Ephesus - The Aegean Coast - Cities and Towns in Turkey - Turkey - Home
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The Temple of Serapis |
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| The temple of
Domitian dates from the 2nd century and was dedicated to Serapis, one of
the Egyptian gods. It is of considerable importance as evidence of the
atmosphere of tolerance that existed in Ephesus as the cosmopolitan
character of whose population allowed the proliferation of a number of
different religious beliefs. It is built in the Corinthian order, with
marble of very high quality, and is remarkable for the size of its
monolithic columns, some of them rising to a height of 12 ill. A door
opening on rollers gives access to a long cult chamber in which a statue
of Egyptian granite is thought to have stood. Some of the monolithic
blocks weigh over 50 tons. It would appear to have been left unfinished.
There are no inscriptions. This temple was built for the Egyptian merchants and was located on the Commercial Agora near the western gate. There was also another entrance into the temple from the south-west corner of the Agora through stairs. It is estimated that the construction of the temple was started in the 2nd century A.D. and there are some indications that suggest the temple was never finished fully. |
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CLICK HERE for
additional photos of Ephesus
and
HERE for photos of some of the intricate
detail work to be found in Ephesus.
| It is best to visit Ephesus with a good
guide - especially if it is your first visit. Although there are many licensed,
official tour guides, I believe that Can (John) Yigit is one of the best. One of
the main reasons is, not only does he love this place, but he worked here beside
the archeologists when he was in college. And, is very personable. His English
is excellent and he makes the place come alive with his narrative. Contact
information is as follows: Can Yigit Gsm +90 532. 426 63 35 Tel +90 256. 612 83 30 email: guidecan68@yahoo.com P.O. Box 152 09400 Kusadasi / Aydin / Turkey Here
are a couple of comments about John. |
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John helped with this page of Getting Away. Thanks John
