|
|
|
Ephesus - Photos
|
|
 |
Ephesus (Selçuk):
ancient Greek town in western
Turkey, one of the largest and best excavated cities of the ancient
world.
According to a legend that may contain an element of truth, an Athenian
prince named Androclus led Greek settlers to Ephesus. The Greeks believed
that it was a new foundation, but the city was older: Hittite texts call
it Abasa, and this city, the capital of a kingdom named Mirâ, may
have existed in 1600 BCE. 2000 years later, this road was built: the Arcadian
road, seen from the top of the theater. Over here,
you can see it on a satellite photo.
|
|
 |
The Arcadian road, which is named after the emperor Arcadius
(395-408). In the background the theater. Much of the history of early
Ephesus is unrecorded. We know, however, that Cimmerians
destroyed the Greek settlement in the seventh century BCE; later, it was
added to the Lydian
kingdom of Croesus.
After c.547,
it belonged to the Persian empire. There is hardly any archaeological evidence
for this age. |
|
 |
The Arcadian road again. Ephesus became important when Lysimachus,
one of the successors
of Alexander
the Great, chose to make it his capital. He wanted to be buried in
the neighborhood, in the Belevi
mausoleum. The city now grew rapidly and became the seat of the governor
of the Roman province
Asia. Almost everything we see today, dates back to this period. |
|
 |
Four columns along the Arcadian road, said to be dedicated to the four
evangelists. It is not true, but the identification was not a bad guess,
because Ephesus was an important city in the history of Christianity. Paul
taught in its synagogue and got himself into trouble when he attacked the
cult of Artemis
(below). In 431, a Council
was organized at Ephesus, where it was decided that Mary was the mother
of Christ as God (and not of Christ as man). |
|
 |
The theater of Ephesus. Here, the apostle Paul had to defend himself
against accusations of atheism.
A satellite photo of the theater can be found here.
|
|
 |
The theater of Ephesus. Its construction was started in the hellenistic
age, but the Ephesians made a beginning with its renewal during the reign
of the emperor Claudius
(41-54). Under Nero
(54-68), the stage was constructed. The decorations can be dated to the
reign of Trajan
(98-117). The theater of Ephesus. About 24,000 people could find a seat and watch the spectacles. |
|
|
|
|
 |
The Austrian archaeologists who started to excavate Ephesus in 1895,
took several parts of the decoration of the ancient city to Europe (in
1906), where they are put on display on the lovely Ephesos
Museum in Vienna, a series of quiet exposition rooms in the former
palace of the Habsburg emperors. These two parts of the decoration of the
theater show erotes (cupids) during a hunting scene. |
|
 |
A mythological battle scene. |
|
 |
A garland with three masks of a type that ancient actors were
accustomed to use. |
|
|
|
 |
The above reliefs of gladiators may have belonged to the decoration of the theater as well (cf. the theater of Miletus). The fighter to the left represents a retiarius ("net fighter"); the one in the center is a hoplomachus ("shield fighter").
Both were photographed by Svenja Grosser in the street near the
theater. The picture to the right, another photo by Miss
Grosser, was taken in the basilica of nearby Selçuk, and
shows a retiarius as well. |
|
| |
|
©
Jona Lendering for
Livius.Org,
2004
Revision: 13 March 2008 |
|
|
