Biblical Ephesus
We spent the entire day at the huge site of Ephesus. Only about 15% of the entire site has been excavated. What has been uncovered still seems vast and includes many things mentioned in the Bible related to Paul’s time there.
Paul lived, worked and taught in Ephesus for two years around AD 54 and stopped there on his missionary journeys (Acts 18 and 19). Ephesus origin dates to over 1000 BC, but it became an important Roman city from about 300 BC until it was finally destroyed by earthquakes in the mid 300’s AD. It was an important port at that time, but is now at least 3 miles from the Aegean Sea due to silting in over the centuries.
You can see the street where the hall of Tyrannus was located at which Paul proclaimed the gospel daily. The stadium at which the silver guild caused a riot against Paul’s teaching is just down the street.
There is an incredibly well preserved area of terrace homes where the important and wealthy would have lived. The Celcus library is the most photographed site in Ephesus. This was after Paul’s time, around 100 AD.
We were fortunate to have an archeologist escort us up a mountain side to the Grotto of St Paul which is not open to the public. The grotto is a cave which contains frescos on the wall depicting Paul from the 5th century AD. The walls also contain prayers referring to Paul and Timothy and pictures of Thecla. This was probably our most remarkable experience so far as so few people get to see this site anymore.
There are numerous Christian symbols throughout the Ephesus site. There is the ruins of the Church of the Virgin Mary at which the 3rd ecumenical counsel was held in AD 431. There is a beautifully preserved baptismal pool there. We also saw the church of St John just outside the Ephesus site. This is where John is proposed to be buried - we know from scripture that John lived his later life in Ephesus. Traditional holds that Mary lived there with him. This was the first Christian church known to have been cross shaped. It is contemporary with the Hagia Sophia.
It was a very full day! And we haven’t even talked about the cats of Ephesus which are many and varied and are well taken care of!
