A Few Pictures Of Ephesus

As I wrote earlier, Ephesus was both delightful and disappointing.  In the penumbra of delightful,  the ruins are magnificent, and well presented.  These are just a few of my favorite areas.

This is the road that lead to the harbor.  Near the harbor, warehouse lined both sides of the road.

I turned around 180 degrees, and took this picture of the road as it leads to the stadium.

The stadium is built right into the hillside.  It is immense.

Taken in front of the stadium, 90 degrees from the road to the harbor, looking more or less north.

It has tiers of seats!  

This is of the wall along the road that proceeds south from the stadium. I am trying to understand why these notches are cut into the wall.  Perhaps to facilitate drainage from the hillside behind the wall?  

A close-up of a "notch."  It also might be from damage caused by an earthquake that brought the wall down?

On the other side of the road leading south from the stadium, the name of which I have forgotten, was this wall with a rebuilt arch.

The rebuilt arch.  Wonderful craftsmanship in the stone carving.

The jewel of Ephesus:  The Library of Celsius.  Just the facade has been rebuilt, but look at the proportions of that building.

The remains of some dwellings.  Arches are everywhere.

This is a smaller theater up the hill from the Library of Celsius.  The stones in front are simply pieces that have not been rebuilt or placed back in their original location.  I imagine that as time and money and software allow, more of the puzzle may be put together again.

A portion of the Church of the Virgin Mary

The nave of the Church of the Virgin Mary.

From the nave of the Church of the Virgin Mary

This large basin is standing in literally the middle of the church.

This is a stone in the floor of the church.  My Latin was never very good. . .

There are so many wonderful details that I saw, such as the grooving in the marble stones used in the roads so they would not be too slick to walk on when wet, or greek letters like theta and epsilon carved in other pieces of the road stones, or the cuttings in the stones used to heel them from shifting.  Or the sewers system, or the water system that brought water into the city.  Or the various temples and agoras that abound.  But both time and space limit what I can share, and a lack of complete knowledge on the subject is also a hinderance.  It was a really special place for me to visit.