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 Like a Queen bee,
Artemis, the Anatolia goddess of fertility, was worshiped for her
fecundity. Ancient statues portray her with exaggerated hips,
genital organs, and breasts (sometimes she is many-breasted). Even
the structure of the worship of Artemis has been compared to that of
a beehive, with the drones serving their Queen.Originally Artemis
was a Phrygian nature-goddess.
Their cult-worship of her sometimes took a violent turn when blood
drawn from the throat of a male victim was offered in her honor.
Gradually, Greek settlers absorbed her into their mythology and
Artemis became a vital part of their lives. She also had powers to
inflict and heal illness. She was held especially dear as the
goddess of childbirth, protector of the newly born and the unborn.
According to the antique era writers Ephesus was found around 3000
B.C. Ephesus was among the important harbor cities of the period.
The Ionians which had settled on the Agean coast after the Dor
invasion, settled in Ephesus. In the period of the Lydian reign they
developed their city.The traces of the Ionian, Roman, Byzantian.Seljuks
and Ottoman civilizations can still be seen today.
After the earthquake during the Roman period the people of Ephesus
cultivated their city in the time of Tiberius. But this time instead
of a Hellenistic construction style all of Ephesus was filled with
constructions reflecting the Roman character. Ephesus which was
growing more important politically and commercially, became an
important religious center with the arrival of Virgin Mary and the
fact that St. Jean lived there.Ephesus is in the boundries of the
district of Selcuk today.As we have mentioned above Ephesus and
Selcuk are the richest cities in terms of historical and
archeological constructions with their remains from almost every
civilization. Especially the Ephesus ruins and the Ephesus Museum
attract a great number of tourists with the works of art they
possess.
Picture
Gallery
Book one of our tours to see
EPHESUS
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