More Turkish Delight

A few more pics from my holiday trip to Turkey...

This is a carving from a building in Ephesus of the goddess Nike. No she is not wearing tennis shoes, but the details on her wing feathers is still amazing even after 2,000 years.

This is the main street of Ephesus and the major part of the archeological excavations. We started at the top where the Forum (government buildings) was and as you can see, the street ends with the fabulous Library of Celsius. On either side would have been retail shops, fountains, and a few public monuments. You can still see ruts in the paving stones of the streets left from the passing of all those chariots. The city had a population of 250,000 during the height of the Roman period!

And here is yer Olde Aunty standing in front of some of the Forum buildings. Our guide told us that there are 3 things that destroyed ancient cities: Fire, Foes, and Earthquakes. Ephesus was destroyed at least three times by earthquakes. It wasn't rebuilt the last time because the harbor, which used to be just behind the Celsius Library, had silted up over the many years since the city's founding. Without the seaport, the city could no longer support itself.

A similar fate befell Troy. Here is Aunty standing next to one of the city walls, listening intently to our wonderful guide (behind me in the jeans and red shirt) Salih. Of the nine different cities built one atop the other in this area, scientists and scholars have determined that the sixth city was the Troy of Homer's epic, The Iliad. The ninth city, like so many other places in Western Turkey, was Roman.