KUSADASI
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GENERAL PACK
VIRGIN MARY'S HOUSE
The Virgin Mary's House It is known with certainty That the Virgin Mary went to
Ephesus and lived there for some time. Whether or not she died in Ephesus was
not known until Anne Catherine Emmerich's vision. The stigmatized German nun who
had never been to Ephesus had a vision of the House of the Virgin Mary and
described it in detail to the German writer Clemens Brentano who later published
a book about it. Catherine Emmerich died in 1884. In 1891 Paul, Superior of the
Lazarists from Izmir read about her vision and found a little building which
corresponded with Emmerich's descriptions. Arch
eological
evidence showed That the little house was from the 6C AD but That the
foundations were from the 1C AD.
This place was officially declared a shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in
1896, and since then it has become a popular place of pilgrimage. Pope Paul VI
visited the shrine in 1967
E P H E S U S
According to the old legends, Ephesus was founded by the female warriors known
as the Amazons. The name of the city is thought to have been derived from "APASAS",
the name of a city in the "KINGDOM OF ARZAWA" meaning the "city of the Mother
Goddess". Ephesus was inhabited from the end of the Bronze Age onwards, but
changed its location several times in the course of its long history in
accordance with habits and requirements. Carians and Lelegians are to be have
been among the city's first inhabitants. Ionian migrations are said to have
begun in around 1200 B.C. According to legend, the city was founded for the
second time by Androclus, the son of Codrus, king of Athens, on the shore at the
point where the CAYSTER (Küçük Menderes) empties into the sea, a location to
which they had been guided by a fish and a wild boar on the advice of the
soothsayers. The Ionian cities that grew up in the wake of the Ionian migrations
joined in a confederacy under the leadership of Ephesus. The region was
devastated during the Cimmerian invasion at the beginning of the 7th century
B.C. Under the rule of the Lydian kings, Ephesus became one of the wealthiest
cities in the Mediterranean world. The defeat of the Lydian King Croesus by
Cyrus, the King of Persia, prepared the way for the extension of Persian
hegemony over the whole of the Aegean coastal region. At the beginning of the
5th century, when the Ionian cities rebelled against Persia, Ephesus quickly
dissociated itself from the others, thus escaping destruction.
Ephesus remained under Persian rule until the arrival of Alexander the Great in
334 B.C., when it entered upon a fifty year period of peace and tranquillity.
Lysimachus, who had been one of the twelve generals of Alexander the Great and
became ruler of the region on Alexander's death, decided to embark upon the
development of the city, which he called Arsineia after his wife Arsinoe. He
constructed a new harbour and built defence walls on the slopes of the Panayır
and Bülbül Mts., moving the whole city 2.5 km to the south-west. Realising,
however, that the Ephesians were unwilling to leave their old city, he had the
whole sewage system blocked up during a great storm, making the houses
uninhabitable and forcing the inhabitants to move. In 281 B.C. the city was re-founded
under the old name of Ephesus and became one of the most important of the
commercial ports in the Mediterranean.
In 129 B.C. the Romans took advantage of the terms of the will left by Attalos,
King of Pergamon, by which they were bequathed his kingdom, to incorporate the
whole region into the Roman Empire as the province of Asia. Ancient sources show
that at this time the city had a population of 200,000. In the 1st century B.C.
the heavy taxes imposed by the Roman government led the population to embrace
Mithridates as their savior and to support him in his mutiny against Roman
authority and in 88 B.C. a massacre was carried out of all the Latin speaking
inhabitants of the city, which was then stormed and sacked by a Roman army under
Sulla, It was from the reign of Augustus onwards that the buildings we admire
today were constructed. According to documentary sources, the city suffered
severe damage in an earthquake in 17 A.D. After that, however, Ephesus became a
very important centre of trade and commerce. The historian Aristio describes
Ephesus as being recognised by all the inhabitants of the region as the most
important trading centre in Asia. It was also the leading political and
intellectual centre, with the second school of philosophy in the Aegean. From
the 1st century onwards, Ephesus was visited by Christian disciples attempting
to spread the Christian belief in a single God and thus forced to seek refuge
from Roman persecution. Besides enjoying a privileged position between East and
West coupled with an exceptionally fine climate,
the city owed its importance to its being the centre of the cult of Artemis.
For the Christians, the city, with its highly advanced way of life, its high
standard of living, the variety of its demographic composition and its firmly
rooted polytheistic culture, must have presented itself as an ideal pilot region...
From written sources we learn that St Paul remained in the city for three years
from 65 to 68, and that it was here that he preached his famous sermons calling
upon the hearers to embrace the faith in. one God. He taught that God had no
need of a house made with human hands and that he was present in all places at
all times. This was all greatly resented by the craftsmen who had amassed great
wealth from their production of statues of Artemis in gold, silver or other
materials. A silversmith by the name of Demetrius stirred up the people and led
a crowd of thousands of Ephesians to the theatre, where they booed and stoned
Paul and his two colleagues, chanting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great
is Artemis of the Ephesians!" So turbulent was the crowd that Paul and his
companions escaped only with great difficulty. From his Epistles to the
communities it would appear that Paul spent some time as a prisoner in Ephesus.
Legend has it that St John the Evangelist came to Ephesus with the Virgin Mary
in his care. Some also say that it was here that he wrote his Gospel and was
finally buried. In 269 Ephesus and the surrounding country was devastated by the
Goths. At that time there was still a temple in which the cult of Artemis was
practised. In 381, by order of the Emperor Theodosius, the temple was closed
down, and in the following centuries it lay completely abandoned, serving as a
quarry for building materials.
The situation of the city, which had given it its privileged geographical
position, was also the cause of its decline and fall. The prosperity of the city
had been based on its possession of a sheltered natural harbour, but by the
Roman period ships reached the harbour to the west of Mt Pion 1.5 km from the
Temple of Artemis through a very narrow and difficult channel. The cause of this
was the Meander (Cayster) River, which emptied into the Aegean a little to the
west of the city of Ephesus, where it created a delta formed by the alluvium
carried down by the river over thousands of years. By the late Byzantine era the
channel had been so silted up as to be no longer usable. The sea gradually
receded farther and farther, while the marshy lands around the harbour gave rise
to a number of diseases, such as malaria. The new outlook that had arisen with
the spread of Christianity led to the gradual abandonment of all buildings
bearing wi
tness
to the existence of polytheistic cults and the construction in their place of
Christian churches. In the year 431 the third Ecumenical council took place in
Ephesus.
Emperor Theodosius convoked another council in Ephesus in 449, which came to be
known as the "robber council". From the 6th century onwards the Church of St
John was an important place of pilgrimage, and Justinian took measures to
protect it by having.the whole hill on which it stood surrounded by defence
walls. Shortly afterwards, the Church of the Virgin and other places of worship
were destroyed and pillaged in Arab raids. In the 7th century the city was
transferred to the site now occupied by the town of Selçuk and during the
Byzantine era Ephesus grew up around the summit of Mt Ayasuluğ. The city enjoyed
its last years of prosperity under the Selçuk Emirate of the Aydınoğulları.
During the Middle Ages the city ceased to function as a port.
By the 20th century the silt carried down by the Meander had extended the plain
for a distance of 5 km.
APHRODISIAS
The ancient city of Aphrodisias, once the capital of the province of Lydia, is
located near the village of Geyre in the district of Karacasu 38 km south of
Nazilli.In ancient times, the attractive marble buildings of Aphrodisias no
doubt shone out, as they do now, from amidst the rich vegetation of the Dandalaz
valley with its almond, pomegranate and poplar trees.
The wealth and cultural and political importance of the city is clearly attested
by the size and magnificence of the buildings of which it is composed.The name
Aphrodisias is derived from Aphrodite, the goddess of nature, beauty, love and
plenty, and was one of the most famous cult centres of the goddess. But this was
not the original name of the city. According to the historian Stephanus it was
founded by the Lelegians and was first known as Lelegonopolis.The name of the
city was later changed to Megalopolis, and later again to Ninoe after Ninos, the
King of Assyria.
The history of the city can be traced back to the early bronze age and there is
even clear evidence of a chalcolithic culture prior to the 3rd millennium B.C.
The use of the name Aphrodisias began after the 3rd century B.C., in the
Hellenistic period.The spread of Christianity under the Byzantine Empire and the
gradual adoption of Christianity as the state religion resulted in a marked
change in the status of the city. The cult centre of Aphrodite declined in
importance, to such an extent that the names Aphrodite and Aphrodisias were
finally erased from all the inscriptions. Efforts were made to change the name
of the city to Stavrapolis, the City of the Cross, but the local inhabitants
preferred to use Caria, the name of the province. Geyre, the name of the modern
village occupying the same site, is probably a corruption
of
the ancient Caria, which occurred after the Turkish occupation of the area. It
seems very likely that in Turkish, Caria was first pronounced Kayra, and that
the "k" then changed to "g" and the "a" to "e'. Like several other Roman and
Byzantine cities, Aphrodisias was very largely self sufficient.
Aphrodisias was one of the foremost cities of the age, surrounded by fertile
fields producing every type of foodstuff. It also possessed a flourishing wool
and cotton industry, highly developed commercial, political, religious and
cultural institutions ,very fine tradition of arts and crafts, world-famous
schools of philosophy and sculpture and a large and energetic body of citizens.
The decline of the city was hastened by an unfortunate incident that took place
in the 7th century. The reign of the Emperor Heraclius (610-641 ) was marked by
Arab raids and incursions from the East, religious disputes, political and
economic pressures and a number of epidemics causing great loss of life, but the
final stroke was dealt by a devastating earthquake. The damage caused to the
buildings by this earthquake is still plainly visible. Some of the most imposing
buildings were destroyed and remained unrepaired.
Very little is known of the history of the city after the 7th century, sources
of information being confined to a few religious documents and lists of the
names of the bishops. Archaeological finds, however, would appear to point to a
short lived revival in the 11th century.
The incursion of the Seljuk Turks from Anatolia between the 11 Th. and 13th
century.
meant the end of the settlements that had survived the great earthquakes. After
the 13th century the whole province became subject to the Aydın and Mentese
Emirates. In the 15th and 16th centuries the fertile soil of the area attracted
new settlement and the site of the ancient city of Aphrodisias was occupied by
the village of Geyre.
The Ruins, the City Defense Walls and City Plan
The first thing you see on approaching Aphrodisias from the direction of
Karacasu will be the city walls with the Ionic columns of the temple of
Aphrodite in the background. The ancient city is locate on a level piece of
ground inclining slightly towards the south-west.
The construction of the walls is thought to have been begun during the Gothic
invasion in 260, but the walls to he seen today date from the 4th century or
later. No trace has been found of any defense system of an older date, but there
may well have been a wall around the acropolis in the area between the agora and
the theatre. After the destruction of the walls by earthquake in the 7th century
a fortress or observation tower was built here on the highest point in the city.
This was one of the first two areas of settlement. Of the two excavation zones
yielding prehistoric remains one is located on this hill, on which a fortress or
observation tower was built in the 7th century, and the other of the site
occupied by the temple of Aphrodite. The ancient acropolis was located on a hill
24 m high affording a view of the whole city.
The remains found here indicate the existence of a settlement in prehistoric
times with seven separate layers identified as belonging to the bronze and iron
ages. Traces have been found here of mudbrick walls on stone foundations and
architectural structures reminiscent of megaron type houses.
Here too were found fairly large jars known as pithoi used for the storage of
wheat and other provisions as well as a considerable amount of pottery fragments.
The finds also include a number of stone implements, stone statuettes, figures
with the faces of owls and fat female idols as well as various weight-measuring
instruments. The excavation area known as Pekmez Höyük to the east of the
acropolis yielded pottery of the late neolithic, late chalcolithic and early
bronze ages, together with two Kilia figurines.In the Late Hellenistic period
the city developed more particularly in the area surrounding the agora. There is
no question, however, of any genuine town planning. Neither the Temple of
Aphrodite nor the Sebastion conforms to any regular city plan.
The Temple of Aphrodite
Located in the northern section, in ancient times the Temple of Aphrodite formed
the centre and nucleus of the city. All that remains of the ancient temple
consists of fourteen of the over forty Ionic columns that once surrounded it and
the foundations of the cella section. Although the cult centre dates back to
earlier times the temple whose remains we see today was begun in the 1st century
B.C. and is thought to have been completed during the reign of Augustus. The
temenos (temple precinct) was completed in the 2nd century during the reign of
Hadrian. The building would appear to have been what is known as an octastyle
temple with thirteen columns on each side and eight columns at front and rear.
On some of the columns are inscribed the names of the donors who presented them
to the temple. The discovery of several mosaic fragments belonging to the
Hellenistic period indicate the existence of an older temple on the same site,
but with the conversion of the temple to a church in the 5th century all traces
of the older building were erased. At the same time, the walls of the cella
containing the cult statues were removed and the building enlarged by moving the
side columns outwards. Walls were added at the front and rear of the building to
form an apse and nave. An apse and an atrium were added on the east and west. No
cult statue was found in the cella but in 1962 a statue was found immediately
outside it bearing all the characteristics of a cult statue. This statue, which
is now exhibited in the museum, displays a stiff, hieratic stance closely
resembling the Artemis of Ephesus. The goddess is wearing a long garment. One of
the arms is stretched forward. The reliefs carved on the bands of the garment
are very interesting. The sun god and moon goddess, the Three Graces with
Aphrodite in the middle, Aphrodite and three Cupids seated on a goat with the
tail of a fish are all symbols which frequently appear on various copies of the
cult statue.
Tetrapylon
One of the most attractive features of Aphrodisias is the ornamental gate
constructed in the middle of the 2nd century. The name Tetrapylon refers to its
being composed of four groups of four columns. The entrance lies to the east.
The front row of Corinthian columns with spiral fluting look out on to a street
with north-south alignment. The second and third columns of this fourfold
structure are surmounted by a semicircular lintel with relief figures of Nike
and Erotes amid acanthus leaves. The process of repairing and re-erecting the
Tetrapylon columns was completed in 1990.
Odeon and Bishop's Palace
The odeon, a building which differed from the theatre in being used mainly as a
concert hall and lecture room, is in a fairly good state of preservation.Located
immediately to the south of the temple, it was constructed in the 2nd century
A.D. There were originally a larger number of tiers in the upper part of the
buildings but these are thought to have been destroyed in an earthquake.The
orchestra and stage building of the odeon were adorned with mosaics an statues
now preserved in the museum and the auditorium was covered with a wooden roof. A
fairly large architectural complex is to be found to the west of the odeon.
Constructed in the Late Roman period, part of this building is thought to have
later been used in the Byzantine period as the residence of a governor or bishop.
It would thus appear that the temple and its environs preserved its status as a
religious and administrative centre into Christian times.
Agora
The agora, located between the temple and the acropolis was planned in the 1 St.
century B.C. for use as a market and popular meeting place. It is composed of
two Ionic porticoes over 200 m long and running from east to west. The southern
portico, which is known as the portico of Tiberius, was systematically examined
in the course of the older excavations, while the 1937 excavations carried out
by the Italian team yielded extremely valuable friezes together with
inscriptions written in praise of the Emperor Tiberius.Recent excavations
conducted in the northern section, in the western section near the baths of
Hadrian and the gate of the agora in the south-east yielded a large number of
very fine specimens of the skill of the Aphrodisian sculptors and stone-carvers.
Most of the reliefs consist of sacred or individual portraits surrounded by
wreaths or garlands, masks and mythological scenes.The monumental gate of the
agora is located at the eastern end of the Portico of Tiberius. This ornamental
entrance was erected in the middle of the 2nd century but in order to prevent
the flooding that followed the 4th century earthquake it was converted into a
nymphaeum and connected to a water supply system to be used in controlling the
water flow.
This is thought to have been constructed in the 5th century and to have suffered
severe damage in the 7th century earthquake. Among the scenes represented on the
reliefs in the niches on the Agora gate are to be seen the struggle between the
Centaurs and the Lapiths (Centauromachy), between the Gods and the Giants (Gigantomachy)
and between the Amazons and the Greeks (Amazonomachy).
Baths of Hadrian
The baths constructed in the 2nd century during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian
lie to the west of the Portico of Tiberius. This complex consists of a large
central hall, probably the caldarium or hot room, surrounded. by four large
rooms, the tepidarium, sııdatorium, apoditerium and frigidarium (warm room,
sweating room, dressing room and cold room respectively).
It is a most imposing building with all the requisite facilities, such as
labyrinthine underground service corridors, water channels and furnaces.
In the excavations conducted here in 1904 the French archaeologist Paul Gaudin
unearthed a large number of artistic works now preserved in the Istanbul
Archaeological Museum.
Theatre
Begun in 1966, the excavations in the theatre area yielded a great deal of
extremely valuable information regarding both the prehistoric and historic
periods in Aphrodisias as well as very well preserved sections of the theatre
building and a large number of statues and reliefs of the highest quality.
The theatre building rests against the eastern slope of the acropolis.
Construction was completed in 27 B.C. but in the 2nd century A.D. certain
structural changes were made to make the theatre suitable for gladiatorial
combats. The stage building was enlarged and connected to the cavea, a room for
the wild animals was opened in the rear and some corridors were added.
Following the collapse of the upper sections of the cavea in the 7th century
earthquake and the partial filling up of the auditorium the Byzantine
inhabitants covered the orchestra and stage buildings with earth and built
houses over it, at the same time surrounding the acropolis with a wall.The most
interesting and remarkable of the finds discovered in the excavations was the
Zoilos relief. Zoilos was a manumitted slave of Octavian who played an
influential role in fostering good relations between Aphrodisias and Rome and
who succeeded in having the city exempted from tax. The proscenion and logeion
sections of the theatre were presented by Zoilos as a gift to Aphrodite and the
citizens of Aphrodisias.
Sebastion
The Sebastion is a most remarkable discovery, not only as regards the
excavations in Aphrodisias but in the whole context of classical archaeological
excavation. When the building was first unearthed in 1979 it appeared to have no
relation to any other building but, as excavations were carried down to deeper
levels, it became apparent that this consisted of a temple dedicated to the cult
of the Emperor Augustus (Sebastos is the Greek equivalent of the Latin Augustus)
and its surrounding complex.
Of the temple only the foundations now remain, together with a few column bases,
Corinthian style capitals and architrave blocks. In addition to the damage
inflicted by the earthquakes in the 4th and 7th centuries, the remains of the
temple also suffered from the use of the area for settlement in the
ByzantineandTurkishperiods. The temple, which was located at the eastern end of
the Sebastion, consisted of two porticoes 80 m in length composed of half
columns and a ceremonial way 14 m wide. At the western end there was a gate or
propylon opening on to the street. Excavations both inside and outside the
porticoes yielded a quite extraordinary quantity of reliefs and decorative
panels. The most remarkable of these included depictions of the birth of Eros,
the Three Graces, Apollo in Delphi, Meleager, Achilles and Penthesilea, Nyssa
and the child Dionysus. There are also reliefs of some members of the imperial
family and mythological figures. Those identified include Augustus, Germanicus,
Lucius, Gaius Caesar, Claudius and Agrippa, together with Prometheus and Aeneas
fleeing from Troy. There is also a particularly interesting group of reliefs
symbolizing Claudius's conquest of Britain and Nero's conquest of Armenia.
There are also a number of fragments depicting the peoples of the various
countries with which Augustus had waged war or formed other types of
relationships but these have suffered severe earthquake damage.
It would appear from the epigraphic evidence that the Sebastion porticoes were
built during the reigns of Claudius and Nero and were the gifts of two separate
families.
Stadium
The Aphrodisias stadium is the best preserved of all the ancient stadiums in
the Mediterranean region. Located in the northern section of the city it is 262
m in length and 59 m wide with a seating capacity of 30,000. The ends of the
stadium
are slightly convex, giving the whole a form rather suggesting an ellipse. In
this way, the spectators seated in this part of the stadium would not block each
other's view and would be able to see the whole of the arena. The stadium was
specially designed for athletic contests, but after the theatre was damaged in
the 7th century earthquake the eastern end of the arena began to be used for
games, circuses and wild beast shows. During the Roman period the stadium was
the scene of a large number of athletic competitions and festivals.
These competitions in the province of Asia Minor were modeled on the Olympic and
Pythian games in Greece, and had the same name and organization as the Greek
equivalent.
These shows were held with the permission of Rome and the granting of such
permission was regarded as a signal honour. The games held in Aphrodisias were
Pythian, not Olympic. These were complemented by the Gordineia festivals held in
honour of the Emperor and with his special permission.
The Museum of Aphrodisias
The Museum of Aphrodisias is one of the most outstanding museums of western
Anatolia. The monuments of unsurpassed value which have been found at the
excavations are displayed here.
Observing these finds and imagining them in their former places suffice to grasp
the splendor of these antique monuments which once used to be. Especially the
works of the sculpture school of antique Aphrodisias show the level of
development of this art.