Ancient Ephesus in Turkey
by Myrna James

I arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey on September 19, 1998, on a ferry from the Greek island of Samos. The most heavily promoted hostel was Sammy's, just up the hill from the pier, so off we backpackers went. The transportation to Ephesus the next morning was "free," provided we stopped on the way back for a two-hour chat and hard sell in a carpet shop, commissions going to Sammy. (They knew we were "fresh off the boat" but it was fine, as we learned a bit about carpets and were smart enough to wait to buy.)

Ephesus is the ancient Biblical city of ruins where St. Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians in the New Testament. It is amazing, with huge columns lining what was the boulevard two thousand years ago still standing and the amphitheater mostly intact. As we wandered the streets of stone and marble, cracked and broken but still discernible, we found many remains of statues and ornate pillars pieced together, buildings used in the daily lives long ago, and gradually we learned the layout of the town.

The highlight is the library, which features a gorgeous two-story facade of columns and life-sized statues. The carvings are intricate and lovely, patterned and detailed. Once inside, the small room has a few displays showing what the inside looked like. The entrance features a courtyard, with small coves to the right (when facing the library). In that area, made to feel a bit private with curtains, there were tables, wine and food all ready on this day. Somehow we knew this was not for the general public, and as we moved on, away down the street, a large crowd of reporters and Turkish armed security came our way.

Someone asked what was going on, and the whisper spread that the President of India was headed right for us. The photographer among us and my future travel partner, Paul disappeared into the crowd of his own, feeling an opportunity. The rest of us hung back and took a few photos from a distance. The President is a compact dark man with a thick head of grey hair. His wife wore a traditional deep red sari, with gold threads woven throughout. They stood together in front of the library for a photo session, then moved into the coves for refreshments. We watched the dignitaries from high rocks on the sides, and I watched Paul at work. Soon we continued our journey out of the city of ruins.

This term mystifies me, "ruins." Ancient ruins are inherently revered and often considered sacred. But the actual word means that something is ruined, so in need of repair that it's unusable, hopelessly so, in fact. It is indeed a fascinating thing that our language allows this same word to have an opposite meaning, within a different context. Perhaps the modern daily meaning of "ruin" is appropriate within the following context: The presence of so many tourists at these would-be sacred places has ruined them for many travelers, or would-be pilgrims.

It is very difficult to feel the holiness of ruins like Ephesus now, with tourism in full force, we backpackers joining the pilgrims and packaged tourists. In Philip Cousineau's book, The Art of Pilgrimage, he quotes archaeology scholar Michael Guillen, "I suppose this is the danger of mass pilgrimage, the loss of spirit at the site, especially when the gods flee to higher and higher places." Sometimes, especially when it is impossible to find solitude and quiet for contemplation, it does feel as if the gods have fled. It is up to each individual to make his or her visit meaningful.

Since the visit, I have learned more about this special place. Ephesus was the proudest city of ancient times with the Temple of Diana, so noble in design, and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Here in Ephesus, Antony left his bench as judge, while advocates(lawyers) were speaking, to follow Cleopatra as she passed by the door, beginning their famous relationship. Bacchus and Hercules fought here, Paul the Apostle and John preached, Mary Magdalen died and the Virgin Mary lived out her days with John.

Mark Twain wrote about his visit to Ephesus in The Innocents Abroad, published in 1869. These writings first appeared in his hometown newspaper, and later, for many decades, served as the favorite travel guide for most Americans going to Europe.

Twain writes about the difficulty in transforming Ephesus to life: "One may read the Scriptures and believe, but he cannot go and stand yonder in the ruined theatre and in imagination people it again with the vanished multitudes who mobbed Paul's comrades there and shouted, with one voice, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" The idea of a shout in such solitude as this almost makes one shudder."

At the time, Mark Twain and his companions took a train, and then donkeys with high saddles so their feet would not drag the ground, to get there! He speaks of the solitude there, and he notes that an English company was going to excavate Ephesus. And so they did, and so I saw much more that he was able to see. Here are his comments:

"... at every step you find elegantly carved capitals and massive bases, and polished tablets engraved with Greek inscriptions. It is a world of precious relics, a wilderness of marred and mutilated gems. And yet what are these things to the wonders that lie buried here under the ground? At Constantinople, at Pisa, in the cities of Spain, are great mosques and cathedrals, whose grandest columns came from the temples and palaces of Ephesus, and yet one has only to scratch the ground here to match them. We shall never know what magnificence is, until this imperial city is laid bare to the sun."

THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SLEEPERS

Seven boys lived in Ephesus, sixteen hundred years ago. They were members of the despised sect of Christians, Turkey being mostly Muslim then, as through the ages. King Maximilianus was persecuting the Christian boys, so they left to travel. They took food and mysterious bottles of liquors and hid in the cave, Mount of Prion, then headed on out, forgetting the bottles. Their motto was: "Procrastination is the thief of time." They traveled for five years and wanted to return home again. The King was converted and Christians no longer were persecuted. Upon their return, the boys found the cave and found the bottles still there. They drank and slept and awoke. They were naked and had been looted. They left and headed home, but the Temple of Diana was gone.

One of the seven, Johannes (Smithianus) said, "It hardly seems like Ephesus. Yet here is the great gymnasium; here is the mighty theatre, wherein I have seen seventy thousand men assembled; here is the Agora (marketplace); there is the font where the sainted John the Baptist immersed the converts; yonder is the prison of the good St. Paul, where we all did use to go to touch the ancient chains that bound him and be cured of our distempers; I see the tomb of the disciple Luke, and afar off is the church wherein repose the ashes of the holy John, where the Christians of Ephesus go twice a year to gather the dust of the tomb, which is able to make bodies whole again that are corrupted by disease, and cleanse the soul from sin..."

The men went into town and bought clothes, found their homes, but learned that their families had lived centuries before. They knew no one. They asked about the king and learned Laertius was king and Maximilianus had been dead for two hundred years! They decided it was the liquors, and said, "Let us die." They lay down and died, so the Seven Up were no longer up and living. Their names were Trumps, Gift, High, Low, Jack, The Game, and Johannes. The curious liquors were Eggnog, Rumpunch and Jinsling. No one sleeps in this cave now, as they don't want to miss their lives and outlive their grandchildren!

I wonder if this legend was the origin of the schoolchildren's game of Seven Up, which we used to play on birthdays in second and third grade in Hoxie. Seven kids go to the front of the room, and everyone else puts their head down and closes their eyes. Only seven are "up" at once. These seven tap seven others on the shoulder, then those tapped try to guess who did the tapping. If they guess correctly, they replace that person who is "up." Interesting stuff!

Myrna left the professional world of national magazine ad sales in Chicago to travel around the world! She sought eternal truths and true beauty, and found them. She left in January 1998, going to Australia, New Zealand, around Asia (Japan, China) then to Thailand and Nepal. The rest of the year was in Europe, mostly Turkey. She returned in December, then left again for five more months to do Habitat for Humanity Global Village in New Zealand and Alaska in 1999. She now resides in Denver, Colorado, near her hometown of Hoxie, Kansas.

You can visit Myrna's web site at www.GoGlobalGirl.com, and email Myrna at mljames@attglobal.net