Ephesus

Saturday was a historic day for EC's Team Turkey.  Not only did we visit the Virgin Mary's house and one of the oldest civilizations  on earth, but we learned more than we could have dreamed and had so much fun doing so.  For example, though only landholding free men were citizens in Ephesus, there was a senate which was comprised of guilds.  For a society that used slaves, the distribution of power seemed very fair.  Speaking of slaves, interestingly enough, in the public bath houses slaves were to sit on the toilets in the winter to keep them warm.

Leo and Becca in front of the House of the Virgin Mary

The baptismal pool at the House of the Virgin Mary

Leo, Professor Martin, and Becca sitting in Ephasus' senate

Hercules! 

This is the public (free, landholding men only) bath where slaves were employed to keep seats warm. 

The famous terraced houses of Ephesus.  

Pipes.  Over 1000 years ago.  Can you believe it?! 

Here, the broken pieces of the marbled wall are being assembled like one crazy jigsaw puzzle. 

Do these even NEED a caption?!  The mosaics were some of the most stunning pieces of art I have ever seen.

We also visited St. Johns Basilica which was exceptionally fun because we didn't know we were going to visit it.  St. John ended up in Turkey because before Jesus' death, Jesus told St. John to look after his   mother because Jesus was afraid that she would be persecuted after his death.  They fled Jerusalem together and ended up near Ephesus because of it's religious freedom.

St. John's Basilica from afar

The baptismal pool at St. John's Basilica

The view from St. John's Basilica

It wasn't all learning, though.  While we were at Ephesus, one stud in particular (Leo) was stopped and asked by a group of middle school aged girls to take a picture.  At first we thought they wanted him to take their picture, but really they wanted him in the picture.  It was a day I will remember for a very long time.