Ephesus

We spent an entire day touring the old city of Ephesus and the surrounding region.  Ephesus was once a harbor city, with the Aegean Sea reaching up to the harbor.  Over the years, however, the harbor was silted in by the river (about 1100 AD) and the sea coast is now about 5 km away.  There were actually 4 different cities of Ephesus over the years.  The most excavated and largest one is Ephesus III that at one time had 250,000 people living in it.  When the harbor was lost and malaria became a problem, the city was moved to a nearby hill.

Glyn and David

Amazing mosaic floor tiles preserved

Bath house - sunken tub in center

Much of the architecture is Roman style, including large Roman bath houses with different rooms each with different temperatures of water.  There was a normal routine  for going from one to another, but I didn't catch it all.  The thought of going into a cold bath would have been wonderful during the tour - it was probably 85 degrees, very sunny and humid!  I lost track of how many bottles of water I consumed on the tour.

Stone from previous hospital - used mainly for wounded soldiers

Agora forum

Odean (smaller) concert hall

These buildings were 3 stories high originally and served as both housing (top level) and shops (ground level).  Age approx 100-200 AD.

There were community toilets and a sewer system.  This facility has about 100 seats in a square around an open air fountain area.

Library

The most fantastic structure was the fascade of the library.  The library was the 3rd largest at the the time, next to Pergamon (2nd) and Alexandria (1st).  It held about 12,000 scrolls.  The Egyptians provided papyrus for writing, but when their relations were strained they stopped and other materials had to be used.  The structure had double walls that served to help keep the humidity down in the building and protect the scripts.

The Forum seated 25,000 people.  This has been restored with corporate and international support.  There is always a debate about how much to restore with modern materials and how much to leave it its original state.  Elton John gave a concert here several years ago.