The Temple of Artemis at Sardis, the fourth largest Ionic temple in the world, is situated dramatically on the western slopes of the Acropolis, below the mass of the Tmolus Mountains in a broad valley opening into the ancient Pactolus River bed (Figs. 1, 2, 3).1 As with the other two Artemisions of Asia Minor, the great Archaic/Hellenistic temple at Ephesus and Hermogenes’ Temple of Artemis Leucophryene at Magnesia-on-the-Meander, the principal facade of the temple was toward the west. The area might have been sacred to Artemis from the earliest days onward as attested by a large Archaic altar of limestone blocks, located at the west end of the temple.2 Although the exact date of this altar (which was enlarged at a later period) is not certain, it is clear that the earlier structure predated the temple.
Located on land sloping down naturally from the Acropolis, east to west, the temple was buried deeper, and hence preserved better, on its eastern end; two of its columns survived intact to our day. The clarity of its structure and its well-preserved details makes the Temple of Artemis of Sardis a remarkable example for the study of the construction process of a major Greek building. Yet, certain portions, such as the entire west end, the north and south peristyle colonnades, and the roof structure, are entirely gone, have been altered, or were never finished. We have one whole and a few fragmentary architrave blocks, but none of the frieze, cornice, or the hypothetical pediment. This makes the understanding of the original design, and its successive renovations, difficult. Furthermore, it appears that the architecture of the Temple of Artemis at Sardis was highly unorthodox, making it hard to place in a traditional category of Greek temple design (Fig. 4).
Claros (/ˈklɛərəs/;[1] Greek: Κλάρος, Klaros; Latin: Clarus) was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, honored here as Apollo Clarius. It was located in the territory of Colophon, which lay twelve kilometers to the north, one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The coastal city Notion lay two kilometers to the south. The ruins of the sanctuary are now found north of the modern town Ahmetbeyli in the Menderes district of İzmir Province, Turkey.
The Temple of Apollo at Claros was a very important center of prophecy, as in Delphi and Didyma. The oldest literary information about this sacred site goes back to the sixth and seventh centuries BC, through the Homeric Hymns, though Proto-Geometric pottery at the site betokens 9th century occupation. A sacred cave near the Temple of Apollo, which was an important place both in the Hellenistic and Roman eras, points to the existence of a Cybele cult in early periods here. Games called the Claria were held at Claros every fifth year in honor of Apollo.
Ephesus was a major city on the coast of Ionia, recognized as one of the three most important cities of the Roman Empire, alongside Rome and Alexandria. Located near the modern village of Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey, Ephesus played a central role in Roman Asia Minor and was celebrated for its wealth, culture, and strategic location. The city was especially famous for the nearby Temple of Artemis, completed around 550 BC, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Other monumental buildings, such as the Library of Celsus and the theater, which could hold up to 24,000 spectators, underscored its status as a thriving metropolis. Today, Ephesus is the most visited ancient site in Turkey and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.
In Roman times, Ephesus was located on the northern slopes of the Coressus and Pion hills, south of the Cayster River. The coastline has since shifted due to silt deposits from the river, leaving the ruins several kilometers from the Aegean Sea. However, in its heyday, Ephesus commanded key trade routes into Asia and the surrounding regions, making it a crucial economic hub for the empire.
Human settlement in the Ephesus region dates back to the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC), and by 334 BC, the city was liberated by Alexander the Great from Persian control. Following the defeat of Antiochus the Great by the Romans in 189 BC, Ephesus was handed over to the Kingdom of Pergamon and later became part of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. Under Augustus, Ephesus emerged as the capital of the Roman province of Asia, and the city entered a period of significant prosperity. However, by 614 AD, an earthquake caused considerable damage to the city, marking the beginning of its decline. The harbor gradually silted up, cutting off access to the Aegean Sea and leading to the eventual abandonment of Ephesus by the 15th century.
Gregory of Tours, in his Glory of the Martyrs (29), records the following things in Ephesus (western Asia Minor): the tomb of *Mary Magdalene (female follower of Jesus, S00286); the relics of the *Seven Sleepers (brothers who fell asleep during the persecution of Decius, S00287); and the image of Diana destroyed by *Paul (the Apostle, S00008). Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 580/594.
Ephesus Retreat is located in the magnificent scenery of the ancient Ephesus Hills, at Turkey’s Aegean Coast.
It is a place of inspiration and transformation.
Here you will find relaxation, creativity, well-being and you can reach and exploit your highest potential.
The magic of the place will give you strength. The place invites you to absorb the inspiration that arises here with every fiber of your body in order to change your world bit by bit when you leave with newfound enthusiasm.
Our Retreat is wonderfully situated on the slopes 400 meters above Ephesus and offers a breathtaking panoramic view of the Aegean region and supports you in self-reflection.
Welcome to Ephesus Retreat and may you enjoy your visit here!
Magnesia or Magnesia on the Maeander (Ancient Greek: Μαγνησία ἡ πρὸς Μαιάνδρῳ or Μαγνησία ἡ ἐπὶ Μαιάνδρῳ; Latin: Magnesia ad Maeandrum) was an ancient Greek city in Ionia, considerable in size, at an important location commercially and strategically in the triangle of Priene, Ephesus and Tralles. The city was named Magnesia, after the Magnetes from Thessaly who settled the area along with some Cretans. It was later called "on the Meander" to distinguish it from the nearby Lydian city Magnesia ad Sipylum. It was earlier the site of Leucophrys mentioned by several ancient writers.[1]
The territory around Magnesia was extremely fertile, and produced excellent wine, figs, and cucumbers.[2] It was built on the slope of Mount Thorax,[3] on the banks of the small river Lethacus, a tributary of the Maeander river upstream from Ephesus. It was 15 miles from the city of Miletus.[4][5] The ruins of the city are located west of the modern village Tekin in the Germencik district of Aydın Province, Turkey.
Magnesia lay within Ionia, but because it had been settled by Aeolians from Greece, was not accepted into the Ionian League. Magnesia may have been ruled for a time by the Lydians,[6] and was for some time under the control of the Persians and subject to Cimmerian raids. In later years, Magnesia supported the Romans during the Second Mithridatic War.[7][8]
The House of Virgin Mary in Ephesus was not known until Anne Catherine Emmerich's vision. The paralysed German nun who had never been to Ephesus had a vision of the House of the Virgin Mary and described it in detail to the German writer Clemens Brentano who later published a book about it. Catherine Emmerich died in 1884. In 1891 priests and historians from Izmir read about her vision and found a little building which corresponded with Emmerich's descriptions.
Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore
Priene, Ionia, Turkey
350 BCE
The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore was built with the foundation of Priene and dedicated to Demeter who is the goddess of fertility and her daughter Kore. It is situated on the terrace, just below the steep slopes of Acropolis. It covers an area 45.5 meters long and 17.75 meters wide, lies on an east-west axis with the entrance on the east side.
The temple has a different form from the peripheral temple. Two statues of priestesses stood in front of the entrance door; one of the statues, a bronze one represented the priestess Timonassa, and the other, a marble statue of the priestess Nikesso which are today display in Pergamum Museum in Berlin. They were the head priestess of Demeter and Kore. On the south of the entrance, there are simple houses located which were used by temple personnel and the priestess to live.
Against the rear (west) wall of the temenos stands the temple building, of unusual form: behind the east-facing pronaos is a cella which is wider than it is long, and which narrows towards the south. Two small rooms open off the cella to the north. The pronaos does not extend for the entire length of the cella, nor is the cella door centered between the columns of the pronaos, which were are Doric, unfluted, and in antis. A door leads from the pronaos to the sacrificial pit in the south.
Blood from the animals offered to the goddess was gathered at the sacrificial hole where was outside the temple between the narrower south side of the sacred road and the vestibule. The Demeter figurine was found among the votive offerings was represented with a corn sheaf in her hand. It can also be seen on early Prienean coins.
Construction of the sanctuary began sometime in the late fourth century BCE Some features of the sanctuary are of Roman date and attest to the continuity of use: the altar near the entrance is Roman, and later walls of uncertain purpose were built within the temenos.
Into the Underworld
The three of us have visited Miletus on numerous occasions but had never heard even a whisper of a sacred cave, therefore, we were hugely intrigued.
The entrance to this long concealed by natural vegetation location is to be found within the west section of the main façade of the theatre (or to one’s left when looking from today’s car park). A newly positioned information board stands prominently, and very informatively, in front of the cave entrance, which consists of a descending stairwell of eight rock hewn steps. It would be advisable for any visitor to bring along a torch, as the descent soon plunges one into the darkness of an adjoining passage off to the left.
There is also an antechamber off to the right, again in pitch darkness, which leads to an abrupt end. Therefore, take the passage leading to the left and take care to negotiate a deep step upwards and a metal bar affixing a precarious looking hanging stone. The visitor shall then once again be bathed in light as shafts stream through from a window and another doorway, though I suspect these to be rather recent, illuminating most of the central aspect of the cave.
Stygian abyss
The ambiance oozes a dank and gloomy Stygian abyss. A green slime of moss and algae clings to the walls and ceiling of the cave, permeating a feeling of otherworldliness which conjures a feeling of foreboding.
When had the spring first burst through on this rocky hill is open to debate, and possibly the archaeologists reports may report a rough timeframe, but it is well documented that this area was, indeed, populated during the Neolithic era and a local source of fresh water would have been imperative for survival. The alluvial deposits from the River Meandros may hide even earlier signs of human habitation, though that can only be conjecture at this point.
The entrance steps into the cave have been crudely cut which suggests pre-Greek, and chisel marks along the walls appear to corroborate an early date to the cave being made easier to gain access.
Therefore, if these rock hewn steps are not Greek then they may well be Carian, the people whom inhabited this south-western section of Anatolia. Which could conceivably mean that the Anatolian mother goddess, Cybele, was worshipped within this cave with the sacred spring?
When the Athenian Greek traders first settled in the area they would have incorporated this shrine into their belief system, identifying Cybele with their own mother goddess, Gaia.
It is estimated that the Greeks built possibly four different theatres upon the slope of this rock hill, though with a projected seating capacity for 3,500-5,000 spectators it would bear no comparison with the Roman theatre, capacity 15,000, we observe today. Would the smaller Greek theatres have covered the entrance to the cave? The city walls of this time may have, though that could have been incorporated into the design.
The Roman versions, the first probably during the reign of Nero, which was then usurped by the theatre we know so well today during Trajan’s tenure as Emperor, would certainly have integrated the cave into the sophisticated plan.
Description of the interior
The vaulted ceiling of the cave and some bricks at the doorway into the entrance passage indicate a Roman origin. In the main chamber a substantial and solid main pillar hewn out of the living rock and clad in finely worked masonry on each of its sides. In front of this pillar on the window-lighted side is a hollow basin cut into the bedrock in which to collect the water which spills forth from the surrounding rocks. I shall be interested in discovering how much water collects during the rainy season. Cut into the walls, furthest from the light sources, are three pilasters which reveal that this cave was well adorned with representations of sumptuous architecture, it therefore must have held some high status, such as one would expect that a god or goddess would command.
The Roman embellishments of this central cavity, as can also be seen in parts of the linking corridor which have been meticulously faced with rectangular masonry vying with the areas chiselled out of the living rock, which appear crude by comparison, imbue the confidence of an Imperial powerhouse, confident in its status. Romans were never shy of pompous display.
Due to the water gushing forth within this sacred cave, it could be also referred to as an Ayazma, a holy well or spring. These are mostly ascribed as belonging to the cult of the ‘nymphai’. Female spirits of the natural world; minor goddesses of the forests, rivers, springs, meadows, mountains and seas. Though certain archaeological finds, most notably a fragment of a black marble sceptre with a coiled snake’s body around it suggest the god Asclepius.
And may it well do so if the archaeological finds of severed fingers are any indication. It appears that these gruesome objects of veneration were votive offerings to the god Asclepius, god of medicine and healing. Though, such an attribution to this god requires more clarification.
Though this sacred cave has evidently been long known, I had heard nothing about it whatsoever. It was, therefore, with excitement and expectation that I visited, and I was not disappointed in the slightest.
For thousands of years, Mount Latmos has been a sacred place. The Greeks thought that Selene, goddess of the moon, came there nightly to lie with her mortal lover Endymion. Centuries later, hundreds of Byzantine monks lived in the caves that pock its slopes, praying away the years in a landscape grim as the wrath of God.
The mountain even looks otherworldly. One approaches along the shore of Lake Bafa, an ancient arm of the Aegean silted off from the sea. As the potholed, not-quite-two-lane road rounds the northern shore, boulder-strewn hills begin to rear up on either side. A sharp turn brings into view impossible piles of pinnacles and tumbled stone: the slopes of Latmos. The mountain seems to be actively thrusting upward, and throwing off cascades of boulders in its ascent.
The Temple at Didyma (modern Didim) was a major sanctuary of Apollo on the Eastern Aegean Coast. It was around 20 km from Miletus at the southern end of its Sacred Way.
According to legend, the temple was founded even before Greek settlers arrived in the area. Construction of the second temple began around the middle of the 6th century BCE though it was destroyed by the Persians in the following century. It was in ruins, so we are told, until Alexander the Great began to rebuild the temple. It was a massive structure, even larger than the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It had a total of 120 Ionic columns which were almost 20 m tall. It measured over 110 meters by 50 meters. While work continued throughout antiquity, the temple was never finished. The Romans held the Oracle of Apollo at the Temple of Didyma in high regard, during which time its importance even surpassed the famous Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.
The temple, though, was closed in the late 4th century by Emperor Theodosius I when he made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. In Late Antiquity, a basilica was built in its inner sanctuary which served as the seat of the bishop. A smaller church was later built in the temple ruins after an earthquake destroyed this basilica. While partial excavations began in the 19th century the site was not fully excavated until the early 20th century. During this time, the remains of the basilica were demolished in order to present the Classical phase of the temple.
Lagina Ancient City And The Temple of Hecate is of historical and touristic importance belonging to the Carian period and located in the Yatağan district of Muğla. Lagina Hecate sanctuary was the cult place of the ancient city of Stratonikeia and the religious center of the region. The ancient place, which is an important cult center of the Carians, is a settlement with an uninterrupted settlement from the ancient Bronze Age (3000 BC) to the present day where a little Turkish village is still can be visited. This is the only building built in the name of the goddess Hecate which can be visited today, and it is also of great archaeological importance as it is the second temple built in the Corinthian order in Anatolia.
Hecate of Lagina, Turkey
Lagina Hecate Sanctuary has propylon (monumental entrance gate), sacred road, altar (sacrifice pit), peribolos (wall surrounding the sanctuary), Doric Stoas, and Hecate Temple. Archaeological excavations in the Lagina sanctuary are important since they are the first excavations carried out by Turkish scientists ever in Anatolia. Osman Hamdi Bey and Halit Ethem Bey conducted these excavations. Archaeological excavation and restoration works were resumed in 1993 under the leadership of the Muğla Museum, under the scientific consultancy of Turkish architects and archaeologists.
According to the Roman senate decision engraved on the wall of the Temple of Hecate and confirming the sacredness of the holy place, it is understood that the temple definitely existed in 81 BC. Although the exact construction date of the temple is not known, it is thought that it may belong to the end of the 2nd century BC and the beginning of the 1st century BC. Corinthian capitals contain features from the early 1st century BC and later. Although the decoration areas were planned when the temple was built, it is seen that some decorations continued until the Early Imperial Period and there are still unfinished parts. Studies on the architectural details, construction stages, and dating of the temple continue.
Located in southwestern Turkey, in the upper valley of the Morsynus River, the site consists of two components: the archaeological site of Aphrodisias and the marble quarries northeast of the city. The temple of Aphrodite dates from the 3rd century BC and the city was built one century later. The wealth of Aphrodisias came from the marble quarries and the art produced by its sculptors. The city streets are arranged around several large civic structures, which include temples, a theatre, an agora and two bath complexes.
