Let’s step into the homes of some of the wealthiest, most affluent citizens of Ephesus.
The wealthy, affluent citizens of Ephesus lived in terraced homes, built into the hillside just up from the harbor. These homes were right in the city center, at the heart of life in Ephesus.
By building their homes into the hillsides this provided magnificent views of the sea, with fresh cool breezes blowing in off the water. (which is not all that different from the homes of the wealthy and affluent in our own day.)
The homes had the basic layout of a patio & courtyard out front to enjoy the view, which then led into a front entrance with an impluvium pool … as you can see here. This shallow reflecting pool (with rainwater collected from off the roof) reflected the brilliant sunlight outside, in turn providing light for the interior of the home (which was built back into the hillside). Notice the beautiful marble of the shallow reflecting pool, as well as the beautiful marble of the surrounding pillars.
Along the sides of the impluvium pool were beautiful mosaic-tiled floors. Stunning, isn’t it! Especially for being 2,000 years old!
The impluvium reflecting pool was adjacent to this enormous banquet hall. Notice all the marble slabs decorating the walls, both the lower portion (which archaeologists are re-assembling like puzzle pieces) as well as the large marble slabs higher up on the walls. This great marble banquet hall must have been impressive in its day!
To the immediate right of the great marble banquet hall is a massive Basilica. In my mind I think of a Basilica as a church. But a Basilica during Roman times was a commerce center where trade and business transactions took place. This massive Basilia in this private home would probably have been used as a reception hall for entertaining guests and hosting parties. (as an aside, our tour guide has spent years doing extensive excavation on this Basilica right here … pretty cool huh!)
Here you can see a storage room for the home of the wealthy and affluent. No doubt this room was at one time filled with amphorae jars of wine and olive oil. The amphorae jars would have been partially buried in the earth as a way to keep them cool.
Looking out over the beautiful marble floors and mosaic-patterned hallway, I can’t help but think about all the slaves who worked to keep these households running smoothly. In our modern day we don’t even think about slavery. But in Roman times, wealthy affluent people would have owned many slaves to do their daily chores and keep their households running for them.
Moving on to another wealthy affluent home we can see a huge mosaic filling up most of the floor space in this once-important room.
Climbing up onto the catwalk and gazing down at the mosaic on the floor, we can see that it is a lion … perhaps in a gladiatorial event? And to think this design is made up entirely of tiny pieces of tile. Amazing!
Here, we are looking down onto this wealthy affluent home. Notice the bases of where the pillared columns used to be. Was this once the impluvium reflecting pool of this home? Notice all the bright frescoed walls. Over on the right it seems these might perhaps have been the bedrooms? Notice the elaborate mosaics on the floors of these rooms.
Here is a close-up view of the mosaics on the floor of the bedrooms. Perhaps these might have been the owners of the home? And perhaps they had their “selfie” as the image for the floor mosaic? (if so it wouldn’t be all that different from the “selfies” everyone loves in our own day)
And here is a view gazing back across the rooms of this wealthy affluent home – with the once-important room featuring the lion fresco on the far left, the impluvium reflecting pool (?) in the center, and the mosaic-floored bedrooms on the right.
Only the wealthy and affluent in Ephesus could afford private indoor toilets. Here you can see the doorway leading to the private home bathroom. And if you notice the corner where the plaster is missing, you can see ancient plumbing pipes coming down the wall.
Here you can see more ancient plumbing pipes which served this wealthy affluent home with running water.
Looks like something grand and impressive is through this doorway here.
Aaahh … here is what was on the other side of the doorway. Another beautiful mosaic-tiled hallway … and a beautiful marble-tiled impluvium reflecting pool (maybe?).
The marble-tiled impluvium (reflecting pool) opens onto this grand space here! Wow! This massive floor mosaic depicts Triton (the sea god) and a Nereid (protector of sailors) riding a seahorse. Truly impressive!
As we reach the top of what has been excavated from out of the hillside, we see that the homes were built in terraces … with each home built on top and slightly overlapping the home below it. The front patio and courtyard of each home was built on top of the bedrooms and living quarters of the home below it.
In this photo, over on the right you can see the great marble banquet hall down below (where the tiny people are). This great marble banquet hall once had a roof, and up on top of that roof the patio and courtyard of this home up here once existed. In this way, everyone had unhindered views of the sea in the distance.
Here is one final view of the terraced homes of the wealthy and affluent of Ephesus. One perk of having the bedrooms and living quarters built back into the hillside is that this cut down on the noise and dust coming in from the busy main thoroughfare just outside. The homes were centrally located near the heart of the city (hence a lot of commotion outside), but being built into the hillside afforded some degree of quiet.
As I gaze at the beautiful custom mosaic-tiled flooring and custom fresco wall decorations of these wealthy affluent homes, I can’t help but think once again: We can’t take any of it with us. Our own modern-day fancy new flooring from Home Depot … our fancy brand-new appliances … our hot tub … our fancy landscaping … our bigger, better home with the more amazing view.
We can’t take any of it with us.
We’ll leave it all behind one day. Just like the beautiful custom mosaic-tiled flooring in Ephesus.
I can’t help but wonder about the people who lived in these wealthy affluent homes? Was there love in these homes? Was kindness expressed in these homes? Was forgiveness extended in these homes? Was generosity shared in these homes? Was there gratitude? Was there joy in these homes?
One day our time on earth will come to an end … and the only thing that will matter is: Did we love God? Did we love others?
Because, when it comes down to it, in the end … only love will remain.
