The Ephesus Museum, located in
Selçuk, displays the findings from
the excavations made at Ephesus, the Basilica of
St John, the Belevi Tomb Monument, and various places
in the surroudings. The highlight of the museum
are the two white marble
statues of Artemis, the Goddess of Fertility,
Abundance and Earth venerated like the former Anatolian
mother-goddess Cybele. The bigger statue, known
as “Colossal Artemis”, is 2,92 m /9.58 ft high and
dates from the 1C AD. The other one, called “Artemis
the Beautiful”, is 1,74 m high and dates from the
2C AD. The four rows of protuberances on their chest
have been interpreted as differently as breasts,
eggs, figs, but according to a more recent theory,
they seem to rather represent the testicles of bulls,
also a symbol of fecundity (bulls were an object
of cult but were also sacrificed to Artemis). The
museum also displays an interesting reconstruction
of one of the hillside villas excavated at Ephesus,
and a gladiator section.
Since 1898 excavations at the city of Ephesus have
been conducted by the Austrian Institute of archaeology.
The early findings are displayed at the Vienna
Ephesus Museum in the Neue Burg. The most
important exhibits are the 40 m / 131 ft long frieze
of the Parthian Monument and the bronze statue of
an athlete from the Hercules - Centaur Group.
Artemis
Gladiators
Gold figurine of a woman, 7C BC
The
Temple of Artemis
(Artemision)
was built for the first time in the 6C.BC,
and was supported by 127 Ionic
columns. It was rebuilt between 334 and
250 BC, after having been set on fire by
a madman the same night Alexander
the Great was born (23 July 356 BC).
Pilgrims came from all over Asia Minor to
see the Artemision which was considered
as one of the Seven Wonders of the World
because of its decoration, its monumental
dimensions, its magnificence and its luxury.
When Christianity became state religion
in the 5C AD, the temple was finally destroyed
by a fanatic mob, marking the end of paganism.
The site became a marble quarry for the
Byzantine constructions. On the spot, what
is left of this masterpiece are only one
single re-erected column and foundation
stones. It is located at the exit of Selçuk
on the right hand side of the road to
Kuşadası.
What
could have
the Artemision looked
like
The
citadel - Isa Bey mosque - St john Basilica
Remains
of the Artemision
The
Basilica of St John:
according to an opinion based on the decisions
of, and thus at least as old as the Council
of Ephesus held in 431, John the Apostle came
to Ephesus with the Virgin Mary. As he was
dying on the cross, Jesus entrusted his mother
Mary to the care of his beloved disciple John
who brought her to Ephesus between the years
37 and 48. John, after 67, spent the rest
of his life preaching
the Gospel. He was later exiled to the
Island of Patmos where he wrote the Revelation,
and returned to Ephesus in 95. There he lived
on top of Ayasuluk hill where he was buried
when he died approximately at the age of 100.
At the beginning his grave was indicated by
a stela placed in a chapel in the 4th century.
The
grave of St john
A
basilica built by Emperor
Justinian (527-565) was dedicated to his memory
in the 6th century. The walls constructed around
the basilica were reinforced with large marble blocks
taken from Ephesus, and an outer wall was added
to protect it better during the pirates and Arab
attacks in the 7th - 8th centuries. The walls had
gates opening to the east, west and south. The main
gate is the Persecution Gate (John was twice threatened
by death under Emperor Domitian), which was flanked
by two high towers. The entrance was through an
atrium opening onto the narthex. The three naved
basilica, whose dimensions are 40 by 110 m/ 131
by 360 ft, is cruciform. It is made of stone and
brick and its roof was once composed of six domes.
The grave of St John, today covered with marble,
was located under the central dome, that was originally
supported by the four columns with spiral flutes.
As seen in the model made by the museum, the top
of the grave was covered with colored marble mosaics.
During the middle Ages, the church was an important
place of pilgrimage and it was believed that the
fine dust coming out of the grave by the opening
located above it, had miraculous and healing properties.
On the capitals of the columns on the north side,
the monograms of Emperor Justinian and Theodora
can be seen. The chapel to the north of the apse
was built later in the 10th century and has frescoes
among which is one of St. John. Next to the Baptistery
is a small buiding, where holy relics were kept.
A terrace, with an atrium on top of it, was buit
to support the west end of the church. After 1304,
when Ephesus came under the Turkish domination,
part of the church was converted into a mosque.
The basilica was destroyed by an earthquake at the
end of the 14th century.
The Citadel
is located at the very top of Ayasuluk Hill
which overlooks Selçuk. It was built in
the 6th century by the Byzantines in order to insure
a better protection of Ephesus which, at the time,
had weakened considerably. The Seljuks
strenghtened and extended the citadel which was
used until the early Ottoman
period.
Isa
Bey Mosque, located below the Basilica
of St John, is one the most important work
in Turkish transition art
between Seljuk
and Ottoman periods.
It was erected in 1375 for Isa Bey, grandson
of the founder of the Aydınoğulları emirate
to which Ayasuluk
belonged. The architect who built this most
unusual mosque was Ali of Damascus. The
mosque is composed of a huge courtyard which
was surrounded by porticos topped with domes.
Today theses colonnades are lost, only a
few ancient columns, from the baths
and gymnasium of the harbour in Ephesus,
are still standing. The octagonal ablution
pool has remained.
The entrance to the prayer room, which is composed
of two naves covered with a double smooth wooden
roof, is made through a gateway with three arches.
The mihrab room is topped by two domes supported
by four ancient marble columns and capitals. The
pendentives are decorated with turquoise and blue
enamelled ceramic.
The
House of the Virgin Mary
(Meryemana) is located in
the heights above Ephesus, and can be reached
by a 9 km/ 5.6 miles long scenic road leading
to the Bülbül Mountain.
According to an opinion based on the decisions
of, and thus at least as old as the Council
of Ephesus held in 431, John the Apostle came
to Ephesus with the Virgin Mary: as he was
dying on the cross, Jesus asked his beloved
disciple John to take care of his mother.
As John thought it was dangerous for Mary to remain
in Jerusalem, between the years 37 and 48, he
brought her to Ephesus. Mary lived and ended her
days in a remote place while John spent the rest
of his life preaching
the Gospel.
German nun Anna Katherina Emmerich
(1774-1824) who had never been to Ephesus, had
visions where she described the last place where
the Virgin Mary lived, as beeing a house on the
top of a hill at Ephesus. After reading Clemens
Brentano’ s book “The Life of the Virgin Mary”
containing the revelations of A. K. Emmerich,
a clergyman named Gouyet discovered
the mentionned place, sent a report to Paris and
Rome but was not taken seriously. Ten years later
in 1891, H. Jung in turn found
the ruins of a “chapel” that corresponded to the
descriptions and which was called by the Christian
locals Panaghia Capouli: it was
a small place of worship with the roof fallen
in, the walls in ruin and there was standing a
statue of the Virgin Mary with the hands broken
off. On his return he convinced P. Eugene
Poulin, Superior of the Lazarists in
Izmir, to accompany him with a scientific research
team. Restoration works were made until 1894.
In 1950-51, during the excavations made before
the construction of a church, a sacred spring
with rather salted water and curative properties,
was discovered.
This place was officially declared a shrine by
the Roman Catholic Church in 1896. It was sanctifìed
by Pope Paul VI in 1967, after
the Vatican confirmed that the Virgin Mary had
spent the last years of her life here. Since John
– Paul II’ s visit in 1979, it has become
a popular place of pilgrimage and every year,
on August 15th a ceremony is organized to commemorate
Mary's Assumption.
Mass is celebrated
here every morning at 7:30 and on Sunday mornings
at 10:30.
The
Selçuk "Camel Wrestling Festival"
takes place every year in January. Camel
wrestling is now mostly restricted to the
Aegean region, although it was once widespread
to a greater part of Anatolia.
12 km/ 7.5 miles south of Selçuk and 14 km/ 8.7
miles east of Kuşadası
is Çamlık village, famous since
1991 for its Steam Engine Museum
(Buharlı Lokomotif Müzesi) which displays one
of the largest steam engine collection in Europe.
Çamlık station was on the former ORC line, the
oldest line in Turkey. As it is located at the
highest and most difficult part of the line, with
steep gradient and sharp curves, the station has
been disused (except for a slow local train operating
between Selçuk and Ortaklar) since the Izmir -
Aydın main line has been following a new route
. The museum also displays two interesting hand
powered quay cranes among other miscellaneous
items.
