What does sitting on your master’s seat mean in Ephesus? How
many books will you find in the library? How many people fit in their stadium
(theater)? This is Luther reporting from SWBC, Southwood’s broadcasting company
of the traveling nine.
[Playing catch up with my daily blogs due to not having
Wi-Fi in our rental and when we got to a café with Wi-Fi I end up spending my
time eating and talking, imagine that.]
(Monkeys don’t wear
shoes and the rocks are hot and slippery. That makes for one grumpy monkey on
your back. Since Luther lost interest after ten steps I’ll report) Ephesus has
a long history since the Stone Age. There’s evidence of people living in the
area from about 6000 BCE onward. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world
was the temple of Artimis (goddess of hunting and the moon) constructed in 550
BCE burned down in 356 and reconstructed larger. A famous library, huge mall
area, public baths, memorials, fortifications, fountains, sewage and water
pipes, harbor and all the amenities of city life once flourished.
(Luther asked, “What are those stone benches with holes in
the middle?” “
Oh, Luther, those are the public restrooms for men.
Important thoughts and discussions happened there.”
Luther wasn’t so sure, “Wait, they rested there but were
actually talking about stuff?”
“Well, they did a little more than rest,” I explained.
Luther pointed to his nose, “I got it. That’s what came
before John Crapper invented the flush toilet.”
Feeling a bit flushed from the heat I replied, “Yes, water constantly
ran through them like a little stream. In fact if it was a cold day and you
were a slave, the master of your house may require you go and sit to warm up a
spot until he came.”
Luther didn’t skip a beat, “You mean the master relieved the slave from his duty?”
Knowing there are lots of puns there I moved on, “Um, yes, you
got it.”)
Alexander the Great liberated Ephesus from the Persian
Empire in 334 BCE. During the Classical Greek period from 100 BCE-to 0 [Jesus
was born probably around 4 BCE]. The city became a part of the Roman Empire in
88 BCE. At that time the population of Ephesus was about Lincoln’s size,
250,000. The apostle Paul should have been amazed. He founded a church there somewhere
around 40 AD. (Speaking of Paul, Luther asked, “Is all this history stuff
casting a pall on the readers? I said, “Funny one.”) Ephesus grew to about 400,000-500,000.
[Omaha size by about 200 AD.] The Galls destroyed it in 263 AD. (Of course
Luther said, “The gall of those Gauls.”) Emperor Constantine rebuilt the city.
It survived to 614 AD when an Earthquake devastated the area. (Luther said,
“God knows how to shake things up.”) As the harbor became a marsh, Malaria
became an issue. (Luther didn’t think his aunt Marla was that bad. I explained
it was a disease that killed people. Luther was relieved it wasn’t his aunt
Marla.) The city moved many times in its history to get closer to the river and
sea. The classical Greek and Roman area fell into ruin. When the Turks took it
in 1090 it was a small village. (Luther thought the Turks gobbled up a lot of cities.)
Ephesus used aqueducts, rock channels, thousands of fired
clay pipes to move their water to fountains, public baths, public bathrooms and
drinking fountains for people to gather their water for their homes. (Luther
asked, “Why did they fire the clay when they needed them to work? I explained,
“It was fired as in baked until the clay turned hard so the water could run
through them. It’s like pottery only not pots but pipes.” Luther didn’t care.
He was bored, “Wasn’t Harry a potter too?” I ignored him.) Sewage system and
rain water run off typically followed under the stone and marble streets. For
construction rough cut stone formed the strength of the walls while smooth
marble attached to it for splendor. Pictures may look impressive but only 15% of
the city has been excavated. A museum that covers excavated homes reveals colorful
frescos adorning the walls with mosaic floors. Courtyards with water pools are
common in the richer homes.
Couldn’t find the site where a synagogue was built, the
place Paul would have first told of the Good News. But the church of Mary built
further away from the city central waited for exploration. Did Mary spend her
last days here as Epiphanius of Salamis mentioned in his writings from the 3rd
century? Or did she die in Jerusalem as John states? We have two competing
written legends. The apostle John is said to have traveled in Asia Minor
spreading the Good News and if Jesus told him to take care of Mary from the
cross, then it could have happened. Anyway, there’s a chapel with a spring
where it’s said Mary once lived and died. The church about 5 miles away was built in her
honor. Since Ephesus was the largest city and half way between Rome (Italy) and
Alexander (Egypt) it was the place to meet for Christian Bishops. In 431 a
conference of 250 bishops met to discuss dogma. (Luther wondered if there were
any monkeyma. I told him enough people have been dogged by dogma. It’s better
to try to monkey around with thoughts than to condemn them.) These
conferences typically lasted about 3 months plus travel time. They didn’t
happen too often as a bishop could be gone for six months or so. At this
council Nostorus of Constantinople (Istanbul) was condemned for teaching
heresy. (Luther was a little afraid of heresy as he has lots of hair you see. I
assured him that if he got into trouble I’d shave him. He wanted to go home.) Nostorus
thought Jesus had two essences in a human body. The divinity (God-ness) of
Jesus was separated from Jesus’ humanity-ness. These two natures can’t co-exist
due to human sin so they must have been separate in one human body. (Luther
asked, “What do you mean? Jesus was two persons in one? What a hair brained
idea!” I said, “I don’t know. It sounds like they were splitting hairs to me.”)
A person can see where metal hinges were attached for the
wooden doors for the gates and some houses. Much of the marble streets are worn
down and the top layers stripped for later buildings. The Theater could seat
about 25,000 and the city square held hundreds of shops. The harbor was
bustling with trade. (Luther thought the ancient bustling trade has come back
as hustling trade in the souvenir shops. I may have been swindled but the coins
are still cool. However, Luther lost his cool in the heat and isn’t too happy
about a sabbatical for looking at rocks.) Tune in next time when we go higher
with Hierapolis.
