Ephesus Ancient Ruins – 2014-10-12
Mary’s House at Ephesus
We arrived in Ephesus to visit Mary’s House and walk the streets of ancient Ephesus where St Paul preached.
Catholics believe that Mary and St John lived their last days in the hills above Ephesus. Mary allegedly appeared to an invalid to reveal the location of her house at Ephesus. The archeologists unearthed Mary’s House at that location.
Ancient Ruins at Ephesus
No one lives in Ephesus today. The area was abandoned because of earthquakes that frequent the area among other reasons.
This has meant the Archeologists have been able to unearth the whole city. The effort has been ongoing for over 100 years. They are about 20% finished. It is an active archeological site.
This was a marvelous place to visit! It was by far the most impressive site we have visited on this trip!
You can see how people shopped, entertained themselves, worshipped and studied. You can walk the marble streets where the horses and chariots roaming. You can see the covered “basilica” walk ways that people used.
There was no evidence of St Paul here and Mary for that matter. Ephesus was a huge pagan city until the time of Constantine. However, you can imagine St Paul preaching here and the lack of reception among the shop keepers as described in scripture.
The water delivery system under the streets was really impressive. The human waste removal system in evidence resembled our own!