We began a warm day with hats, sunscreen and water as we departed from the hotel to Ephesus. Our first stop was at the Ephesus Museum to review the overall history of this Roman City dating back to as early as 7,000 BC. There were multiple phases of this city and we visited the current site which dates from 300 BC up until about 700 AD. Paul visited Ephesus and stayed from 53 to 55 AD. The inhabitants of the city before Christ worshipped the Roman pagan religion. After Christ's crucifixion, small Christian communities began to develop in Ephesus.
Following our museum tour, we went to Ephesus, one of the largest active archeological sites. We began our tour at the top of the city's major thoroughfare that slopes down between two mountains. We viewed public ruins and Roman pagan temples before reaching the Hercules Gate. The Hercules Gate restricted undesirable visitors from entering the temples and public buildings. We viewed restored luxurious homes of Roman elites complete with indoor plumbing, marble coated walls, ornate floor mosaics and etched frescoes. The private facilities were a stark contrast to the open public latrines shared by the common Roman citizens. We continued on to the Celsus Library, built in 110 AD that was the third largest library in the world. We turned right on Marble Road to the large theatre with a capacity of 24,000 spectators, reaching a height of 30 meters. The theatre had been enlarged during the time of Roman rulers, Claudius, Nero and Tragan.
We entered the theatre and sat up high in the bleachers imagining Paul addressing the community of Ephesus, both Christians and non-Christians. Prior to addressing this community, Paul spent several months learning about the culture and language of the community and then brought the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul felt that before they could understand his God, he needed to understand their gods. We discussed Paul's message and how he stated that the power of God revealed through Jesus Christ was so much greater than the Roman pagan gods. Paul spoke over a period of three months. The crowd was confused about Paul's message, but not necessarily angry. The new Christian religion created discontent among the silversmith artisans who were selling silver statues of the pagan god Artemis for the temple and were suffering losses. One of the influential silversmiths gathered with his colleagues hundreds
of supporters in the theatre to stir up a riot against Paul. Following this Paul remained in Ephesus discreetly teaching in the Christian community.
After leaving Ephesus we were served a delightful Turkish lunch in lush private surroundings at a wonderful Turkish carpet production location under which some felt were false pretenses. We saw a fascinating demonstration on how carpets are made. We were then led into a windowless room containing a vast number of carpets. Our two hosts quickly grew to a staff of eighteen that were all too willing to demonstrate their carpet quality until two of our congregation purchased a fine quality carpet. Following our release from this facility, we returned to our hotel for relaxation and a swim.
Bob Stow, Gregg and Sherry Johnson
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