I thoroughly enjoyed being on the grounds of ancient Ephesus. 

But before we explored the ruins, we went first to the Church of St. John (notice how the church stripped materials from the temple of Artemis for their construction), the Isabey Mosque (which later looted from the church), and the Archeaological Museum.

At the Museum, to give you a little taste, I saw busts of Domiti, Augustus, Commodus, and Trajan.  I photographed the famous idol portrayals of Artemis (noted for her 24 breasts or bull testicles as a sign of fertility).  I looked at Aua Tanrica (a clay mother goddess) dated around 5750 B.C. from Catal Hoyuk.  I tooked pictures of ancient table games like Backgammon used in the Roman Period, statues of Lysimachus (about 300 B.C.), Dionysos (Bacchus – early 2nd cent. A.D.), and beautiful ivory friezes on furniture. 

The fertility gods of Bes and Priapos were obscene.  I told my wife we won’t buy replicas that were being sold and put them on our fireplace mantle in Idaho.  She laughed.

Ephesus is a unique place:

1.  The temple of Artemis

2.  The ruling city of Asia Minor

3.  At 250,000, the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire (Rome, Alexandria, and Syrian Antioch were bigger)

4.  Ministry by John and Paul took place here

5.  The ecumenical council in 431 for accepting the virgin Mary as the mother of God.

I was greatly moved by all the visual ruins – illuminated, marble streets, the baths, the basilica, the bouleuterion, the temple of Domitian, the fountains of Trajan, the temple of Hadrian, the latrines (live music would be played in a corner), the library of Celsius, the agora, the massive theatre, the hall of Tyrannus, and the road to the harbor. 

We had a Christian brother almost completely quote in dramatic fashion for us the words of Paul in Ephesians at the theatre.  And later on, my wife sang “O the deep, deep love of Jesus” in the open air sanctuary of the church of Mary.