Ephesus, Troy & Galliopi Information

Here's your history lesson for the day:

Ephesus

• Was constructed 2000 BC by the Amazons
• the temple of artemis, part of ephesus, was already built in town and ephesus was built around it
• the temple of artis is one of the original seven wonders of the ancient world. today, you can only see one column standing
• only 15% of epehsus has been exvacated....85% still unearthed and probably will be for sometime as turkey doesn't ahve the money to unearth it
• today, visitors visit the part of epehsus taht was built in 3 BC between two mountains
• epehsus was given to the roman empire
• e became the center of christanity which eventually spread to other parts of the world
• john the baptist wrote the book of relevantion while at e
• st. john lived in ephesus with virgin mary until her death
• e suffered from malaria, earthquakes and as a result, many people died. in 7 bc, e was completely abandonded
• in 1870, excavations began of e.
• cleopatra and mark anthony visited e
• on site at e is the fish symbol spelled out in greek letters meaning jesus christ, dod, son, savior
• backgammon was invented in turkey. you can see a backgammon game etched into the marble
• those men who resided in e had to be 30 years old or older to get married
• in the agora (market), commercial, political and religious activities took place
• one of the amphitheaters was used for judicial purposes while the larger amphitheatre was used for musical performances
• population of e was 220,000
• both greek and roman languages were used in e
• used to be terraced houses with elaborate courtyards, marbles and lots of christian frescoes. unfortunatley, very few of these are left. these houses had hot and cold water as well as central heating and running water. they were way ahead of their time with these luxuries
• lots of statues at e but the two that spoke to me were nike, symbol of victory and bacchus, the wine god
• they ahd roman baths and the people went through the various stages just like i did for my turkish bath
• once christianity became a state religion, the added orthodox crossed to marbles around e
• the neatest thing about e is the celsus libary.  4 statues out front symbolizing widsom, knowledge, intelligence and virtue. of course, the four statues are of me. hee. quit laughing. the orignal statues are on display in vienna, austria
• the amphitheatere seated 24,000 and not only did performances take place but also gladiator fights. this amphitheatre is still used today for performances
• each september, a festival of artemis is held

Troy

• homer was born in izmir, turkey in 8 bc
• 500 years after the trojan war, he wrote the illiad, a tale of the trojan war. it was written in 24 parts
• troy was rebuilt 9 times, one on top of the other. earthquakes and diseases kept destroying the homes and lives so people would abandon the city and then years later, others will rebuild and start the city again.
• these 9 cities occurred over 3,500 years with the earliest city constructed in 2,500 bc and the most recent in 500 ad
• the illiad involves key players we are all familiar with: helen, paris, achilles, aphroditis, king priam and hector.
• bascially, people were fighting over helen, who had been abducted
• also, the fight between teh greeks and turks over troy, a wooden trojan horse was built with greek soldiers hidden inside. the trojans took the horse inside of their city thinking the greeks had given up fighting for troy. in the middle of the night, the greeks came out of the horse, killed all in sight and took over troy
• in 1871, shielmann, a german, decided to do some excavation and see if he could find the city of troy. most thought it was just a tale and not a real city. sheilmann did indeed discover troy, but he did a shoddy job and took many treasures for himself. he dug a huge trench, which is still evidetn today, as part of his evacuation
• the average population of troy was 6,000. it was an important city for trading items espeically since it is located along the darnedelle strait
• today, there are over 20 different languages spoken in the troy region
• in 1988, they began more excavations of troy. you can see 6/9 layers of troy
• more than 90% of troy is unexcavated

Galliopoli

• darnelle strait is 14 miles long and an important ship route as it connects teh black sea with the med and agean seas
• because of its importance, everyone wanted control of it which is what caused the galliopi campaign
• anzac=australian and new zealand army corps
• during ww 1, attaturk, then an army general or something for turkey, gained his repuation for being a leader. later on, he became the first president of turkey and established an official language as well as commanded all turks to have surnames (last names). at that time, everyone was known as son of or duaghter of.
• anyways, attaturk, not his real name but the name given to him which means father of turkey, was a real leader during the galliopi campaign
• in 1915, battle between french, british, turkey, austarlia and new zealand took place at galliopi. all wanted congtrol of darnelle strait.
• british were allies with anzanc and they gave wrong information to anzanc about where to land. anzanc landed 1 mile north of where they were supposed to. this turned out in their favor as they were able to climb the ridge and surpise the turks. turks had very few men there. wehn attaturk realized what was going on, he called in for more troops. soon, anzanc were pushed back.
• battle bagan on march 18, 1915  and over 6,000 were killed that day but the real battle took place on april 25, 1915. today, in australia, new zealand and turkey, they celebrate anzanc day every april 25. national holiday.
• 130,000 soliders killed over all....mainly turks (lsot 86,000) and british (lost 20,000) american had 1 soldier killed. one american joined australian army and fought int the battle. however, the real number of deaths is over 500,000 as many died of injuries or diseases after the battle ended
• teh campaign lasted for 8 months. had to deal with weather, diseases, starvation, as well as injuires and death by guns and bayonets
• 15,000 soliders were killled just on april 25
• all troops were trying to get to chunuk bair, the summit of this galliopi
• galliopi campaign is called a "gentleman's war". many lives lost for nothing
• today, there are 31 ally cemeteries at galliopi
• at times, the two anzancs and british fought against the turks within 8 meters of each other. story of one turkish solider who walked out of the trench, picked up a wounded british solider, carreid him back to safety on british side, and then returned to turkish trench to continue to fight. ther is a statue highlighting this moment
• as i said before, this was interesting but it didn't touch me like it did the australians who were traveling with me
• anzanc is like our memorial day....special day to remember those who fought for freedom of  our country

well...so much for your history lesson. there will be a quiz later.

adventure on,

julie