Izmir is obviously home to Roman and Byzantine civilizations following the death of Alexander the Great and played a significant part in the spread of Christianity. From many documents, Izmir became a province of the Ottoman Empire before being occupied at the end of First World War from the 15th century. These attractive points of Izmir lead me to visit Izmir and discover cultural herritage spread along the area. The most prominent place for historical view is Ephesus located in Selcuk District. The district is sited on Aydin Highway, south from Izmir. Based on my journey, to reach Ephesus, we have to take train from Basmane Gar (Train Station located at the center of city), and get a ticket to Selcuk by defraying 5,5 Turkish Lira (and particularly for student takes a special price 4,75) for one way. It takes 45 minutes to approach the place.
Along the way to Selcuk district, there are immense great view, changing from bustling city into quiet villages, enourmos of green fields and couple hills, that is able to spot behind the leaf window of train. After arrived on Selcuk Train Station, which is nicely old, your eyes will be delighted by various ancient stone starting from the lips of the Selcuk Train station.
Ephesus cultural summit includes the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; House of the Virgin Mary, which is sacred for Christians; the Ancient City of Ephesus, the most splendid ancient city in Turkey; the tomb and church of St. John who was one of Jesus Christ’s disciples; Seven Sleepers Cave; Isa Bey Mosque; Selcuk Castle;aqueduct; and civil architecture examples in Sirince Village.
It was the last week of February, and fortunately—even in other cities in Turkey the weather still cold around 5-10 degree, that day the weather was pretty nice. The sun fabulously shimmered at 18 degree Celcius. Indeed, it;s more than enough to take awesome pictures instead of taking a picture in summer when the sun almost 40 degrees. The wind softly breezed, many tourists from couple Asian countries crammed the place. Sometimes I got a chance to say “hello” and took a picture together with some Korean, Japanese people. For me, that day was quiet perfect.
The ancient city of Ephesus, called the center of civilizations, was the capital of the Asian State of the Roman Empire, and was once the most populated city in Anatolia. Ephesus witnessed many historic events including the effort of St. Paul to spread Christianity, visit by the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and the Roman Emperor Mark Anthony and became a place for Virgin Mary and St. John’s last days. I heard from the catalogues, Ephesus is the most notable cultural heritage site attracting not less than 1,5 million tourists a year.
From the Selcuk Train Station to Ephesus, sightseer should walk about 20 minutes to reach the Ephesus Cultural Herritage’s Gate. International tourists or visitors whom have no “Museum Card” should cash 25 Turkish Lira for single entry. However, for student and native with Museum Card, it’s gratis. Student and native could register the “Muze Kart” by showing their identity (student card or resident permit) and within 5 minutes the card is ready to use—of course by investing 15 TL and 30 TL respectively, they could entry various government museum in all over Turkish’s area.
Here we go, let’s explore every single mile of Ephesus, especiallt the bold points Grand Theatre and Celcus Library
Grand Theatre
I just grasped mini-guide for exploring Ephesus but there was no complete information about the historical aged. Group of European tourists came and I intendedly heard from their tour guide some notes. Based on english explanation of the tour guide(as I know, tour guide from another groups was delivering their speech in Japanese or Korean Language, and I immediately halted to overhear 😀 ) , the theatre located on the southern skirts of Mount Panayir, was the first constructed in the Hellenistic Age. The ruins that are visible today belong to the first and the second century A.D. It’s underwent re-building in the Time of Emperor Trajan. With the capacity of 24.000 people, it’s the greatest theatre of the ancient world.
Library of Celcus
The building was constructed as a monumental tombin 177 AD by Consul Gaius Julius Aquila in the name of his father Celcus, General Governor of Asia. The library was the third largest in the world in the Classical Period after the Alexandria Library in Egypt and the Pergamon Library in Anatolia It undertook the mission of both library and tomb monument. The roll of paper were stored on the walss inside the building. In front of building, there are 4 female statues displaying Celcus characteristic of wisdom, virtue, intelligence and knowledge.. The compelling one, when I took a look, two of four female statues was headless. The carved pillar was choped particularly and I could not barrier myself not to take photos from all sides of the building. It’s amazingly awesome.
And oh, through the stones I saw weird words for the ancient aged, it’s seemly like mixed language. You can easily found “Roman Empire”, the “Empire of the Romans” (Latin: Imperium Romanum, Imperium Romanorum; Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων Basileia tōn Rhōmaiōn, Ἀρχὴ τῶν Ῥωμαίων Archē tōn Rhōmaiōn), “Romania” (Latin: Romania; Greek: Ῥωμανία Rhōmania),the “Roman Republic” (Latin: Res Publica Romana; Greek: Πολιτεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων Politeia tōn Rhōmaiōn), Graikia (Greek: Γραικία), and also as Rhōmais (Greek: Ῥωμαΐς). Finally, I dragged me to become desperate because of this complex word.
The time flied fast. Spending couple hours here just make you realized that Islam ever steadly settled in the Europe centuries ago, winning the heart of people by its charming ideas. Now, the footprints of the historical spots should give a lesson about the influence of Islam. No one care but you, people who believe that the period of Islam will return by the hand of us—with knowledge, peacefullness, and the idea that we hold. Islam rahmatan lil ‘alamiin. I step my foot shatteredly, even drowsy my heart is full of happiness. The sun chance into orange, the moon will come, the wind (again) smoothly breeze. I grumbled my brain with this nice poem: a gentle breeze:
A gentle breeze began to flow, creating music to one’s ears, whence it came no one knows, yet it takes away all our fears. Possessing such power and might, as it steadily warms the cool air, leaves dancing everywhere in sight, magical essence to those who dare.
A single gift of beauty to behold, the soft wind felt upon your face, yet, in it’s fury it can be so bold, not every moment is satin and lace. It carries the fragrance of flowers, blending aroma of Spring so rare,
hard to believe in Winter it devours, but for now, it’s splendor we share.
The mystical wind is like life itself, for it contains both good and bad, never found sitting idle on a shelf, it can make one happy or forever sad (S.E. Stone)
Bursa, 2 March 2013
04:32
Good morning all
Umma-nya Tsabita 