St. John's Basilica
So I don't know very much about this place because we didn't have any reading to do on it the Field Trip manual, so I'll just say what I learned from the guide. Also, I think this place was really close to Ephesus.
There were three major things that we learned about when we were visiting this site. We learned about St. John's Basilica, the temple of Artemis, and then this Muslim castle thing. I'll talk about them in the order that they were built.
Here's the temple of Artemis, which once was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It used to be HUGE! And all that's left of it is this sad, one reconstructed column. It was super mighty and amazing, and it blew people's minds. Basically, it seemed to prove that the Greek gods were incredibly real, because how could such a mighty structure be dedicated to something that was false? But one night, a crazy man named sdfasdfad burned it down. People were so confused. How did the mightiest temple get burned down? Later, they discovered that Alexander the Great was born on that night, so Artemis, the goddess over women, was helping in the birth of such a magnificent being, so she wasn't there to protect her temple. Oh, problem solved. :) Anyway, throughout the course of history, it was broken down again and fell into ruins. The stones have been used to build other buildings in the area, and the once great temple now only existed in memory. And in this one little column. Lesson? Even though temptations and false gods may loom very large in our lives, we must never forsake Christ. All else will come to ruin, and only our covenants with Christ will be preserved.
These are the remnants of St. John's basilica. More on that to come.
This is some Muslim castle, I think, and it was built using stones from the temple of Artemis. That's all we learned about it. It also has stones from John's Basilica, too.
From the entrance of the Basilica. I love that detailed stonework survives through the ages. It's so epic.
This is the supposed tomb of St. John--the one we call the Apostle, the Disciple, the Beloved, the Revelator, the author of the book of John in the New Testament. We know he is a resurrected being, so this tomb is empty (or filled with some other poor dead guy). Hence me pointing upward at the site of the tomb. Yay for modern revelation! :)
Some nasty tepid water that I pretended to drink. Sometimes I come up with poses for pictures in my head that seem like a really good idea, but they just end up being weird. :)
There was a tomb/sarcophagus looking thing here, and so I pretended to be dead.
Such a pretty picture! Look at that view through that doorway. Always another place to explore!
A baptisimal font! :)
Ephesus
Woo-hoo, here is a name that everybody recognizes! Well guess what. I got to visit this place! :)
Greek colonists arrived here around 1000 BC. The local inhabitants that were already there worshiped the Anatolian mother goddess Kybele, whom the Greek settlers called Artemis. the Ephesian Artemis was a protector of nature and wildlife, and her statues were adorned with bees, deer, and other wild animals. Ironically, the Romans equated her with their goddess Diana--a hunter of wild animals. During the 6th century BC, a temple was built to Artemis in Ephesus, which was destroyed 200 years later. After Alexander the Great conquered Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis was rebuilt on a grand scale and became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. (Remember how we saw that little teeny column? So sad.) This temple contributed to the economic success of the city because it attracted visitors from all over the Mediterranean After the Roman Empire became Christian in the 4th century AD, the Temple of Artemis was dismantled and its stones used for other buildings. A single reconstructed column is all that remains!
Ephesus was made capital of the province of Asia in the 2nd century BC, and its population swelled to 250,000. Most of the archaeological remains date to this period, the Roman period. The Great Theater was originally constructed during the Hellenistic time period, and it holds 25,000 spectators. The Library of Celsus with it's two-story facade was built in the 2nd century AD.
On his second mission return trip (52 AD) Paul visited Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila and taught in the Jewish synagogue (Acts 18:18-21). Soon thereafter, a knowledgeable disciple from Egypt named Apollos, who had only received the baptism of John the Baptist, arrived in Ephesus and taught in the synagogue (Acts 18:24-26). When Aquila and Priscilla heard Apollos, they took him and "expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly" (Acts 19:26).
At the beginning of his third mission, Paul visited Ephesus and found others, who. although they claimed to have received the baptism of John the Baptist, did not know about the Holy Ghost (Acts 16:1-3). Paul knew they had not received proper baptism (because John always taught about the Holy Ghost, see Mark 1:6-8) and rebaptized them and gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:4-6). During his two year stay in Ephesus, Paul taught at the school of Tyrannus (a name which has been found in inscriptions at Ephesus) and performed many miracles (Acts 19:9-12). Those who believed burned their pagan books worth 50,000 pieces of silver (Acts 19:18-19). Paul wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians while he was staying at Ephesus.
There was in Ephesus a thriving business of making silver statues of Artemis (Acts 19:24-25). Paul's teachings hurt business and caused quite a controversy (Acts 19:23-28). People of Ephesus took some of Paul's companions by force into the Theater, where they cried out for two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" (Acts 19:24-34) (The King James translators incorrectly substituted the name Diana for Artemis in the account.) On his return trip at the end of his third mission, Paul sailed past Ephesus (possibly because he felt it was too dangerous to return there), docked at Miletus, and asked the elders of Ephesus to meet with him (Acts 20:16-17). Paul later wrote his letters to Timothy, who was a church leader at Ephesus, and counseled him to stay there and teach against false doctrine.
According to early Christian tradition, the Apostle John moved to Ephesus later in his life, where he was eventually exiled to the Island of Patmos (60 miles off the coast), and wrote the Book of Revelation. The Lord praised the Christians at Ephesus for resisting false teachers and patiently enduring trials (Rev. 2:2-3). He warned those among them who had fallen away to repent (Rev 2:4). According to tradition, John returned to Ephesus, where he wrote the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John.
Okay, maybe one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Ancient toilets. And a lot of them. Legend says that people would send their servants to warm up the cold seats for them :) And that there were musicians playing in there so that they could cover up the awkward sounds people were making. I died laughing :)
Just another look at the details and stonework of the library!
Two of my close friends! Emily and Michelle! It was March 14 this day. 3.14. Pi day. They wore Pi day shirts and took pictures with everything circular :)
Look in the back of your scriptures! I was at the very theater that Paul preached at. And I'm in the exact spot where this picture was taken :) Checking things off my bucket list every day!Priene
We didn't spend a lot of time here, but it was absolutely beautiful.
Priene, covered with pine trees, is a lovely site on its mountain perch. The Ionic temple of Athena is one of the most beautiful examples of Greek architecture in the world. It was the pattern for other temples in Asia Minor. The theater (6000 seats), much smaller than those of Ephesus and Miletus, is one of the best preserved in the world. Still in place in the theater are spherical seats for dignitaries. Priene has a well preserved bouleterion--a civic hall used for council meetings and maybe concerts and orations. Its square design is very uncommon. One of only two ancient synagogues of Anatolia is found in Priene (the other is at Sardis).
I didn't take very many pictures of this place, I kinda just soaked in the beauty. BUT I did take a few funny ones :)
Ha ha, this little place looked like a bathtub. I'm washing my pits in the pool of sacred tears :)
By the remains of some really big ancient columns, probably from the Temple of Athena. I kind of feel like I'm an Athena/Artemis worshipper, because I've visited a million temples for both of them.
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