Cave of Seven Sleepers

Following my tour of Ephesus, I took a little detour to a less frequented site in Selcuk. Its called the Cave of the Seven Sleepers. As I mentioned before, Selcuk is home to a lot of early Christian historical sites and stories. This one is quite interesting, so I thought I would travel off the beaten path and check it out. 

After I exited through upper Ephesus, I walked down a long road for about 20-25 minutes. From there, I banged left on this gravel road and walked for another 20 minutes or so. While walking, there was literally no one or any cars on the road. Just me -- Quite eerie. I've seen too many horror movies to be doing shit like that, but I was determined. So I walk down this second road and I come to a few small houses with old Turkish women sitting around drinking tea. And right outside the houses, there was a sign for the cave.  I walked up a steep hill for about a minute and bam, there it was. 

AND IT GOES A LITTLE SOMETHING LIKE THIS...  

During the 3rd century AD, the epic beef between the Roman State and the early Christians was still raging. This was, of course, because the Christians refused to worship and make sacrifices to the Roman gods and goddesses. When the Emperor Decius was due to come to Ephesus, seven young Christian men escaped the city to avoid persecution for defying the Roman State. They hid in a cave up in the mountains where they fell asleep. When the Roman soldiers found their hide out, the emperor ordered the cave sealed.

Two centuries later an earth quake broke down the wall and miraculously woke up the men who then re entered the city to find food. They returned to Ephesus to find that Christianity was now the accepted and official religion of the Roman Empire. The Emperor Theodosius was informed of this miracle and recognized it as proof of the doctrine of Resurrection -- which at the time was a major issue within the Church. 

When the young men eventually died, they were buried in the cave and a church was built over the resting place. 

I couldn't walk into the caves because it was fenced off but I snapped some pictures through the fence.

Nobody was up there but me, either. Kind of an uncanny feeling. 

Shit you don't hear about let alone see everyday, man. 

  

Real Hustlers of Ephesus

Before I go on to detail the next place I visited while in Selcuk, I'm gonna go ahead and talk about something I noticed while walking around Ephesus right quick. 

Many of these tourist destinations are plagued with thirsty Turkish business owners who harass you as you enter and exit these historical sites. You also have these bootleg freelance tour guides who will relentlessly be all up in your face trying to make a buck. Even though its extremely annoying and I'm usually a hot target because my skin immediately gives me away as a foreigner, I can't knock the hustle. Everybody's gotta eat. 

But the real hustlers of these tourist traps here in Turkey are not the men hawking you, telling you to buy their goods and use their services. No, no. If you were thinking that, then you are sadly mistaken. The real hustlers in these streets are the feral cats. These aren't no scrawny pitiful looking things either -- Their clearly well fed, healthy, and surprisingly clean. They gotta be 10 times more thorough than the ones that are in Philly.

Anyway they're clearly scamming us poor unsuspecting tourists. All they do is lay around, get lavished with attention and food from people who find them to be so precious and irresistible. Straight chillin. 

So shout out to the hustling cats of Ephesus. I tip my hat to you.

 Stay grinding, stay hungry. 

   

Ancient Ephesus Highlights

Before I hop from subject to subject, I figured since I last blogged about my inter city travel experience, I'll fill you guys in on my trip. Anywho, I traveled from Istanbul  for 10 hours to a small town 2 miles from the Aegean called Selcuk (pronounced SELL-CHOOK). Selcuk is attracts hundreds of thousands of tours because of its early Christian history and its proximity to the ruins of the Ancient port city Ephesus. And lucky you, now you get to read all about it. 

Ephesus was one of the largest cities and most wealthy cities in the ancient Mediterranean world with a population of 250,000. Its wealth was due to its natural harbor which is now 3 kilometers from the archaeological site. Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that were cited in the Book of Revelation, Letter to the Ephesians is in reference to the people of Ephesus, the last home of the Virgin Mary is nearby, and St. John is also buried nearby as well. The city was eventually abandoned because over the centuries, the natural harbor silted up and it ceased being the epicenter of trade and commerce. So as you can see there is a lot to  discuss so lets get this show on the road. I'll start with the highlights of the official archaeological site. 

The Great Theater: This amphitheater was by far my favorite part of touring the city. Its hard to imagine the vastness of it but it was simply amazing. 

Just walking up to the top and sitting for the moment really made my day.

The Church of Mary (Double Churches): This is the church where the Catholic Church officially declared that Jesus was both human and divine (431 AD) and also the first church ever dedicated to Mary. The church itself was first built in 2nd century AD. 

The site is completely in ruins but you could tell the complex was extremely large. Below you can see the baptismal pool still remains. Not much left but the history make up for what the remains lack. Poppin. 

Library of Celsus:  If you type "Ephesus" into a Google image search, you're most likely gonna come up with either an image of The Great Theater or a picture of the Library of Celsus. The library was believed to have housed 12,500 books, which was a substantial amount at the time. I could especially appreciate this because as the daughter of a librarian, I have an affinity for books -- In the words of the ever so eloquent Juvenile, "She get it from her mama."

The Public Toilets:  Last but not least and certainly the most amusing was the public toilets. The seating is extended around four sides of a wall. Below there was a deep sewer that was flushed by a continuous flow of water. The toilets were roped off so I was unable to capture a pic of me taking a fake #2 so just a pic of the toilet will have to suffice. Don't be shy, step right up, drop your pants, and take a squat. 

I tried to keep it as short and simple as possible with the archaeological site. It took me around 3 hours to completely tour the entire ancient city. It would have been impossible to outline everything that I saw while I was there. I just wanted you guys to see my faves. The only problem I had was that I forgot to pack my walking shoes in my bag so I was stuck wearing the flats I wore to the bus station. Son. By the end of the day I had all kinds of blisters and band aids plastered all over my feet. 

Small price to pay for the chance of a lifetime, I suppose. Also, please just pretend like you didn't notice my ashy left foot. Thanks.