The House of Virgin Mary

The temple of Artemision is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world. It had been built in the vicinity of Ephesus on a flat area which has over the centuries turned into a swamp. Today one can only see the ruins of the foundations of this marvelous construction of the Hellenistic Age, entirely made of marble and full of sculptured columns, capitals and shafts. The most beautiful remains of this temple are today exhibited in the London British Museum.


The oldest remains found date back to the 6th century BC. The structure originally consisted of 36 huge columns, later enlarged upon from the orders of the Lydian King, Kreisos, during the 6th century BC. Most of the exhibits in the London British Museum belong to this period.


A new Artemision was rebuilt in the 2nd century BC. Located on top of the previous one, it had tremendous dimensions: 125 columns each 17,5 meters high. Unfortunately this one was also destroyed by fire, reconstructed and again demolished by earthquakes, rebuilt and at last looted by Goths one year later.


The statue of the many-breasted Artemision was the symbol of the temple but also of abundance, hunting and wild life. The genuine statue of Artemision, removed during the fire, is today exhibited in the Selcuk Museum. Many copies of this statue were found during the latest excavations and date back to the Roman period. 


Aphrodisias was changed to Stayropolis and then to Caria which became Geyre years after. The ruins which are worth seeing inAphrodisias are listed below:


When the Greeks first arrived under the leadership of Androklos, Kybele (Rhea) was the major deity in all of Anatolia. The Greeks introduced the worship of Artemis and later Artemis and Kybele eventually became the same goddess. Artemis is the goddess of hunting, wild animals, childbirth, and nature.


According to the famous historian Strabon, the Temple of Artemis was built and destroyed seven times. It was always rebuilt on the same site. Some of the different architects were Theodoros from Samos, Chersiphon and his son Metagenes from Knossos of Crete, and Dinocrates.

The temple foundations date back to the 7th century BC. At first, it was a small shrine to Kybele. In around 550 BC Cretan Chersiphon, a Greek architect, designed the final temple. This initial building was sponsored by the Lydian king Croesus.

Roman emperor Hadrian visited this beautiful city in 130 year and these door were built in his honor. There are actually three doors. On each side of the gates stand two large towers built in different periods. Even though the city was surrounded by walls and it had several entrances to the city these gates are the only one left standing.

The European side of the famous straight Bosporus in the Sariyer district of Istanbul is the location of a large and beautiful fortress built back in the second half of the 15th century. Sultan Muhamed II ordered the construction of the fortress before he conquered the city. It was built on the site of former Roman fortification.

Rumelian Castle has three main towers named after the three Pashas who were in charge of the supervision of the construction and one small tower. There are 13 watchtowers constructed in different shapes.

Even though it once served as a military construction now it has completely different purpose. It is used as a museum and an open theatre.

Maybe you´ll be surprised but this is actually the largest mosque in the city. It was built by Sultan Suleyman (also known as Suleyman the Magnificent) in the second half of the 16th century. Some hundred years after the completion of the mosque it suffered a serious damage by a great fire. It was completely restored in the 19th century. Sadly, the mosque, because of another fire had to be restored again after the II World War.

as it is already mentioned this is the largest mosque in the city. It is 59 m long and 58 meters wide. This is not only a mosque, it is an entire complex consisting of the prayer hall, courtyard, caravanserai, a bath house, Qur'an school, a hospital and a kitchen. Behind the mosque, in the garden, one can see two mausoleums which include the tombs of Sultan Suleyman I and his family along with several other Sultans and nobilities.

The Church of St. John &  The Church of Mary  

                      The Double Church

The Church of Mary not only counts among the most significant of the historical monuments at Ephesus, it is also visited by thousands of tourists and pilgrims annually.

This church was the site of the Third Ecumenical Council, convened by Emperor Theodosius II at Ephesus in 431 A.D. 
The Council was held to resolve a theological debate between two schools of thought about the nature of Christ and of His mother, Mary. 

One school, led by Nestorius, the Bishop of Constantinople, advocated that Christ was born human and became God, and that His mother should be called merely “Christ-bearer” or Christotokos (Χριστοτόκος).  The more popular view, however, was that Jesus was the Son of God, was born God and, therefore, Mary was deserving of the honor of being called the Mother of God, (Θεοτόκος) or “Theotokos.” 

This view was led by  Cyrill, Bishop of Alexandria, which united two natures – human and divine – in Christ.  Approximately 250 bishops journeyed to Ephesus from all over and took part in a heated debate over the divine nature of Jesus at birth.  In the end, the Council concluded that Jesus was God, born God and Mary was rightly called “Mother of God.”  Nestorius was denounced and excommunicated from the Church for his heresy.  A torch-light parade exited the church proclaiming Mary as “Theotokos” and it is from this place that today Christians pray, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners.”
A lesser Council was held here in 449 A.D.  However, because of the controversial proceedings this second council was not accepted as ecumenical, and was labeled a “Robber Synod” and later repudiated at the Council of Chalcedon.  From the 5th Century on, the Church of Mary served without doubt as the seat of the Bishop of Ephesus. Baptismal ceremonies were held in the polygonal Baptistery where thousands of Pagans were converted. This building is without doubt one of the most important testimonials of Early Christianity.
The Church of St. Mary, named for the Blessed Virgin herself, was discovered early in the 20th century and is believed to be the very first church in the world named for Mary. A passage in the synodal letter of the first Council of Ephesus reads: “Wherefore also Nestorius, the renewer of the impious heresy, when he had come to the city of the Ephesians, where John the Theologian and the Virgin Mother of God, the Holy Mary . . . from the assembly of the Holy Fathers and Bishops.” Since St. John lived in Ephesus and was buried there (according to Eusebius), it has been inferred that the ellipsis of the synodal letter means either, “where John. . .and the Virgin. . . Mary lived,” or perhaps, “where John. . .and the Virgin. . . Mary lived and are buried.”  This passage gives witness to the oral tradition and belief held at that time that both St. John the Apostle and the Blessed Virgin Mary both lived and died at Ephesus.
The building received the canonical name of the “holiest church of the most holy, most honoured and eternal virgin Mary.” In later years, a complete alteration of the complex and a massive reconstruction was made necessary due to an earthquake which severely damaged the church. During this renovation, in the region in front of the apse, free-standing stone pilasters were erected instead of the columns; and the west part of the church was rebuilt as a vaulted dome church, with its own apse, using massive brick construction. The church was divided in two, with one part dedicated to St. John the Evangelist and the remainder to Mary, resulting in the name the “Double Church” by some.   The Church of St. Mary served as a cemetery church until at least the 11th century, and many graves can be found at the entry plaza.
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Pope John XXIII (1958-1963) visited ancient Ephesus in 1931 on the 50th Centenary of the Council of Ephesus, held in 431 A.D. as the papal legate in Bulgaria.  During that visit, he toured the ruins of the Church of Mary, the site of the famous ecumenical council which declared Mary to be Theotokos, or “Mother of God.”

Sirince
This pretty old Orthodox village, 12 km away from Ephesus and 30 km from Kusadasi, was once Cirkince ("ugly"). Indeed its habitants gave this name on purpose as they did not want to be bothered by foreigners nor to share the beauty of their village.Still after years, visitors understood that the village was not ugly at all and called it Sirince ("pretty"). As the village is located on the top of a mountain, anyone will enjoy the impressive wine yards' and peach trees' views on his way. Today the village is a perfect synthesis of Turk-Greek culture as of the 1920's: after the Independence War, people exchange between Greek and Turks has occurred and all those typical Greek houses, though they kept their original outside characteristics, have received the local layout inside.  And even in the courtyard of one of them, one will discover a nicely restorated Orthodox church.


All the narrow streets of the village belong to the women, selling handcrafts of all kinds. Sit in one of the small  terrace restaurants and enjoy some local gozleme ( turkish pancake). Another attraction of Sirince is its home grown fruit and grape wines. Enjoy some taste testing in the small cafés or in the beautifully restored former municipal school.

Ayasouluk Castle

The well preserved Byzantine castle which stands on the hill of Ayasuluk  has withstood 1500 years.
As the castle was located at a significant point it was rebuilt and expanded in the Seljukian and Ottoman eras.
The main entrance gate of the castle was constructed from the stones of Roman buildings in the 6th century AD.
The castle has 15 towers and is surrounded by rubble stoned city walls reaching to1.5 km.

A church, -built into a former Byzantine church, a small mosque and several cisterns are within the borders of the citadel of Ayasuluk. Also, it was proved from the remains of sub-mycenean graves belonging to 14th century BC, that the hill was used as a necropolis.

Today the castle stands proud over the ever increasing town of Selcuk.

Saint John Basilica

It is believed that the evangelist St. John had spent his last years in the region around Ephesus and was buried in the southern slope of Ayosolug Hill. Three hundred years after his death, a small chapel was constructed over the grave in the 4th century. The church was changed into a marvelous basilica during the region of Emperor Justinian (527 -565 AD).