Ephesus, Terraced Houses, Artemis Temple, Selcuk Museum, House of Virgin Mary, Basilica of St. John

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6 pax 340,00-USD

(Full Day)

Inc. guide & transportation

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This is a FULL DAY tour program to cover every site in Ephesus area. Booking this tour takes you to:

-the main site of Ephesus, visited by over 4 million people annually.

-the Terraced Houses which served as residential units to the high-class society of Ephesus

-the Temple of Artemis where the mother goddess of Anatolia resided under the name of Ephesian Artemis to carry the influences of all eastern and western pagan religions

-the Museum of Ephesus in Selcuk where you would be able to see the three excavated statues of Artemis along with some of the earliest coins of mankind

-the House of Virgin Mary which welcomed three Popes so far, Pope Paul VI in 1967, Pope Paul Jean Paul II in 1979, the current Pope, Pope Benedict XVI

-the Basilica of St. John where the beloved Apostle of Jesus Christ dwells for eternity

Ephesus
Ephesus is a must-to-see site that impresses each visitor that it welcomes. With a rich history over 9000 years, Ephesus passed through Neolithic period, the nearby mounds show that people lived in the area in 7000-6000 B.C. Hittites mentioned Ephesus in their cuneiform tablets, naming it as Apasas which means the city of honey bees. Later Ionian, Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, Aydin and Ottoman periods came one after the other. Most of the ruins that we see today belong to the Roman period and are found in a wide area between Festival Hill (Mt. Pion) and Nightingale Hill (Mt. Koressos). Throughout its long history, the city had to change its location several times due to the silting up of the river Kaystros (Little Meander river) It would not be wrong to say that the city flourished due to water as it was by the sea and alluviums carried by the river made the land so fertile. On the other hand, it is also due to water that it declined as the harbor was gradually blocked by the silt and soil brought by Little Meander River. Today, visitors explore Ephesus III which used to be the fourth greatest city of the Roman Empire after Rome, Alexandria & Antioch. With a population over a quarter million people, it was one of the greatest political, economical and religious centers of the Romans. Ephesus also served as the capital city of the Roman Province of Asia Famous throughout history for its Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, this city was also the most important shrine of the Asia Minor. Main site of Ephesus houses two big agoras (one commercial and political) Gymnasiums, Odeon, Prytaneion, Fountains, Domitian Temple, Celsus Library, Grand Theater, Harbor Street etc...

Roman Villas of Ephesus (Terraced Houses)
Private houses located on the slope of Nightingale Hill belonged to the rich Roman citizens. Since they are constructed on three artificial terraces, we also call these houses “Terraced Houses”. That’s what makes them so unique and special in Roman architecture. It is not customary to see Roman houses being built on such terraces. No other terraced houses serving rich citizens have been unearthed so far in any other ancient city with Roman history. The houses were firstly constructed in the Hellenistic period on top of an archaic cemetery but they were mainly inhabited in the Augustus period and throughout the 1st and 2nd centuries AD which can be considered as the peak period of Roman Empire. The Terraced Houses that we visit today in Ephesus is composed of 7 dwelling units each of which have a peristyle courtyard. Each courtyard is lined with marble columns and used to serve as the center of the house and the source of daylight. The rooms always surround the courtyard. In the excavations, only a few windows have been excavated meaning the rooms were most probably very dim. The biggest dwelling unit in Terraced Houses II is over 900m2 which is 9600ft2 and holds a very big dining/reception hall where you can see over 15 different sorts of marble being used on wall and floor decorations. The houses were richly adorned and decorated with frescoes and mosaics depicting scenes from mythology, showing the power and strength of the house owner in the society. We know that some dwelling units even had private bath and toilets in the homes and they used central heating system to heat their houses. The restoration work is still continuing in these houses which provide us with detailed information and clues as to the daily lives of the rich and noble citizens that once lived in this gorgeous city. A visit to Ephesus would not be complete without seeing these magnificent homes, however one important info to underline is that visiting these homes requires climbing a lot of stairs, therefore not convenient for people with physical disabilities or walking problems.

Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis also known less precisely as Temple of Diana, is built for the worship of Artemis whose cult dominated the religious and social life of Ephesus for centuries. Today the site lies on the edge of the modern town of Selcuk. Though the monument was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only foundations and sculptural fragments of the temple remain. There were previous temples on its site, where evidence of a sanctuary dates as early as the Bronze Age. The whole temple was made of marble except for the roof. It was known to be the biggest temple ever built in the name and honor of a Goddess. According to Pausanias, the Temple was superior in perfection and impressiveness, to anything else made by man. The Ephesian Artemis was recognized throughout Asia Minor and carried many of the characteristics of Cybele, the great Mother Goddess of Anatolia. The cult of Cybele had passed over to Greece with the movements of people in the prehistoric times and later returned to Anatolia with the Greek migrations. When the Greeks arrived in Anatolian land by crossing the Aegean Sea, they saw that the native people living in the area were already worshipping the mother goddess cult. So what they did was to combine the features of their goddess Artemis with the characteristics of the local mother deity in Anatolia. However, the Ephesian Artemis is not exactly the same goddess that we see in Greek pantheon. The Ephesian Artemis is represented as a woman with many breasts symbolizing vitality and the nourishing capacity of the earth. She is the goddess of nature, of fertility, of chastity, of productivity and the protector of wild animals and sailors. Her cult was spread throughout the further shores of the Mediterranean. Since she was believed to be a mother goddess, her temple was very reputed and people who worshipped her believed that Artemis performed miracles, cured the sick, regulated commerce, helped the women to conceive and give birth. Every year, festivities called Artemisia were organized in her honor to celebrate the reawakening of nature.

Selcuk (Ephesus) Museum
Over 1000 pieces of artifacts found during the excavations in Ephesus are exhibited on a 5000 m2 area, consisting of a single floor building with four halls and a courtyard. It is Izmir's most visited museum with artworks of high cultural heritage where tousands more are kept in storage rooms.

House of Virgin Mary
House of Virgin Mary is located on top of Nightingale Hill and can be reached after a bendy but very scenic drive up the hill. She is believed to have come to Ephesus together with St. John and taken up to Panaghia Kapulu Mountain to survive the Roman persecutions. Before Jesus Christ died, he had entrusted his mother to St. John telling him that from now on, she would be his mother. The House was destroyed by many earthquakes and not discovered until 1951 thanks to a German nun, Catherine Emmerich, who saw its location in her visions. This nun was paralyzed and although she had never left her hometown in Germany, in her visions, she had seen Virgin Mary and described the location of the house she lived in. These visions of her, led to the discovery of the house in 20th century, many years after she lived and died. The site is recognized as a shrine by Vatican and visited by the Popes in 1967, 1979 and 2006. Today, the House of Virgin Mary is renovated by George Quatman Foundation from Ohio and serves as a small church which attracts many Christians as well as Muslims coming to pray for her.

Basilica of St. John
After the acceptance of Christianity in Ephesus, many churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the saints were built in the area. The most interesting of these is the Basilica of St. John. The disciples of St. John built a chapel over the tomb of the Evangelist and it became a center of Christian worship. It was visited so much by the pilgrims that by the sixth century, the emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora agreed to build a monumental edifice worthy of St. John in place of the previous construction. Justinian's church was cruciform with three naves. The wide central nave was covered with six large domes and the narthex was covered with five smaller ones. The tomb of the apostle was believed to be in a room under the floor right beneath the large dome. The floor had many mosaics and the monograms of Justinian and Theodora were decorating the capitals of some of the columns.