Friday 4 June 2010

More Ephesus (Efez), Turkey photos including the whore-house

I am going to link the Ephesus photos with the term Efez (its unlatinized name).

Top left picture (can click for larger verion after) is harbor street, leading to the grand theatre, also used as a mini-arena during the Roman occupation (as Saint Paul discovered). The couple in the picture are trying to make there escape from the heat of Ephesus to no avail as they will find the harbor sea has slilted up and turned into a marsh stretching 3 miles (thats more in km) to the modern coast! Thats what i call silting. The ancient Ephesons (or Ephesians) used to dredge up the silt and use it as fertilizer on the farms. Unfortunatly the Goddess Diana in her dubious-wisdom had over blessed Ephesus with too-much fertile-silt causing the retreat of the agean-sea. So long Posiden-Neptune god of the sea ; but alas! he took the commerce with him.

Turning Right-way, will lead to the Library of Celsus and common Bizzar-Agora-market place.
Bottom left Picture. Not as big as the one in Pergammon. Still the 3rd largest in the Roman Epmpire though. The invading barberain goths used it as a bonfire in 262 ce as they considered civilization to be detrimental to people. Very considerate of them.

From The Celsus Library the marble road is called Curates Street and goes eastwards~ leading to the Brothel ie whore-house, more turkish bath-houses, the public wc toilet potty - with undergound water flow, and past the Emperor-Hadrian Temple towards the State-Bizzar, town-hall and odeon theatre in the posh district.

The whore-house is rather on the large size but Ephesus was a big city (2nd largest in the Roman Empire!) and was identified by an inscription and the finding of an interactive terraphim statue of some god with a giant erect phallus (which means penis). These were used by-and-with the women of the brothel and even had a quasi-religious symbolism. There is an engraved female foot-print pointing to the brothel which was the ancient sign for the direction of the whore-house.

Other than the wonder of the world the temple of diana, there were also the temples of the anatolian goddess Cybel-Sibel the oracle with her eunoch priests near the Temple of Diana, Isis (or Isis-Hathor) in the state Bizzar, Temple of Seraphis near the Celsus Library, and serveral nymph-fountians (also used for immoral purposes) a bit like 'dogging car-parks'

Very hot in summer, very cold in winter (gets more extreme inland) and the ancient covered promanade has long-since collapsed (which lined the streets and edges of the bizzar to provide shade and coolness for the citizens - the centre of the main streets were reserved for chariots and wagons.

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