One of our Turkey highlights was visiting this ancient city which is incredibly well-preserved. In Roman times Ephesus was a great trading city with a population of around 250,000 (the 2nd largest city in the world back then) and home to the Apostles Paul and John, among others.
Some of the most interesting sights were the towering Library of Celsus which was built around 125AD and used to hold 12,000 scrolls, the Great Theatre which held up to 25,000 spectators, the 2-story high Terraced Houses which housed the rich and had walls covered in frescoes and floors in mosaics, and the communal men's toilets which consisted of stone benches with holes cut into them (to sit on!) and drains beneath to carry away the waste.
We were amazed by how advanced and well planned this city was for its time - the Library of Celsus faces east so the reading rooms would get good morning light and was built with a 1m gap between the inner and outer walls to protect books from extremes of humidity and temperature; the streets had drainage channels for sewage and water beneath them; and the Terraced Houses had a clay pipe heating system beneath the floors and behind the walls as well as both hot and cold water!
After visiting here it's far easier for us to imagine what life was like back in Roman times!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Some of the most interesting sights were the towering Library of Celsus which was built around 125AD and used to hold 12,000 scrolls, the Great Theatre which held up to 25,000 spectators, the 2-story high Terraced Houses which housed the rich and had walls covered in frescoes and floors in mosaics, and the communal men's toilets which consisted of stone benches with holes cut into them (to sit on!) and drains beneath to carry away the waste.
We were amazed by how advanced and well planned this city was for its time - the Library of Celsus faces east so the reading rooms would get good morning light and was built with a 1m gap between the inner and outer walls to protect books from extremes of humidity and temperature; the streets had drainage channels for sewage and water beneath them; and the Terraced Houses had a clay pipe heating system beneath the floors and behind the walls as well as both hot and cold water!
After visiting here it's far easier for us to imagine what life was like back in Roman times!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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