Day 8: Ephesus & the House of the Virgin Mary — Claire

 Today we traveled by coach to the ancient city of Ephesus, located in modern-day Selçuk. At its prime, Ephesus was one of the major commercial centers of the Eastern Mediterranean world, and thus attracted lots of diverse peoples and cultures. It was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire and functioned as its capital in Asia Minor. 

The first thing we saw upon arrival was the fabled house of the Virgin Mary, where, according to legend, Mary lived under the care of the Apostle John. We know that John did live in Ephesus, but there is no solid historical evidence that Mary lived there with him. People have interpreted as much from the Gospel of John in the Bible, which says that when Jesus was dying on the cross, he entrusted John to care for his mother like his own. 

Mary’s house.

The house is located atop a hill, at a distance of about 6 km from the main city of Ephesus. This is because in the first century AD, Christians faced persecution in the Roman Empire, so Mary was kept outside of the city for her protection. 

Our tour guide, Saba, told us that in the nineteenth century, a nun called Anne Catherine Emmerich, who lived in Germany her entire life, had a vision about the location of the house. When archaeologists began excavating Ephesus, they looked for the house based on where the nun had envisioned it to be, and they found it. 

As students visiting religious sites with intellectual curiosity in mind, our questions are not formed based on what is and isn’t true, but rather what people believe and why they believe it. Despite a lack of historical evidence, the site holds considerable religious significance. On our way out of the site we passed by a spring water fountain thought to contain holy water, and beside that was a wall covered in slips of paper, each containing a prayer or wish left there by past visitors. There is even a mass held inside the house on Sundays. 

The wall of prayers outside of Mary’s house.

The house serves as a modern pilgrimage site for Christians around the world, often filled with tour groups visiting with religious leaders. Mike shared an anecdote from a previous year when they couldn’t enter the house because a group of Korean Catholic priests were holding a service inside. #confluences.

After leaving the house, we drove back down the mountain to see Ephesus. On the way, we could see the beautiful Aegean Sea in the distance, which once reached all the way up to the city but has since retreated. Sea access was one of the features that made Ephesus such a successful hub of business. 

The fearsome guards of Ephesus.

The version of Ephesus we see today is only about 10% excavated, but there were still many sights to see! We saw the site that was once an agora (market), as well as the Egyptian temple beside it — evidence of the cultural diversity in the city. After that we took a look at a walkway that once served as a courthouse in the administrative part of the city. Behind that sat an Odeon — a small theater where performances (likely for the elite) were held. The theater also served as a bouleuterion, or council house. 

The Odeon

Next we passed by a twin temple, thought to honor both the emperor (possibly Julius Caesar) and Artemis, the goddess of fertility, to whom the city is dedicated. This, among other things, is evidence of lived religion in the city — its inhabitants valued their cults greatly. The Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but it no longer stands on site in Ephesus. The statue of Artemis, however, resides in the Ephesus Archaeological Museum. 

Beside the temple was the Prytaneion, where the governor would have worked. One of these governors is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, as he saved the life of Paul from the angered citizens of Ephesus.

Remains of the Prytaneion.

We then descended down a sloped road further into the city. We could see where the Romans once carved horizontal lines into the stones to keep people from slipping. There were also stone bases lining the street that used to hold statues. 

Ridged stones on the street.

We visited the remains of a Roman bath, then passed by what appears, from the outside, to be a temple to the emperor Hadrian. The legend says that the Ephesians heard the emperor was visiting the city and got permission to build a temple for him there, but they didn’t have the space for the full structure. Instead they only built the facade, and carved the head of Medusa above the door. Hadrian, having a fear of Medusa, saw the carving and left without going inside!

Hadrian’s “temple.”

Next we walked through a recent excavation: the terraced houses that were once inhabited by the wealthy citizens of the city. On the way in we passed by a sidewalk mosaic, a common feature in wealthy homes and other significant buildings at the time. 

Sidewalk mosaic + a friend :)

One of our main focuses of the day was uncovering the stories of Ephesus that we don’t often focus on — that is, the lives of enslaved people. The terrace houses were owned by wealthy slave owners, and recently historians and archaeologists have looked for evidence of enslaved people existing within them. One example was one of the dining rooms we walked through, where there is evidence that the couches were placed so that slaves could maneuver behind them. This also highlights how enslaved people in ancient times were expected not to make their presence known; to disappear into the background. 

Another example was how in some rooms, the floors were designed to be heated by hot water circulating beneath them. We considered how that water had to have been heated by a furnace, and that furnace was likely stoked by a slave. These are just some of the ways in which we can look beyond the surface level of ancient ruins to get a more complex understanding of the lives of the people who inhabited them. 

Views of the terrace houses.

We then explored what is probably the most famous landmark in Ephesus: the library of Celsus. This is the only two-storey structure on the site, and was the third largest library in the ancient world. The philosopher Celsus is buried there. 

On your way up the stairs you might catch a glimpse of a bit of ancient graffiti — a menorah carved into the marble. 

Library of Celsus.

Menorah graffiti.

The last thing we saw before leaving was the theater of Ephesus. This theater could seat around 25,000 people — the largest theater in Asia Minor. It is still used for concerts in the summertime, and because the theater faces the sea, many of the musical performers don’t use any sort of sound technology, instead relying on the wind to carry the sound.

Theater of Ephesus.

Ephesus was super fun to explore, and we learned so much about this ancient city! (And we loved seeing all the cats and dogs, too.)