When Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, and probably Silas and Timothy arrived in Ephesus, after leaving Corinth (Acts 18:18-19) they would have passed through this gate right here to enter the city. This view is from the inside looking out.
In this photo below we are on the outside of the gate … in the Agora (which we looked at in yesterday’s blog post). To the left is the wide-open space of the Agora, which was surrounded on all sides by pillared colonnades and porticos with shops and stalls. To the right, just on the other side of that large hill is the Great Theater of Ephesus (which we saw yesterday).
Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, and most likely Silas and Timothy arrived in Ephesus at the harbor, which is far off to the left of this photo. In yesterday’s blog post we looked at the wide marble-paved Harbor Road leading from the harbor to the city.
Upon disembarking from their ship, they would have traveled up the Harbor Road as far as the Great Theater, then turned and crossed to come this direction to head through the massive 3-arched gateway into the middle section of the city.
Upon passing through the massive 3-arched gateway, here you can see the plaza. The grand Library of Celsus was not here when Paul and his traveling companions came to Ephesus. This library had not been built yet.
The Library of Celsus was named after a governor of the province. His son built this library in his honor as a mausoleum in AD 123. The library once held around 12,000 scrolls … and was the third largest library after Alexandria and Pergamon.
The front of the library features 4 recessed niches, with statues in each niche representing the traits of Celsus: wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, and valor.
The three grand doorways of the library, on the main floor, are matched by windows up above.
It’s impressive! But as was stated, it was not here when Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, Silas and Timothy came to Ephesus.
The city of Ephesus was built into several adjoining hillsides, therefore, upon entering the city through the massive 3-arched gateway, everything was up, up, up. This photo here gives you a good view of this. You have to imagine all those trees in the distance don’t exist. They are not there … but rather the view behind the Library of Celsus is an expanse of beautiful blue water, stretching far away to those distant hills. Back to the left, behind the Library of Celsus is where the harbor of Ephesus was located. And of course, to the immediate right of the Library of Celsus you can see the massive 3-arched gateway through which Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, Silas and Timothy entered.
Having just come through the massive 3-arched gateway, we can imagine Paul and his traveling companions heading up the wide, marble-paved main thoroughfare of the city. There would have been horses and chariots, wagons and carts, Roman soldiers, sailors, merchants, and travelers from all over the world … a cacophony of people and languages! (just like today in fact)
As we start to head up into the middle part of the city, we haven’t gone far when we decided to detour off the main thoroughfare and go down a smaller side street on the left. More shops are through arched doorways on this smaller street. The Great Theater is directly in front of us, hidden by the hill. The sounds from the Great Theater could no doubt be easily heard from this street.
We are headed into the public latrines on the left.
Only the very wealthy and affluent citizens of Ephesus could afford to have private toilets in their homes. Everyone else used the public latrines. These were social places where people would visit and chat with each other. This particular latrine could accommodate 40 people.
The toilet seats were made from marble, and everyone sat in a row together chatting and catching up on the latest news.
Stepping into the public latrine, we can see there was a large open-air courtyard with a fountain in the center of the room, supported by these standing columns here. Along the walls all the way around the room were the benches of toilets (as you can see at the base of the wall on the far side).
The city of Ephesus was a very sophisticated city with underground plumbing and running water. The water from higher up in the surrounding hills was channeled into a network of 4 major aqueducts to supply the city with water.
Because the city of Ephesus was built into the hillsides, gravity helped the water flow from higher elevations down through the city. Reservoirs in the upper parts of the city collected and held water to manage and control the water system.
Here in the public latrines, water would be constantly flowing in the trench underneath the toilet seats.
In the above photo, you can see our tour guide explaining the public latrines to us. Just to his right, off in the distance, you can see a portion of the Library of Celsus.
If we were to stand where our tour guide is standing, and look out over the city, this is the view. The Library of Celsus is on the left, and to its right we can just barely see the top edge of the main 3-arched gateway. Panning over to the right, those green trees are where the large open area of the Agora used to be, surrounded by pillared colonnades. You can also see a wide marble-paved street in the right of the photo. This wide marble-paved street was the main entrance leading to the Great Theater (which is just out of view to the right, behind the hill).
Here is a more direct view of this wide marble-paved street leading into the Great Theater of Ephesus. The crowds had to be immense entering and exiting the theater!
I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post how the sea at Ephesus was silting up and pushing the deep water further and further out … thereby causing ongoing challenges for the harbor. Part of the silting problem was due to the water/plumbing system of Ephesus draining down into the bay. The city’s plumbing/water works system was indeed highly sophisticated, but it came with the cost of the drainage from the large bustling city silting up the bay.
Here you can see a nice collection of Ephesus’s clay plumbing pipes which were once used in their underground plumbing/water works system. Pretty cool! I had no idea the city of Ephesus, when Paul was there, had running water/plumbing.
This was Ephesus.
