Turkey's Prehistoric Town Is a Treasure
Wahyuni Kamah
I stood in the middle of a valley in western Turkey, the cradle of civilization, on a square with scattered ruins around me and the Aegean Sea in the distance.
In the city of Ephesus, which once belonged to the Greeks and later to the Romans, archeologists were still working amid half-constructed columns and standing ruins.
Ephesus in what is now Turkey’s Izmir province, is the best preserved ancient Roman city in the eastern Mediterranean region, giving visitors today a sense of what life was like for the Romans many centuries ago.
Possibly constructed on the shore during the Greek Bronze Age, the city eventually moved into five distinct locations. Archeologists still excavate these sites today, and the third, known as Ephesus III, is the largest and most popular among tourists.
The city has changed hands over the course of history — once dominated by the Persians before Alexander the Great, a Macedonian king, took over and helped it prosper. After 190 BC the Roman Empire turned it into an important intellectual, religious and commercial center with a population of more than 250,000.
Ephesus became an important trade center along the Silk Road, which helped bring merchandise from the East to Rome. During the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus from 1 AD to 4 AD, Ephesus became the capital of New Asia.
During my visit, I tried to imagine what daily life was once like there. The city was one of the empire’s wealthiest, and its ruins helped show its prosperity. I saw the royal colonnade, temples, meeting houses, housing units, the square, the fountains, the streets, the gymnasium, the gates, a theater, the basilica and finally the public baths.
“Roman people are clean,” said my guide. “Before entering the city, visitors took a bath in the public baths.”
Another novel site in the city was the public toilets, arranged side by side without any dividing wall.
One of main thoroughfares, Curetes Street, connected Hercules Gate and the city library, with monuments, fountains, statues and shops situated on the side.
Along this road you’ll find the Temple of Hadrian, one of the city’s best preserved temples. Dedicated to Roman Emperor Hadrian, it has four Corinthian columns supporting a curved arch with a relief of the goddess of fortune.
The city’s intellectual culture was also apparent. The Celsus Library was the third-largest library in the Roman Empire, with a capacity of 12,000 scrolls before it was destroyed by an earthquake in 270 AD. It was never rebuilt.
The Ephesians enjoyed their plays and theaters as well, with a grand theater measuring 38 meters high and a capacity for 24,000 spectators.
The city also stands out for its medical school and its statue of a snake, which has become a symbol of medicine. The statue depicts a snake around the legs of a table, and my guide said an old story goes along with the image.
In ancient times, the guide said, a snake would drink milk from a cup and then spit it back, and patients were told to drink it. Though they feared the drink would be poisonous, they drank it and were healed.
In the principle of vaccination, to fight an illness, the right amount of “venom” had to be taken from the body.
When Christianity was introduced to the Roman Empire, Ephesus also became a religious center. It was one of the seven cities addressed in the Book of Revelation in the Old Testament, while St. Paul,St. John and the Virgin Mary were said to have visited the ancient site.
The Ephesus that tourists see today is actually not the original one; the ancient city has been built four times.
Even so, as I wandered through the ruins I felt that my impression of the Roman Empire’s advanced civilization became more clear. In that way, Ephesus is surely one of the best outdoor museums in Turkey.