Ἔφεσος

Our journey to Turkey as a bit hectic! We had booked an overnight flight to Istanbul, and intended to get to the airport 2-hrs before departure to relax, eat, etc. However, we missed our train to Narita airport, so we lost 45-minutes for transit. Then, Turkish Airlines moved the departure time another 50-minutes to the left, so essentially, we lost all of our buffer…

When we finally got to the airport, there was only one check-in counter open, and that was for our flight. There were a handful of folks who were in the same boat, and they were waiting for us. How nice!

^TC-JJI, “EGE,” a 4.5 yr-old -300ER!

70k miles got one a business class seat, and the most uncomfortable coffee cup ever… Seriously, holding onto that tiny tiny handle in turbulence is tough.

We arrived in Istanbul at 4am, and we were stuck there for 3-hours or so, until our connecting flight to Izmir. The little hopper flight provided some nice views!

So, the first stop in Turkey was to Ephesos, an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia. Here’s some info from Wikipedia: Ephesos was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, the city flourished after it came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. According to estimates, Ephesus had a population of 33,600 to 56,000 people in the Roman period, making it the third largest city of Roman Asia Minor after Sardis and Alexandria Troas.

The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In 268 AD, the Temple was destroyed or damaged in a raid by the Goths. Following the Edict of Thessalonica from Emperor Theodosius I, what remained of the temple was destroyed in 401 AD by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom. The town was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD. The city’s importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River.

Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written here. The city was the site of several 5th century Christian Councils (see Council of Ephesus). It is also the site of a large gladiators’ graveyard.

So, onto the photos! and some info on the sights!

The Fountain of Pollio. Water was brought to the fountains of Ephesus from three main sources through aqueducts and distributed from fountains by a branching system of baked clay pipes. The sources were Kencherios (42km) at Kuşadası, Çamlık village stream of Marnas (15km), and the Cayster River (20km).Water was free of charge by the city in the public fountains.

The Fountain of Pollio’s group statue represents one of the adventures of Odysseus in the Aegean following the Trojan wars, specifically, his adventure with Polyphemus, son of Posseidon. The fountain was constructed by Sextilius Pollia in 97 A.D.