Ephesus

one of the many headless
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The second stop on our cruise was our one foreign stop, Ephesus in Turkey, most famous to Christians for the riot there recorded in Acts. Our bus dropped us off at the ancient agora, established in the fourth century B.C. by Alexander the Great. The area was reused for centuries during both Roman and Byzantine rule, as evidenced by the numerous maltese crosses carved there. I was very impressed by the water system. The Ephesians had a large cistern about 35-40 km away from the city. They distilled their water with charcoal and pebbles, brought it in through small clay pipes, and sent out sewage with large ones. After a large earthquake a very rich woman named Scholastica donated money to build numerous public buildings such as schools, gymnasiums, and bathhouses (hence our word scholastic). The used water from her bathhouse flowed, as do most, the latrines next door. Honestly, the latrines are fascinating. Much of government business was conducted here, and men would sometimes spend all afternoon talking. Therefore, the latrines were pretty nice places. Though the quarters are much closer than any of us would be comfortable with, the floor was decorated by beautiful mosaic, and there was even a podium by the exit for a small orchestra to play. The fullers who ran the latrines were very rich. By extracting ammonia from urine, fullers also ran the local laundromat – though they had a strict censure on wine drinkers, because the ammonia obtained from them was very poor!

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In Ephesus I also got my first view of a temple constructed for emperor worship alone. First was Domitian Square. The emperor Domitian did not merely accept worship, but ordered it, and built a temple visible from all parts of the city. Most of it has been destroyed, but it is still large. Also there is a temple to Hadrian, and the Fountain of Trajan, who was considered “lord of heaven and sea.” While many of the people were upset by Domitian’s demands, it was eventually considered a civic duty, one of the many ways you showed your patriotism. For a new Christian to refuse to participate must have been a gigantic shock and effrontery.

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As we walked down the street it was impossible to ignore the multitude of decapitated statues. Apparently it was a huge competition among the rich to have the most statues of themselves, so much so that the sculptors could not keep up. It soon became the practice to make a body and a separate head. That way as people died and new orders came in, the sculptor just made a new head. Sadly, their quest for immortality through sculpture was dashed immediately, and the multipurpose bodies mute reminders of the now nameless, featureless, faceless ones' futile attempts at lasting fame.

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Obviously, the highlight of any trip to Ephesus is the arena. Originally built by Greeks for their dramatic works, it was redone by the Romans to house gladiatorial combats and the like. They eradicated the first several seats to make it safer for the audience, installed a drainage system and extended the half circle of seats. It’s hard to grasp the size of the place. It’s gargantuan, seating about 25,000. Though sometimes one thinks the reports of Roman cruelty and bloodlust must be greatly exaggerated, I have found no evidence of that. It seems they really did just like to see people die in the most painful ways Roman ingenuity could create. We sat just off the center, singing, praying, and talking about what had happened there. As our words were swallowed by that vast stone belly, I have rarely felt so small. The place was mostly empty, but if I looked carefully, I could see them, faces red with anger and excitement, jumping on the stone benches, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” I’m sure they were just drooling for blood. Though this may offend some, I often think of this when I observe people at sports. Sitting in the Rhodes Field House for a basketball game last fall, I stepped back and watched us scream together, some without knowing why, but simply for the joy of screaming. Harding students are generally level-headed, and visitors have remarked on our kindness at games. If we can scream and carry on over a two hour game, how much more did the mob mentality lead the Ephesians to gather that day for their goddess? What I wonder at the most is how everyone managed to survive that day, and how the leader managed to disperse the people. To turn 25,000 people spoiling for a fight, having left their jobs and houses to yell for two hours, back peaceably seems a miracle in and of itself. They could have devoured the Christians with very little more exertion.

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The last thing we did before returning to the boat was drive by the Temple of Artemis. Once a building of glory and honor with 127 columns, one for each priest, there is only one column standing, and it was re-erected by archaeologists. Alone it is astoundingly tall, and I can only imagine the grandeur of the whole building. Artemis of the Ephesians was once great, but now many tour groups skip the site entirely because of the lack of . . . anything. It is demolished.