Saturday, 20 October (Part II)
After a delightful breakfast in Şirince (post here), we drove 10 miles (16 km) to Efes — aka Ephesus — a prosperous city of antiquity that was founded in the 10th Century BC, and ruled by the Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires before being abandoned in the 15th Century AD. It is considered to be the best preserved city of antiquity in this part of the world — and one of my favorite places to visit in Turkey.
I’ve seen Ephesus through the eyes of a child … a teenager … and an adult — it has never failed to awe and inspire me. Today’s visit was no exception.
Usually, we park in the lot that is nearest the lower section of the ruins and walk up and back down from there. Today, we reversed our route, parking in the lot at the top section of the ruins. All but Mui had a Müzekart that we had purchased last year for 20TL ($11), so the entrance fee of 25TL ($13.75) was waived for us; he bought his card at the entrance gate.
Two to Travel with the Celsus Library in the background.
[The Müzekart is only available for purchase by Turkish Nationals. Now priced at 30TL [$16.50], it is good for a year’s worth of free admission to museums and historic sites across the country. Since we will be returning to Turkey next year, the card was a good buy for Mui even at the higher price he paid. The card I bought in October 2012 paid for itself last year, so the free admission to Ephesus today was a real bonus; I’ll have to buy a new card next year.]
I entered the ruins intending to keep the camera in my bag. After all, considering my many previous visits to Ephesus, I really didn’t need any more pictures. You know how that plan turned out, don’t you? By the time we had reached the Odeon a short distance from the turnstiles, the camera was clicking away. Since I did an extensive post on Ephesus in 2010, I’m going to refer you to that post and use this one for a part of the ruins that I’d never visited before. (As a bonus, that post also contains images from our visit to Meryemana [the House of the Virgin Mary].)
In addition to the post linked above, you can see the photos from this
year’s trip by clicking on this collage.
One of the most exciting sections of the ruins at Ephesus is the Terrace Houses. This active dig is located across from the Temple of Hadrian. The 15TL ($8.25) fee is in addition to the general admission, and is not covered by the Müzekart. Well worth it IMHO. Purchasing our tickets at the entrance to the dig, which is covered with special material to protect the frescoes and mosaics that have been excavated, we stepped inside … and with that, we stepped back to the times of antiquity. The only thing I regret is that there was no guide to tell us about what we were seeing. On the other hand, the few people who were visiting the terrace houses when we were there didn’t linger long and that worked to our advantage later.
Talk about putting together the pieces of a puzzle!
Here’s some information about Terrace House 2, taken directly from the signage at the door:
The traces of settlement on the northern slope of Mount Bülbül go back to the Archaic Period (7th/6th century BC) when this area was used as a cemetery. During the Hellenistic Period (ca. 200 BC) the slope was terraced extensively and, in addition to this, a complex and unstructured development was built.
Work is ongoing to reconstruct the marble-clad walls of the marble hall.
Artist's rendering of the marble hall.
It is believed that the walls were clad in marble around AD 100.
Collage of images showing the restoration of the marble hall walls.
Terrace House 2 is today defined as a 4,000 m2 insula (a rental house for several parties). Over three terraces, six separate residential units with separate entrances were originally constructed. Two alleys flanked the insula covering a difference in ground elevation of 27.5 m. The north front of the house bordered Curetes Street with a series of tabernae (shops), and the ‘Terrace House Street’ formed the southern limit.
Frescoes in a barrel-vaulted room.
The glass catwalk permits visitors a peek into sections that are not open to visitors.
The residential units built during the early Roman Imperial period (ca. AD 20) are characterized by a multi-storied peristyle courtyard around which were the living space and work areas. Water supply and drainage occurred through shaft wells, and a branched canal system was also provided. While the reception rooms were richly decorated, the domestic work areas such as toilets and kitchens were simply furnished. The lost upper floors, in which rooms for receptions and banquets were located, should be imagined as having been especially luxurious.
That these richly decorated walls and floors with mosaic insets have survived …
… at all is nothing short of amazing.
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A closer look at the mosaic floor insets;
the one on the left features images of Emperor Hadrian and Medusa.
Beautifully preserved frescoes.
Besides numerous small-scale and individual modifications, a total of four or five architectural phases affecting Terrace House 2 have been identified. Through these reconfigurations, two residential units (3 and 5) were created out of one on the middle terrace; furthermore, a city palace (6) was built at the expense of residential unit 4, shrinking its living space.
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Left: A 2000-year-old sewer line.
Right: a beautiful mosaic runner.
Mosaic floor inset as viewed through the dusty glass floor of the catwalk.
A series of earthquakes in the 3rd century AD put a sudden end to the dwellings in the city center of Ephesus. The unpredictable natural disaster, however, resulted in a partly undisturbed inventory of domestic utensils preserved in the earthquake strata. In the late Antique Period, the ruin was provisionally adapted and used, and only during the 5th century AD were rebuilding measures taken. An extensive reorganization of the area took place in the early 7th century when an early Byzantine handicraft quarter with mills, smithies, and potteries was established over the Roman residential building.
More beautiful mosaic floor insets.
Aylin and Hakan patiently wait for me to catch up to them to take a look at …
… a beautifully preserved mosaic floor medallion.
Now for the really special part of our visit to the Terrace Houses … I hope I don’t get anyone into trouble by writing about it. I mentioned earlier that by the time we had arrived at the upper reaches of the dig, we were the only visitors inside. For this I will be forever grateful as the story I am about to share would never have happened otherwise.
When I finally caught up to the rest of my party, Mui was chatting with one of the guards on duty. A few minutes later, Mui came over, asked for my camera, and handed it to the guard. I thought he was going to take a photo of us with the ruins as a backdrop. Nope; the guard promptly ran off with my camera, leaving me with my mouth agape. He’d apparently offered to take some photos in the sections not open to visitors! He was grinning when he returned 15 minutes later and handed the camera to me. No, he wouldn’t take a tip; but he did accept my heartfelt thanks.
No words … just photos …
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And finally, the pièce de résistance of the photos the guard took were these brilliantly colored wall mosaics …
… and this gorgeous floor mosaic.
My mind was a-whirl when we finally left the terrace houses. Had there been a guide around, I might have begged everyone’s indulgence and gone back in. But the afternoon hour had grown late and the guards were actually locking up behind us; it was time to move on.
View from the terrace houses down Arcadian Street with the agora to the left
(foreground) and the theater where restoration work is ongoing.
After such a full day you’d think we’d be heading home. Not quite yet; we had one more stop to make first.
