Chris' Blog of Ephesus

Hey all!

I decided to do a blog post for once and tell you guys how the day went today. We went to Ephesus where Paul and other prophets that were important during that time preached after Christ died. Below are a couple of pics of the stadium where Paul spoke to the Ephesians. It could fit over 24,000 spectators and is HUGE!! It wasn't like the coliseum huge, but it was still big. The sound system in the stadium was amazing... now what I mean by sound system was the sound coming from the person who spoke to the people. The stadium was semi-circular and had a wall/rectangular shape building right in front of the opening in the circle. You can kind of see it in the picture...

The Theatre at Ephesus

Chris & Ruslan stand in the Theatre

Our tour guide told us that only 20% of the whole site had been excavated... by the way, right now I'm listening to Josh Groban sing while I'm writing this. :) Anyway, she took us to the Temple of Hadrian and there was a statue of Medusa on the very front. Our guide told us why: Medusa was not a bad person/creature that everyone thought she was. She actually was a person that brought the bad out of people and scared the bad spirits away. Later, people didn't like the look of the scary lady with snakes for hair, so they took the eyes from the statue and made duplicates. Ever since that time, her eyes have been a symbol of good luck, that you may have a life full and filled with good. Even now days they have charms that look like eye balls that are on necklaces and bracelets for good luck. Below is a picture of the temple and Medusa statue...

The Hadrian Temple at Ephesus

 

Medussa in Stone (above The Hadrian Temple)

The next place we visited was a library that had been destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt. It was amazing to see the detail up close. Our guide told us that the people at Ephesus did not like having to import papyrus so they decided to make their own kind of paper... not only that but also their own ink. The records of the past had lived in this library (as you see below, only a wall) until the Greeks had taken over. After that happened, the Ephesians took these records and hid them away in Italy and different parts of Turkey. They were translated later and now we can understand what happened early in that age of Ephesus.

Pop, Chris & Ruslan at the Celsus Library

Later, we visited the home of Mary, the mother of Jesus. This was the place believed to be where Mary had hidden after the Jews had been run out of Jerusalem. Christians of that time believed that this is a sacred place, that Mary was actually a Goddess, according to our guide. She hid in the mountains because of all the persecution the Christians were getting in that part of Turkey. Below is the pic of the house. You can see the house in the background...

Chris & Ruslan at the House of the Virgin Mary

After the house was a wall of wishes that people hope that Mary will grant to them. This is the only thing the guide told us about this wall. Here is the pic...

Looking at the thousands of wishes left by visitors

Hope everything is going well there at home!!! Be back Thurs!! :)

Chris

 

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