Day Seven - Ephesus and Patmos

I want to note up front that this turned out to be one of the most amazing days on our trip. The ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey was incredible to see. The work that was done and the detail I find to be amazing! Taking a step back in time...

When Paul enters the city of Ephesus he has normal encounters that follow the same patterns of his earlier work, yet the results are greater than before. He went to the synagogue and is rejected, the result of which he argued in the Hall of Tyrannus for two years and "all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." He encounters magic and the Gospel prevails, however the result is much greater than before: "the word of the Lord grew and prevailed mightily." Before he had confronted other religious movements, but now the great Artemis cult was in jeopardy, affecting people "not only at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia." This was so significant that Artemis herself "may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship."

When Luke brings his readers to Ephesus, both the theatre and the Artemision stand out as monumental structures that attest to the greatness of that city. Likewise, Luke's portrayal of Paul is similarly monumental as his missionary activities are never rivaled, not even by Peter.

And now we, too, travel to Ephesus...

This is the lounge on the ship that we always met at before disembarking. Today it is particularly dark because we are leaving predawn to arrive at Ephesus so that we might have the theatre to ourselves.


A look back at the ship as we walk to meet our bus.



I will let the sign speak for itself.

We did indeed have to go through customs as we entered Turkey!

In the distance you can see the Great Theatre of Ephesus where Kay will be teaching and you may also notice that the sun has begun to rise!

We had no idea that Ephesus would take our breath away! The Great Theatre of Ephesus had the capacity to hold 25,000 people and at one time had a three storied stage building.

When Paul was accused of hurting Artemis and her temple, the mob gathered together in this theater (Acts 19:23-41).

"28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31 Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. "

Harbor Street - This is the street, or arcade, that led from the theatre to the harbor. It used to lead right into the sea, however, after many years of recession, the water is about two or three miles away. One of the most amazing sights was that on the road the guide would point out to you the ruts in the marble made by the chariots!!

Kay preparing to teach.

It has been said that the library is one of the most beautiful structures in Ephesus. It was built in 117 A.D. It was a monumental tomb for Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the governor of the province of Asia; from his son Galius Julius Aquila. The grave of Celsus was beneath the ground floor and across the entrance there was a statue of Athena over it because she was the goddess of wisdom.

The scrolls of the manuscripts were kept in cupboards in niches on the walls. There were double walls behind the bookcases to prevent them from being exposed to the extremes of temperature and humidity. The capacity of the library was more than 12,000 scrolls. It was the third richest library in ancient times after the Alexandra and Pergamum.

The gate with three passage ways at the right of the Celsus Library was built in 40 A.D by the slaves Mazeus and Mythridates for their emperor, Augustus, who gave them their freedom.

The passages are vaulted, the front side of the vault facing the Celsus Library is made of black marble, while the other side is white. A Latin inscription with inlaid letters made of bronze is still visible on one side of the structure. Part of the inscription states: "From the Emperor Caesar Augustus, the son of the god, the greatest of the priests, who was consul twelve and tribune twenty times; and the wife of August Livia; the son of Lucus, Marc Agrippa who was consul three times, Emperor, and tribune six times; and the daughter of Julio Caesar Augustus, Mazeus and Mythridates to their master and the people."

The small area in front of the gate was used as an auditorium. The steps around the gate, in front of the library and the round pedestal were used as seats.

I wanted to include a picture of our Turkish guide. He has his PhD. and actually works in the off season on the dig itself. One of their biggest obstacles to overcome besides finding the money to fund uncovering these antiquities is skin cancer! In the summer months the temperature reaches 110!

A closeup of the entrance to the library and a little perspective to the size!

Across the street from the library is located the brothel and when they were doing the excavation work they also uncovered a tunnel connecting the two so that the men could tell their wives they were at the library when they were in fact visiting the brothel. A tale as old as time!

Still looking at the facade of the library!

The latrines were part of the Scholastica Baths and were built in the 1C AD. (The baths were used not only to bathe but also to socialize and discuss the topics of the day. The importance of discussing in the bath was well-known and effective in the development of Roman philosophy.) They were the public toilets of the city. There was an entrance fee to use them.

In the center, there is an uncovered pool and the toilets are aligned along the walls. The columns surrounding the pool supported a wooden ceiling. There was a drainage system under the toilets.

It is interesting to note that only 10 percent of the ancient city of Ephesus has been unearthed! Siemens has partnered with Turkey to provide a covering for part of the excavation process so that it can continue during the worst of conditions. You can see part of that structure here. I want to say that if memory serves me, it was a 10 million dollar donation.

The Ephesus terrace homes were the homes of the 12 richest families of the city and they were built on the slope of a hill. The houses are fully equipped, with their own courtyards, baths and frescoes.

They had interior courtyards in the center, with the ceiling open. They were mostly two-storied, upper stories have collapsed during time. On the ground floor there were living and dining rooms opening to the hall, and upstairs there were bedrooms and guest rooms.

The heating system of the terrace houses were the same as that in baths. Clay pipes beneath the floors and behind the walls carried hot air through the houses. The houses also had cold and hot water. The rooms had no window, only illuminated with light coming from the open hall, so that most of the rooms were dim. The excavations of the terrace houses started in 1960.

It is one of the best preserved and most beautiful structures on Curetes Street. It was built before 138 A.D by P.Quintilius and was dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian, who came to visit the city from Athens in 128 A.D The facade of the temple has four Corinthian columns supporting a curved arch, in the middle of which contains a relief of Tyche, goddess of victory. The side columns are square. The pedestal with inscriptions in front of the temple, are the bases for the statues of the emperors between 293-305 CE, Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius I, and Galerius; the originals of the statues have not been found yet.

In the picture above, the people are walking along Curetes Street and what this picture is showing is what used to be colonnaded galleries with mosaic floors which were under the homes and in front of the shops with roofs to protect the pedestrians from the rain or sun. Again, along the slopes of the hill were the homes of the rich Ephesians.

We have stopped to turn and look back down the Curetes Road towards the library.

The Hercules Gate was the narrow gate which separated the administrative district from the public part of the city. Located towards the end of the Curetes Street, it was called the Hercules gate because of the relief of Hercules on it. It was brought from another place in the fourth century AD to its current place, but the relief on it dates back to the second century AD.

The Greek goddess Nike - goddess of victory.

If you take a moment to look closely at this picture, you will see a clear line of demarcation between the green of living plant life and the brown of plant life unable to sustain life. Our guide pointed out to us that that is because everything under the brown is ancient city yet to be unearthed!! In fact, at night the Ephesus site is patrolled by the Turkish army carrying automatic weapons because of the value of the antiquities that lie below the earth.

In the background you can see another small theatre or Odeum. This building has the shape of a small theatre with the stage building, seating places and the orchestra. It had a double function in use. First it was used as a Bouleuterion for the meetings of the Boulea or the Senate. The second fuction was the Odeum as a concert hall for the performances. It was constructed in the 2nd century A.D by the order of Publius Vedius Antonius and his wife Flavia Paiana, two wealthy citizens in Ephesus.

It had a capacity of 1500 spectators. It had 3 doors opening from the stage to the podium. The podium was narrow and one meter higher than the orchestra section. The stage building was two-storied and embellished with columns.The podium in front of the stage building and some parts of the seating were restored. The Odeon used to be enclosed with a wooden roof.

Two councils administrated Ephesus. These were Demos or the parliament which was open to the public was taken place in the great theatre and the Bouleia which gathered in this small theatre. The members of the boulea were chosen from the aristocratic class of Ephesians. The most important decisions and city matters were discussed here.

Back on board ship leaving Kusadasi, Turkey.

As the ship pulls out of Kusadasi, we get a look at Pigeon Island and a glimpse of the Byzantine era "Pirate's Castle".

On our way to Patmos where John wrote the book of Revelation! Yes, it is windy, cold, and humid enough to ruin anyone's hair but I don't care because the water is beautiful!

Again, the water and islands are beautiful!

This is Nona! She turned 83 while on the trip with us and I know the picture is blurred but I wanted you to meet her. She was a missionary in Spain with her husband for most of her life and she came on this trip with a young girl from her church after much prayer and a miraculous provision from the Lord. She was a lot of fun and climbed every hill there was to climb and didn't miss a beat!! What a privilige it was to meet her and celebrate her birthday with her!!

In this picture she is waiting along with the rest of us to disembark for Patmos, Greece. (Two countries in one days! What a traveller I've become! Ha!)

We are on Patmos looking back across to the bay and our ship! When John was on the island of Patmos it was nothing more that a rock. The trees that you see in the picture have all been planted in recent years.

This was taken after Kay taught an overview of the book of Revelation. I can not put into words how much Kay means to me! After I took my first precept course, I never looked at the Bible the same again. It was always the most important book to me but finally I knew how to study to it on my own!!

This is Tommye! She is a Precept teacher and works in Chattanooga with Kay. She is as lovely on the inside as she is on the outside!!

This is the area where Kay taught and it is next door to the Sacred Grotto where according to tradition John wrote the book of Revelation. I stress "according to tradition" because there is no way of knowing where on that rock John was when he wrote Revelation which is why I do not have a picture of the grotto. The grotto is built into the Monastery of the Apocalypse.

Kay's teaching of Revelation is one of the highlights of the trip for me and I will not go over it now but you will certainly be hearing Revelation from me shortly!

The one nugget from Revelation that I will point out from Chapter 19 where John describes the battle of Armageddon where Christ comes on a white horse and His robe is dipped in blood...

"13He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations"

John really does not describe a battle! With what does Christ strike down the nations? The sword coming out of His mouth which is The Word of God. In Genesis we saw where God spoke the world into existance and now in Revelation we see Christ in a single act of judgment using the Word of God alone to strike down the nations causing blood to flow for 200 miles until it touches the bellies of the horses!! How sad to think how many of us have the Word of God and never read it much less access the power that is found there through the grace of God!!
The sun setting in Patmos.

And how did they know to make me an elephant and not a donkey!!!!

"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Ephesians 6:17