A Life in Ruins

During the past few days D1 and I have been visiting several sites where ancient Turkish civilisations had established thriving communities, which strangely enough had many of the features that we look for today: meeting places, theatres, market squares, shopping streets, public toilets...the list goes on. 

What is amazing however is the engineering skill that was required to build these previously massive structures, the mining and transportation of the stone, the organisation of a labour force that was mostly made up of slaves and peasants.

The restoration projects being undertaken by the Turkish government are to be commended - several have already been underway for many, many decades, one in particular at Ephesus, with the help of the Austrian government is likely to be going for another 50 years given the scale of the project.

The following photos don't do justice to the size and scale of the restoration work being done at Assos, Pergamon and Ephesus.

The ruins of the Temple of Athena at Assos.

The ruins at Assos overlooking the sea.

The Theatre at Pergamon had a capacity for 12,000 people.

The reconstructed Temple of Trajan at Pergamon. 

Many of the relics from the Pergamon site were removed and taken to Germany where they still reside today in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

The Great Theatre had a capacity for 25,000 people and was used for concerts, plays, gladiator and animal fights, as well as being used as a forum for political discussions.

The Celsus Library built in 117 AD, which also houses a tomb for the governor of Ephesus.

The interior walls of this very large terrace house (950 square meters) at Ephesus are adorned with hand painted murals, each one painstakingly restored to its original condition dating back over 2000 years.

D2