Read the beginning here.
Ephesus is a treasure trove of antiquity, an ancient city near the coast of the Aegean Sea - one of the most popular attractions in Turkey.
It is here that the remains of the once great Library of Celsus - the second largest library of the Ancient World after the Library of Alexandria - are located.
According to legend, the Delphic Oracle ordered Androcles, the son of the Athenian ruler Codrus, to found a new city. Fire, fish and wild boar were supposed to indicate the place for the new city. Androcles went in search of "symbols" along the coast of the Aegean Sea and went ashore in a beautiful bay. At this time, local fishermen were grilling fish. From a spark that flew out of the fire, a bush caught fire, from under which an alarmed boar jumped out. Here the city was founded, and the wild boar became its symbol. During the construction of the city, Androcles met with a warlike tribe of Amazons and fell in love with one of them - Ephesia (meaning coveted). The city was named in her honor.
Ephesus owes its fame to a large extent to the local cult of the eastern goddess of fertility, eventually identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. The worship of the goddess has been going on since time immemorial, but the construction of a temple dedicated to her, one of the seven wonders of the world, was begun precisely in Ephesus in the first half of the 6th century BC. e.
Promotional video:
View of the ruins of the Temple of Artemis.
Ephesus began to come to life in 1869 thanks to English scientists who conducted the first archaeological excavations in search of the legendary temple of Artemis. Over time, German archaeologists joined the British scientists, and from the middle of the 20th century, Turkish ones. Gradually, the long-dead Ephesus began to show the world its architectural treasures - the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus, the Agora, the Odeon, the Bolshoi Theater, the Brothel, the Temple of Hadrian, the Gate of Hercules, the architectural ensemble “Houses on the hillside”, Pritania.
Library of Celsus.
One of the found pearls of the ancient city was the Library of Celsus - one of the largest libraries of the Ancient World, second only to the Alexandrian one. But if only memories have survived about the Egyptian treasury of ancient knowledge, the Ephesian one was a little more fortunate: among the ruins of the now dead city, the facade of the once great Library of Celsus has been preserved.
The repository of ancient art and knowledge on the coast of the Aegean Sea began to be built in 114 by the consul Tiberius Julius Aquila in honor of his father - the famous ruler of the province of Asia - Tiberius Julius Celsus, who at one time was one of the most educated people in the empire. And although during the reign of the emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius burial within the city was prohibited, the council decided to place the sarcophagus with the body of the governor of the province in the crypt located under the reading room of the library that bore his name. Inside the marble sarcophagus, decorated with a bas-relief of the god of love Eros, there was another lead sarcophagus. It was discovered during excavations in 1904.
Aquila did not manage to finish building the library, but he left a huge amount for the purchase of books and the arrangement of his brainchild. The heirs of Aquila fulfilled his will, and in 135 AD a real storehouse of knowledge of the ancient world appeared in Ephesus: more than 12 thousand priceless manuscripts and scrolls were collected in the library. They were stored in special niches in the wall, on huge shelves and on furniture shelves.
You can guess what exact form the Library of Celsus had today. Only the ruins of the facade have survived to this day, because the library was burned during the invasion of the Goths in the middle of the 3rd century. Unfortunately, the priceless treasures of literature, philosophy, history and other sciences were completely destroyed.
Despite the fact that the library was built in the Roman province, its facade is very reminiscent of the ancient Greek. Back in the II century, this building was called "the pinnacle of Hellenistic architectural thought."
After completed in 1970-1978. the reconstruction of the two-tiered facade of the library received the form of a theatrical scenery. In its reconstructed form it is 21 meters long and 16 meters high. In the niches on the ground floor, there are copies of the statues of Wisdom, Virtue, Thought and Cognition.
Here you can also see the sculptural images of Mazeus and Mithridates - slaves who were the true architects of the Library of Celsus. They did not receive worldwide fame, because more often the Library of Celsus is associated only with the name of Aquila, but the emperor Augustus gave them the most desired gift - he gave them freedom.
Gate of Augustus, also called Gate of Mazeus and Mithridates.
Ephesus takes you into the world of incredible stories and legendary events. Ruins of Ancient Ephesus - open-air museum. Today, only the remains of Roman ruins remind of the former greatness of the city. Ephesus was badly damaged after the 614 earthquake. In the 15th century, the city was completely deserted. The once fragrant and prosperous city of the goddess Artemis today is only historical material and cultural heritage.