EPHESUS
-“the first and greatest city of Asia Minor”
-The harbor was the lifeline of the city, and due to its over silting over the years, its decline led to the downfall of the city
-Now a tourist attraction
-Its Future use as a tourist attraction is dependent upon heritage management decisions made in the present
-Selçuk, the nearest modern city to the site holds an annual camel wrestling championship every winter near Ephesus
LOCATION
-On the Aegean coast of Turkey, 75km to the south of the largest modern city in the region.
-Ancient Ephesus as we know it, i.e. the Roman city refers to the main urban core of the Roman city, still visible today in some places.
-Ephesus as a cultural site however also includes
- The Artemesium, (temple to Artemis and its immediate surroundings),
one of the most important and long-lived sanctuaries of the ancient world, regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world
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theatre, which would have been capable of holding 25,000 spectators
- Saint John’s basilica,
- the Isa Bey Mosque
- smaller monuments around Selçuk
- House of Mary in the forest south of the city
- Library of Celsus: The Library of Celsus is a monumental tomb for Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, built by his son Galius Julius Aquila in 135 in Ephesus
ARCHAEOLOGY OF EPHESUS
-Archaeological and religious sites offer “the opportunity to witness the physical evolution of a place over two millennia and to contemplate the vicissitudes of that history”
-Founded by the Ionians in the 10th century BCE, and founded the temple to Artemis in the 8th century BCE
-The city was rebuilt by Lysimachus, who destroyed the cities of Lebedos and Colophon in 292 BC and relocated their inhabitants to the new city.
-Ephesus also had several major bath complexes, built at various points while the city was under Roman rule. The city had one of the most advanced aqueduct systems in the ancient world, with multiple aqueducts of various sizes to supply different areas of the city, including 4 major aqueducts.
-Although sacked by the Goths in 263 CE, Ephesus remained the most important city of the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries. However, sackings by the Arabs in the year 700 and 716 spurred a quick decline:
-Due to its large inland harbor, it became the largest city and mercantile power of the area
-The Byzantines resumed control in 1100 and kept control of the region until the end of the 13th century. After a short period of flourishing under the new rulers, it was definitively abandoned in the 15th century.
-The remains are largely well-preserved, and the excavations of the religious monuments have resulted in a better understanding of the rise of Christianity and its influences on religious architecture of the region
MODERN AND SOCIAL VALUES OF THE SITE
-Modern Turkish cities hold many festivals at the site
- Selçuk holds two major festivals (Selçuk-Efes and International Izmir festival) in the Theater at Ephesus
- At the time the article was written, the camel wrestling festival had occurred for 33 years every January
-The site also holds a tacit value for Greeks, as limited interaction occurs when tourist boats shuttle visitors from Samos to the site
- Camel wrestling is a sport in which two male dromedary camels wrestle in response to a female camel in heat being led before them. It is most common in the Aegean region of Turkey, but is also found in the Marmara and Mediterranean regions of that country. There are an estimated 1200 camel wrestlers (or Tulu) in Turkey, bred specially for the competitions.[1]
- A camel can win a wrestling match in three ways: By making the other camel retreat, scream, or fall. The owner of a camel may also throw a rope into the field to declare a forfeit if he is concerned for the safety of his animal.
- In the heat of the tournament, camels spew foamy saliva in their excitement. Additionally, camels are retromingent animals, and so spectators would be advised to beware not only of flying saliva but of flying urine as well.
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SYMBOLIC VALUE
-“As the principal representative of the Hellenistic and Roman cities that once thrived….on Asia Minor, Ephesus is… a symbolic link between Turkey and Europe”
-Library of Celsus: used in the marketing campaign to increase tourism to Turkey: slogan “Discover the Undiscovered Europe”
-Artemis/Cybele for the town of Selçuk: The actual Artemisium is represented by a lone stone column, as much of the main ruins were excavated and transferred to the British Museum
-The term “Efes” refers to cigarettes, beer, shops etc. provides Name Recognition and signifies quality
RELIGIOUS VALUE
-St. John’s Basilica
-Isa Bey Mosque
-Church of Mary: Associated with the Council of Ephesus (431 CE) where Mary’s status as the Mother of God was affirmed\
-House of Mary: supposed place where Mary spent her final days
AESTHETIC AND NATURAL VALUES
-as protected areas, many archaeological sites become de facto nature preserves: the site of the Artemesium is flooded every winter and provides a refuge for waterfowl and other aquativ wildlife
-the Byzantine aqueduct serves as a nesting area for storks, who also use the column of the Artemesium
ECONOMIC VALUE
-high rate of tourism
PERIOD I 1863-1895
-Ephesus stood as a tiny outpost town, a site for pilgrims and archaeologists to admire, with little concept of the ruins that lay buried there
-1863: railway line from Smyrna to Aya Soluk (Solcuk)
-1869: Ruins of Artemesium found by J.T. Wood
PERIOD II 1895-1922
-beginning of Austrian involvement (Austrian archaeological Institute)
-much of the lower city was excavated at this time, with periodic breaks during the first World War
-large-scale clearing of fallen columns etc.
-House of Mary discovered by a Lazarist, M. Poulin, who heard from locals of a traditional pilgrimage ot the site in commemoration of the Assumption of Mary
PERIOD III 1923-1953
-Site continued to be excavated, but remains something of a private figure, archaeologically
-“weird” and “haunted”
-1951: in anticipation of increased visitation, Turkish authorities construct a road to the house of mary and institute its reconstruction as a chapel
PERIOD IV 1954-1970
-response to or in order to cater to increased tourism
-during this period, the major sites and buildings underwent reconstruction including
- Temple of Hadrian: conceptual approach, make the monument “comprehensible” and a “harmonious whole”: copies of the missing elements and those too previous or fragile to be displayed in their original conexts (frieze on the pronaos) were incorporated into the temple
- Monument of Memmius: convey the fragmentary nature of the ruin, its abandonment, collapse and destruction
Monument of Sextilius Pollio
Fountain of Domitian
- Fountain of Trajan: attempt to make the fragmentary monument legible w/o reconstruction
PERIOD V 1971-Present
-restoration of the Library of Celsus: The Venice Charter as “philosophical guide”, on the assumption that today’s visitors do not want to see romantic ruins, but prefer to see the monument as it looked in ancient times.
-Creation of a permanent shelter to house the Terrace Houses, terraced, urban apartments containing wall paintings and mosaic floors in situ excavated over a 25 year period: attempted reconstruction of the space of the original rooms and using intersecting gabled roofs referencing the ground plan
-Also now an increased interest in restoration of religious monuments, possibly to cater to the larger group of religious pilgrims
-In response to the high number of visitors, authorities, in conjunction with the US National Park Service established the Ephesus Master Plan: creation of infrastructure for tourism, (new parking areas, shuttle systems, access routes), administrative structure and reopening of the late-Roman harbor channel to allow access from the sea: Impeded by lack of resources
CHALLENGES TO THE SITE
-large scale of the site
- Diverse monumental architecture
-Nonstandardized restoration and interpretation of the monuments over the course of history
- As a result of individual decisions made w/o reference to any overriding plan, guidelines or framework for the site, resulting in a non-cohesive history of restorations carried out upon the site that eventually become incorporated into the history of Ephesus as well
- Artemesium, as an “invisible” site holds potential, but remains elusive as no one can see what remains
-High volume of tourists
-Need to reconcile the high number of “values” attributed to the site by one or more stakeholders