St. Paul and Ancient History in Ephesus

In Turkey, we also visited the ruins of Ephesus. Ephesus is an ancient city; many of the ruins we saw were from the first century A.D. Turkey itself is the seat of ancient civilizations, where the Euphrates and Tigres Rivers originate, the land of Mesopotamia.

Our tour guide, John. Photo by Peggy Arizzi.

Our friendly and knowledgable tour guide John told us that Turkey has more ancient ruins than Greece and Italy combined. Turkey, a country of 80 million people, is a secular nation that is 97 percent Muslim. Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 by Ataturk who gave women the right to vote and run for office.

Paul was in Ephesus, a major city, for three years, a time described in Acts 19. Like other places he went, Paul's time in Ephesus was a combination of successes and hardships. He converted many people to Christianity but also angered blacksmiths and other craftsmen with his denunciations of idol worship.

We didn't see many places directly associated with Paul in Ephesus, but the ruins there are some of the most well preserved.

Besides spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ in Ephesus, Paul also wrote the first letter to the Corinthians here with its beautiful passage on love.

Above an ancient board game similar to backgammon.

The Library of Celsius, the third largest in the ancient world. Female statues representing Wisdom, Knowledge, Virtue, and Fortune that once stood at the library are now in the Ephesus Museum in Vienna (!)

I do love libraries.

The Monument of Memmius.

One website describes the above as an early example of graffiti, advertising a house of prostitution. The foot points the direction and the heart with all the holes indicates that there are women who will give you love, but that you won't be the only one.

I found the above latrines so fascinating, possibly because it is very easy to envision people using them! There was little privacy in the Roman world.

Acts of the Apostles 19:23-41 describes a riot in this theater as a result of Paul's preaching.

Paul wrote a beautiful letter to the Ephesians. Providentially, the daily Mass readings on our pilgrimage have been from this epistle. 

In Acts 20, Paul speaks of his time in Ephesus. He quotes Jesus in verse 35, a quote that doesn't appear in any of the gospels. "In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Lots of stray cats and dogs in Turkey and Greece.

We also stopped at a Turkish rug factory.

Pulling up the gangplank to our cruise ship.

Leaving the port town of Kusadasi in Turkey. Onto to Patmos!