The Basilica of Saint John and the Ayasuluk Citadel in Ruins

Entering the ruins of the Basilica of Saint John through the Gate of Persecution

My day is in ruins. Literally, I spent the tourism part of my day walking from ruins to ruins to ruins. The day's final ruins are the Basilica of Saint John and the Ayasuluk Citadel (which are barely-ruined ruins) that towers over the ruins of the Basilica.

There was a large school group entering same time as I was, so I turned in the opposite direction from where they were heading. So I went left instead of straight into the Basilica ruins.

There was an excellent view of the Isa Bey Mosque:

But I was here for the Basilica ruins.

And here I am.

Let's pass through the doorways and enter the Basilica proper:

After a instagram-worthy photo:

The Basilica was built in the 500's by Roman Emperor Justinian.

I think that, by that point, the Roman Empire has split into eastern and western halves, with the Rome-based West under constant threats from various Goths and continually being plundered, and with the Constantinople-based East being relatively stable and prosperous and motoring along as if the Visigoths and Ostrogoths had never left Germany.

The Apostle Saint John was reputed to have been buried here. It is known that, after the crucifixion and the resurrection -- real historic events sorry to break the news to you -- the Apostle John came to Ephesus. Jesus had entrusted John, his favorite among the apostles, to care for his mother Mary and is believed to have brought Mary with him to Ephesus to live out her remaining days. When I say that the Apostle "was reputed to have been buried" under the dome of the Basilica, when they opened the tomb many years later, the tomb was empty. Lots of explanations for this, some of which satisfy believers and some of which would satisfy non-believers. But the truth is this: we don't know. And those who would know have been dead for centuries.

From the Basilica you can keep walking up hill to the Ayasuluk Citadel.

It towers over the ruins of the Basilica:

It is something of a contemporary of the Basilica, as both date back to the 500's A.D.

The Citadel, however, survived the ravages and savages and cabbages of time much, much better,

Although it too still is in a state of ruins.

Just less ruined ruins,

And speaking of being in ruins:

My feet and legs are in ruins after a full day of ascending and descending up and down on extremely uneven stones to see these spectacular ruins. It is time for an afternoon nap.

I Love a Good Archaeology Museum. So I Loved the One Focused on Ephesus

A man and his dog, living the fragmentary life together at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum

I love a good archaeological museum. Who doesn't? Well, lots of people who aren't me. But I'm me. I love them. And Selçuk has a great one housing the nearby archaeological activity at Ephesus. Count me in.

The walk took me past my old friend, the city's Roman-era aqueduct.

There also was, now visible in the daylight, this display of columns next to the aqueduct.

I'm not sure the purpose. It could be a re-creation of the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, with a higher level of re-creation than you see at the actual Temple of Artemis site. But I'm guessing.

And this is a small mosque with a fat minaret.

And here is a plexiglas giraffe.

Does there need to be a reason to have a plexiglas giraffe on your town's pedestrian walk way?

Soon the google maps on my phone was telling me, "You have arrived at your destination."

The Ephesus Archaeological Museum. It's a good one, as far as archaeological museums go, because the source material is local and plentiful.

And here is the statuary on parade. Some have heads, as you can see,

But you usually get a choice in ancient stone statuary. Headless statues.

 

Or disembodied heads.

Pick your poison. If it were me, I'd rather than be a body without a head than be a head without a body. You'd be more mobile that way, although, without eyes or ears or any of the five senses other than touch, you would bump into things. Which would cause your stone body to crack. Maybe have an arm drop off. Or a thigh.

Here is a disembodied head -- we call them "busts" in the art and archaeology bizzes -- of a Roman commander from the second century.

He must have fought a tough battle for his face to have ended up in that condition.

And here is Hermes.

The inventor of the upscale, over-priced scarf.

More statues, this time more fragmentary.

 

You know the guy on the left died an agonizing death, what with having his right arm chopped off below the elbow and this right leg gone below the knee. You know that's got to hurt.

Of course, the other guy has a left leg below the knee that is completely detached from the rest of him. Ouch.

Wrestlers.

I guessed being in a tight ball like that prevented the wrestlers from losing limbs to the savage ravages of time.

And here's a guy riding the world's ugliest dolphin.

They said it's a dolphin, but it looks more like a catfish to me. But "riding a dolphin" sounds more marketable than "riding a butt-ugly giant catfish."

This is Roman era glassware. Again, explain this to me. The stone statues are shattered into bits and pieces, but fragile glass from that same era survived intact. I simply cannot fathom.

And, if you're into this sort of thing, pornographic pottery.

It looks just like the pornographic pottery that the Moche culture in Peru repeatedly ... and I do mean repeatedly ... late in the first millennium A.D., before the Inca. Maybe that's why they were so easily conquered. Their pr0n obsession.

We now move to the outdoor garden area of the museum:

Not sure why these folks have to hang outside and were not allowed inside the climate-controlled building.

This one looks like he has some nasty tumor in his abdomen.

Or maybe he's about to give birth to the alien baby.

And this one has a horrible skin condition:

The museum labels these two "unfinished," but I think that's so the other statues don't point and jeer at them.

This one looks like the Virgin Mary.

Which would make sense since she had a house in the suburbs of Ephesus. But the museum says this is Roman from the B.C. era. Still. It looks very Marian to me.

A lot of the stela at this point are gravestones,

I don't know if the horse was buried with the man, or that the man was known for enjoying a good horse ride during his life.

And this is a sarcophagus.

I wouldn't mind being buried in one of those babies once my time on this planet has come to its natural end.

Not sure why the guy on the right is attacking the other two men with a pitchfork.

I didn't know they had pitchforks in the Roman era. But why wouldn't they? It's not like it's some ultra-sophisticated technology that had to be developed by Edison or Tesla. But what's more interesting is the man in the center. It looks like he either has a saint's halo or is wearing a space helmet. It's unclear which from the stone carving. But, either way, neither belongs in pagan Roman in the early years of the A.D. era.

And this is a statue of Artemis.

And this is a statue of Artemis.

Same motif. Same breasts aplenty. Much taller headgear on the second, but otherwise quite similar.

This is now the "dark" part of the museum, where the best and rarest and most expensive work can be found.

Power to the people right on.

Actually, given that that is Roman Emperor Domitian, emperor from A.D. 81 to 96, I would strongly suspect that he did not favor "power to the people," unless the people were limited to him. Right on.

Here a couple of statues of Caesar Augustus.

And we end with the old guy rolling his eyes at us.

Not the friendliest note on which to conclude a tour of an archaeology museum.