Like Sarah said earlier, I'm also really excited for our day trip to Ephesus. Originally, I was looking forward to this because in religion class last year I had to do a project on the Book of Ephesians. I thought it would be so cool to walk among the ruins of a city that once had a book of the Bible addressed to them.
I find the whole religious aspect of the city fascinating. For example, two councils of the early Christian Church were held in AD 431 and AD 449 in the city, but even further back in its history are the gods of the Greeks and Romans. This is demonstrated by many of the ruins, like the Temple of Hadrian, which was built in honor of one of the five good emperors of the Roman Empire, Emperor Hadrian. It really interests me to see how religion and politics interact, and this ruin is a perfect example of that.
I also think that ancient ruins are interesting- it amazes me that the buildings have survived for so long and have weathered so much. It makes me feel so small to think that we will be walking where people thousands of years ago walked as well. I do not know exactly what we will be seeing, but I read about The Library of Celsus, and it seems like such a beautiful ruin. Apparently, the statues in the niches each represent a certain trait: Sophia (wisdom), Arete (virtue),Ennoia (intellect), and Episteme (knowledge).
I hope everyone's having a good break! Can't wait to see you all!
Ephesus should be really interesting. And, you're right when you mention that religion and politics weren't kept separate in the ancient world. They didn't even use those categories, which are modern ideas. Sometimes that's actually a hard concept to get our heads around, but it is something we'll be talking about a lot while in Turkey. In fact, I'll probably sound like a broken record when it comes to the issue!
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