (Acts 19), where John the Evangelist is said to have lived with the Blessed Virgin Mary, and where early Christian communities took root. It was one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation.

Ephesus was famous for its Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC) which has been designated as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It had many huge buildings including the Library of Celsus and a theatre that could hold 24,000 spectators.

The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was rebuilt, it never gained the same importance as a port and commercial centre as the harbour slowly silted up. An earthquake in 614 did major damage. Reconstruction and stabilization work is continually being done by the Government of Turkey in partnership with Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Aisha gave us a very thorough tour of the large site. Her husband proposed to her at the big outdoor theatre here while she was in the midst of giving a tour. How could she say "No,", with so many people chanting, "Say YES!"

After Ephesus, we visited a the Turkmen Carpet Making Centre. This facility, jointly run by the Department of Culture of the Turkey, aims to train new weavers and thereby preserve the long and rich tradition of making fine silk, cotton and wool carpets. The silk carpets are incredible - they have one million knots were square metre and the colours are so. delicate. The wool carpets, by comparison, have a mere 160,000 knots per square metre.

Many were tempted, but to my knowledge, no one succumbed. Doug and I have a lovely cotton area carpet that we bought on a trip to Egypt - I was glad I could say with impunity that I didn't need a carpet!

Photo captions will come later. I need a nap before disembarking at Patmos. Busy day!Okumaya devam et