Ephesus: An Ancient City More Grand than Pompeii

We took a cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean last summer (July 2015) and one of the most interesting stops was Ephesus (Efes in Turkish).

Your first question (you’re going to have a lot more):  What the hell is Ephesus and if I’ve already seen Pompeii, why would I want to go there?  Gather ‘round studly, well-traveled men of the world, and glamorous, sophisticated ladies.  Glamorous ladies, feel free to find a spot on my knee, while your husbands tremble with jealously.

The ancient city of Ephesus has many ties, not only to antiquity, but to the Bible.  Yes, it’s in Turkey, just below Izmir, but it was a Greek city, founded a thousand years before Christ, and it may have been a Hittite settlement even earlier.  Then came the Romans. The Middle East is like that.  A wedding cake with too many layers to count.  You can only take a bite at a time and in the limited time we were there, about a six-hour tour, all you could do was lightly nibble, like a tiny, sunburned mouse on a 30 second diet.

Hot?  Oh lordy!  Talk about needing some slaves with fans.  I should have brought a Camel Pack, or a six pack of Efes Beer, brewed in Istanbul.

But, enough about my dehydration. How big was Ephesus back in the Greek/Roman days?  Some 300,000 people.  It was often referred to as the Gateway of Asia.  In fact, back in the shadows of antiquity, it was the fourth greatest city of the world, after Rome, Alexandria (Egypt), and Antioch (Syria).

We walked in, marveling at rubble, reconstructed edifices, and cobbled streets. Recognizable names sprang out of our guide’s mouth and we chewed on those for a bit.  St Paul probably wrote here and he certainly preached in the great amphitheater more than once.  He had a close call when merchants who made their living selling magic charms of The Goddess Diana (Artemis in Greek) thought he was cutting into their business and took it personally. 

It is believed that St John wrote his Gospel here. (see the following photos)

The Ruins of the Church of St John

The Amphitheater

The amphitheater at Ephesus offers one of the best microcosms of Greek and Roman life. How do archeologists know the size of an ancient city?  A rule of thumb:  Take the number of people the amphitheater held and multiply by ten.  Not exact, to be sure, but the amphitheater was in many ways the focus of social life.  Discussions, political and philosophical, athletic contests, gladiator fights, live theater, and executions all took place here. 

Not into the Biblical and historic aspects?  Ok.  Sting and Elton John played the ancient amphitheater and after one raucous performance, when powerful speakers the size of tanks threatened to make the walls come tumbling down, the government put a limit on volume.  Other cities could take a lesson.

The Arcadian Way. In the distance is the Library of Celsus

Cleopatra and Mark Anthony strode the flagstone-covered main street, the Arcadian Way.  At one time it was a hundred feet wide and even today it’s impressive.  It's startling to realize your Nikes are striding along exactly where famous Roman sandals trod.

Onward, with far more to see. There are elaborate terraces where the rich lived, and even now many of the delicate tiles and frescoed walls survive.  For a long time, these homes were not excavated because archeologists hadn’t devised a means of protecting them from the weather.  Now the whole area is tarp covered and digging continues.  A walkway allowed us to wander up the side of the digging and permitted a god’s eye view of  the wonders from top to bottom.  Below us, archeologists in ones and twos dusted and cleaned, reclaiming the past.  Much more activity here than in Pompeii.

 (see the following photos)

Note the archeologists at work.

One thing you will not see is the Temple of Artemis (Diana), which was four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  The Goths destroyed it in 268 A.D.  It may have been rebuilt, but another John, St John Chrysostom (a noted anti-Semite) led an angry mob in 401 A.D. to finish the job.

Immediately, you find yourself asking:  What were the other six Wonders of the Ancient World?  Second question:  Where the hell is my guidebook?  Gotcha covered, bro.  The Great Pyramid of Giza (still standing), The Colossus of Rhodes, Lighthouse of Alexandria, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (all three destroyed by earthquakes, Statue of Zeus (like The Temple of Artemis purposefully destroyed), and The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which may or may not have existed.

The Library of Celsus

Back to Ephesus’ stone streets.  A most impressive structure is the façade of the Library of Celsus, built to hold some 12,000 scrolls.  Completed around 135 A.D., 130 years later earthquakes and fire wrecked it, and a thousand years after that, a similar catastrophe completed the destruction.  Archeologists reconstructed the face of it in the mid 1970s.

I’ve given you just a few tidbits, a small hors d’oeuvre at a banquet of archeological and historical delights.  If you enjoyed Pompeii, you’ll suck up Ephesus like an alcoholic historian. Both cities lead you back thousands of years, into the still beating hearts of lost civilizations.

Applause follows.  Light kisses on the cheek from the glamorous, sophisticated ladies.  Boisterous slaps on the back from the well-traveled men of the world.

The Temple of Hadrian as it looks today

The Temple of Hadrian as it once looked.

Remains of the Roman (and Greek) baths.

Turkish Festival, Homburg 2015

Homburg is a lively town.  Fests just about every week in fine weather.  Later in the summer there’s an Italian Fest, which is always a wonderful amalgam of wine, opera, pizza, Italian pop music, jazz, and pasta.  (13-16 August 2015)

But, last week was about Turkey, with an emphasis on food, more food, lots of smoke from charcoal grills, light musical entertainment, and a few active games for the kids.  Stilts.  Foot pedaled platforms.  Pull momma’s skirt and Watch Her Spill Her Food.  Who’s Got the Loudest Scream.

Heavy emphasis on kids.  I must have seen four or five musical numbers involving Turkish kids, although not all Turkish music.  Catchy, repetitive American Top Forty selections were a big favorite, with up to twenty young kids on stage, jerking and dancing, and singing along in preparation for becoming big repetitive stars.

I like Turkish food.  Lots of grilled, spiced meats, and breads whose delicious smell will lead you by the nose and polish your palate.  Lamb is very popular in Turkey, but here in Germany, lamb costs about the same as chateaubriand at a three star Michelin culinary palace. For meats, this fest stuck to beef and a bit of chicken.  They didn’t have the big tandoori-style ovens for the bread, so they used what looked like flour tortillas and probably were.  I miss Turkish bread.

I remembered, however, that gozleme, which looks exactly the same as flour tortillas, but stuffed with fresh cheese and spinach, is a popular Turkish street food. A coterie of Turkish maidens did well with their versions, using electric hot plates and various savory fillings.

Gozleme

Adana kebab is one of my favorites, and the beef version was excellent.  Ground meat, seasoned with cumin, red pepper flakes, and various other seasoning, grilled and served on flat bread with a generous helping of marinated salad.

Adana Kebab

And, who can forget the most famous dessert from the eastern Mediterranean region, baklava.   Lots and lots of variations besides the well-known version of layers of phyllo dough, filled with ground nuts, slathered in butter, and baked in a good soaking of sweet syrup.  Kadayif is similar, but made with something resembling shredded wheat.

Kadayif 

So, yes, I stood too close to the grill and got smoked in the process.  But, the Adana kebab was close to perfect.  Then, I hit the dessert line and had one of each, which made the scarf-clad ladies laugh and mutter in Turkish something on the order of, “That handsome brute loves my cooking.  I must invite him to my house for tea, while my husband-who-ignores-my-beauty slaves at the office.”

 

Not all Turkish women dress traditionally.

As you might imagine, I loved the Turkish Festival.  Now, if I could only find that damn address…

Cornbread Dressing - Simply Delicious

Everything you'll need

Holidays are times for favorites and that especially means food.   Gingerbread cookies, whose deliciousness floats through the house; Roasting turkey, cranberry sauce.  The list grows longer.  One of my special favorites, besides seeing my favorite elf, cozy by the fireside, with a naughty grin on her face…ah, lost my train of thought….oh, yeah, food.  Cornbread dressing!

Some call it stuffing, but I never stuff a turkey, so I call it dressing.  Dates back to my childhood, over half a century ago.  I picture my mother, who miraculously never weighted more than 105 pounds, in the uncomfortably warm kitchen, Vogue perfect, a starched apron completing the ensemble.  The oven going.  The stovetop, with half a dozen steaming pans, and on the counter a cast iron skillet loaded with day-old cornbread.  Why day-old instead of freshly baked?  Moisture, my lad.  Cornbread that’s a tad on the dry side soaks up the goodness of all that’s to follow.

It all starts with cornbread. Here’s my recipe, but feel free to use another.  The important things are to make it a day ahead and to make enough!  This is a single recipe that I use to make dressing that feeds 6-8.

2 Cups cornmeal (I use organic, non-genetically modified.  Just make sure it is a normal grind, not finely ground)

1/4 Cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder (non-aluminum)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Cup milk

1/4 Cup vegetable oil

2 egg whites, or 1 whole egg, beaten

Heat oven to 400ºF (200ºC).  Heavily grease an iron skillet or 8x9 inch pan.  Put the pan in the oven to heat while you mix the cornbread.

Combine the dry ingredients. Stir in the wet ingredients, mixing only until the dry ingredients are moist.  Do not over-mix.

Remove the pan from the oven, pour in the batter, and put the pan back in the pre-heated oven.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Once you have the cornbread, the rest is a cinch.

Prepare the vegetables:

1 1/2 Cups sliced celery

1 1/2 Cups roughly chopped onions

1 Carrot, shredded

1 1/2 sticks butter

2 Cans or 1 32 oz carton organic chicken broth

Melt the butter in a skillet, add the vegetables and stir.  Cook only until the vegetables are just soft.

While the vegetables are cooking, in a saucepan, heat the chicken broth and reduce by half.

Crumble the cornbread into a large bowl.  Add the cooked vegetables and mix lightly, being careful not to pack down the mixture.  Moisten with the reduced chicken broth and toss.  Do not let the mixture get soggy. Taste and add more broth or melted butter if you wish.

Put the dressing mixture in an ovenproof dish and bake at 350ºF (180ºC) until the tops of the chunks of dressing begin to brown.

Notice, the dressing is not packed down!

Already have the Turkey carved, the table set? Remove the dressing from the oven and serve with your favorite homemade turkey gravy.

Now that you’ve done your duty, crack open that bottle of bubbly and join your elf by the fireside.  Maybe the guests won’t notice.