Selcuk Things to Do

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"If there is a paradise on earth, then our Sirince is surely part of it." Dido Sotiriyo ( Greek writer ).

Encouraged by glowing reviews on the internet, beautiful descriptions in travel guides, and recommendations by travel agents, we elected to use a hotel in Sirince for our visit to Ephesus and Selcuk. We were seduced by promises of a quaint and historic Greek village on a hillside with cobbled streets, two story Greek-style whitewashed houses, charming shopping, and descriptions of evenings after the tour busses leave when the twinkling lights were illuminated, the trendy restaurants opened, and the wine bars flourished.
We were sorely disappointed.
The above quote predates the 1920's population replacement and not a lot of good seems to have happened in the interval. We found a an old Turkish village with somewhat decrepit houses, dirty, not especially attractive, hillside or no. The original settlement was indeed by Christians seeking refuge from Ottoman rule but the Greek inhabitants departed decades ago and have not returned. The cobbled streets were irregular, difficult to walk on, and after a shower slippery. The vaunted restaurants with one exception were ramshackle diners some with outside tables, the wine bars nowhere to be seen.

The pictures look pretty good, far better than the reality.

Had we to select a base again, we would avoid Sirince as well as Selcuk and choose the admittedly tacky but considerably more upscale seashore resort of Kusadasi with modern seaside resort hotels or even stay in Izmir and visit Ephesus and Selcuk by car or organized tour.

History - the earliest settlement of the hillside dates to the 11-13 C during the "collapse" of Ephesus as ruins of small monasteries date to this period. Legend states the original name of Kirkinca was selected to imply that the village was unattractive and thereby keep visitors and predators away. In the 14th C, freed Christian Greek slaves were the primary inhabitants. The village lived in isolation for centuries, at one point as large as 1800 residences, now decreased to perhaps 200.
After the Turkish War of Independence, "The Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations Treaty" led to the resettlement in Greece of the local inhabitants, replaced by expatriated Turks largely from Thessalonika. The village was renamed Sirince (lovely place) in 1926. Over the years, tourism has become the major industry although many locals still farm for the famed local wine producers into the 21st C.

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Located in a separate wing from the remainder of the museum is a fascinating exhibit on the gladiators who fought, usually to the death, in an open air theater seating 25000 near the harbor. These contests were extremely popular with the local residents, who loved battles of life and victory versus death. Even emperors, such as Nero and Caligula fought as gladiators. Trajan, upon becoming emperor, organized a week of gladiator battles with 10000 contestants. Lunch breaks for the upper classes were filled with executions by crucifixion or fire or sometimes by feeding Christians to the lions. The excavations at this site and the discovery of a gladiator graveyard nearby have filled this museum section with a most interesting display.

Multiple friezes have been placed depicting the gladiators in their protective gear and with weapons. Typically small lightly armed agile men (retiarus)were paired with larger heavily armed opponents - IMAGE 2 - (secutor) with knives and tridents for the faster and smaller men and clubs and truncheons for the slower moving bulkier types.

On IMAGE 1, a secutor in the center of the frieze has lost his shield which is being held by the referee on the left. He has only his short knife to protect himself from the lightly armored and more agile retiarus armed with a long trident, foretelling a sad ending for the larger man.

IMAGE 3 - Even more remarkable are the skeletal remains of some gladiators with diagrams and computer generated images of the method of death explaining the wounds and examples of the weapons used. One mystery was solved by a recent bone discovery - a four pronged fork-like device was associated with a fracture at the lower end of the thigh bone crippling the opponent.

The gladiator exhibit is on the far side of the clean free restrooms and should not be missed.

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Guide books and internet postings wax euphoric over the small shopping district and quaint restaurants and wine bars in Sirince. Once again, the reality was a disappointment. The main shopping district is a collection of shantys and converted ground floors made into stores largely selling three types of product - bath soaps and oils, wine, and souvenirs. There are occasional jewelry stores selling ornate but ultimately cheap jewelry. One section of the shopping area is protected by a roof over the pedestrianized walkway, while the remainder is open air. Internet sources make a big deal of women selling home made lace and knit products along the street - we didn't see any.

During the day the village is overrun with large groups from tour busses which ascend and descend the steep hill to Sirince on a narrow scenic winding road, disgorging their loads in small parking lots. On heavy cruise ship days, the shopping area is jammed. The guides of course get a percentage of every sale and make sure that each tour group makes it to Sirince without fail.

Sirince is well-known for fruit wines made from everything peach to mulberry with multiple other choices. And, actually, they are not bad in a simple way. There must be 7 - 10 wine stores offering samples in tiny plastic cups freely poured for visitors to sample, mass-production style for the large tour bus groups and individually for other customers. It took only a short while to realize that there are really only two producers of these wines and all the stores offer the same bottles and flavors. One producer uses concentrate, the other a more natural approach. The wines from concentrate were more tasteful, a surprise. For cruise ship customers, particularly those without an all-inclusive package, these wines are probably a good purchase. Like alcohol-enhanced fruit ades, light, easy, and enjoyable.

The better soaps and oils are made from olive oil and can sell for 2-5 YTL depending on size, bargaining skill, and distance from the parking lot. The souvenirs are typical and unremarkable. A venture into a jewelry store was particulary disappointing. Proserpina took a liking to a gaudy ring which was too large. The salesguy promised he could make it fit and he did after a fashion - it became an oval ring which was snug on the top and bottom but was entirely too large transversely. No sale.

With the exception of the Artemis restaurant ( see restaurant tip ), most of the dining establishments were neither attractive nor quaint. Most offered indoor and terrace dining. And most were almost empty. As with every place we visited in Turkey, the staff were attentive and friendly but the decor and ambience were sorely lacking. The rural off the beaten path sophistication we had been led to expect on the internet simply was not real. We do not mean to imply that our meals were bad, but rather that in no way did the restaurant scene correlate with the descriptions. After the tour busses depart for good, the village appears deserted and most certainly does not "come alive". For those staying in Selcuk, a trip to Sirince for dining is simply not worth the trouble.

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Delta Hali Turkish Rugs is a relatively large commercial operation named after the delta of the Meander River where it is sited and on the main Selcuk - Kusadasi Highway. It seemed a likely place for an education on the famed craft combined with lunch - a full lunch menu is offered in a garden with gazebo behind the main building.

We were fascinated by some of our new found knowledge. The company is over 20 years old and uses all traditional methods of manufacture. The unravelling of the silk from the cocoons was particularly interesting - the cocoons are stroked with a brush and the threads which gather on the bristles are then are attached to a spindle and slowly unwound, creating a thicker thread for weaving. The Turkish style of carpet is double-knotted and the female weavers are remarkable dextrous in selecting the appropriate thread for the design and knotting it twice at exactly the correct distance one knot to the other. A standard carpet, with asking price of $3000US, can take up to a year to create. The more expensive silk carpets are far more intricate - we were shown an example of the Last Supper in exquisite detail which is a 3 year investment of time and at an asking price of $15000US (sadly no picture, it was gorgeous).

Our travels through Turkey confirm the legendary aggressiveness of rug salespersons particularly in the bazaars of Istanbul and the necessity for considerable knowledge of both quality and haggling. Nonetheless this was an enjoyable and educational visit, very much to our surprise, and for those with enough time a worthwhile diversion while visiting Turkey.

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Probably the most prized exhibits of the Selcuk Museum are the two statues of Artemis, the goddess of fertility and the most revered god throughout Lydian, Greek, and Roman rule. She was involved with marriage, childbirth, and child care in the Ephesus interpretation, quite different from the Greek goddess of the same name. It is believed that her Greek origin was merged gradually with that of the mother goddess, Cybele. With the introduction of Christianity, cult worship probably declined somewhat but there is anecdotal evidence that she was revered until and even after the abolition of pagan worship by Theodosius in the 4th Century.

The Great Artemis ( image 2 )i s dated to the first century and over 3 meters tall. The Beautiful Artemis ( image 1 ) dates from perhaps the second century and appearsconsiderably more delicate and exquisite, perhaps because it is in better shape. Even the eyeballs remain on the Beautiful Artemis. Both feature lions grasping the arms and dress with lions and bulls. The bee is also featured, the emblem of the city of Ephesus. On this second statue, the goddess is accompanied by two animals probably royal cats.
Of most interest are the large number of protuberances on the lower chest. Originally these were felt to represent multiple breasts but other scholars suggest that they represent bull testicles as bulls were sacrificed to Artemis on feast days. Both these theories have been thrown into doubt by the recent discovery of a similar device made with jewels considerably older than both the statues and the peak of devotion. It was found in an area far removed from the temples. Therefore, these may simply represent a form of jewelry and decoration used by citizens for dressware.

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Several adjacent rooms in the Selcuk museum features discoveries from fountains, temples, and other buildings as well as the most recent finds. Much of this material is poorly labelled and featured exhibits are easy to miss - we passed right by the bust of Socrates, the reclining warrior, and most famously the boy on a dolphin and never knew they were on display. there is no map or audio guide offered, a pity.

IMAGES 1 and 2 are segments of the friezes removed from the Temple of Hadrian. The original temple built in 118AD was more a monument to one of Rome's more reasonable emperors. The famed friezes were not added until the 4th Century. They depict the founding of Ephesus with depictions of the Amazons, the slaying of the boar by Androklos, and an assortment of gods including Artemis, Apollo, and Athena as well as the Christian emperor Theodosius who outlawed paganism and is therefore surrounded with a host of gods.

One striking feature is the placement of fragments of statues with renderings by line drawings of what the original piece is supposed to have appeared. In IMAGE 3, small fragments from the Pollio fountain are placed against a hand-drawn background. The statues were added to the original fountain in approximately 93 AD, embellishing a memorial to Sextillius Pollio who constructed the aqueduct supplying Ephesus with fresh water. The grouping presents Odysseus and Polyphemus. According to mythology, Polyphemus, which means famous, was a cannibalistic Cyclops, the son of the sea god Poseidon. Odysseus blinded him by driving a stake into his one good eye. Boasting of his triumph to his victim infuriated Poseidon who sent down the storms and diversions which led to the long travails for Odysseus, hence the term odyssey.
IMAGE 4 features remnants of statues of Muses and Emperors discovered near the fountain of G. Laeconius Bassus, a governor of Ephesus. The building was a gaudy two level fountain constructed in 80-82 AD by the governor himself, richly decorated througout.

IMAGE 5 is set in the little-visited courtyard which contains a few fragments, some sarcophagi, and most famous the pediment from the Pollio fountain which had been removed from the Isis temple when worship of that god tapered and the temple fell into disrepair.

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Ephesus was first re-discovered and explored by British archaeologists between 1867-1905 followed by Austrians for the following twenty years. Both teams removed to their home countries most of the valuable artifacts discovered by their explorations. In 1923, the Turkish government basically put a stop to what was essentially looting of the Ephesus ruins and kept discovered remnants in a warehouse. Beginning in the 1960's, these holdings were put on display in a museum in Selcuk which was gradually expanded over 20 years to its current status.
The Ephesus museum is small but filled with remarkable ancient objects and well worth a detailed visit after touring the original ruins. The museum has only 5 or 6 rooms which are not arranged chronologically but rather based on the source of the contained works. So the rooms are named after the fountains, the hillside houses, the temples, etc. This organization makes for a more cohesive presentation. Sadly, some of the signage is quiet limited and it is easy to pass some of the most famous pieces without realizing where they are as we did.

The entrance fee is nominal. Parking is immediately available, clean rest rooms are on the premises, and several cafes and souvenir stands are right across the street.
On a tour of Ephesus, this museum is a very high priority site and we highly recommend it.

Several pieces from the Terrace Houses can be found in the first room, including on IMAGE 1 the world famous 2nd Century statue of Bes (Priapus), from whose name the penile disorder priapism derives. The imaged figure was recovered from the men's bathroom and features prominently his most noteworthy anatomic feature. The first references are from Cyprus, then Egypt, before more widespread acceptance. Bes was the god of motherhood and protector of newborns.

IMAGE 2 depicts a collection of surgical and cosmetic instruments recovered from the hospital and medical school of Ephesus, a prized collection. On IMAGE 3, a nearly intact mosaic recovered from one of the hillside houses.
IMAGE 4 depicts the Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia recovered from a hillside house. Unusual for a Roman wife in a partriarchal society, Livia exerted considerable influence over her husband and both were eventually deified. Their long intimate relationship ( a second marriage for each ) was filled with the political maneuvering, internecine warfares, and the occasional murder for power and prestige. Some theorize that Livia eventually murdered Augustus with poisoned figs to advance the imperial hopes of her son for the first marriage, the emperor Tiberius.

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The Greek goddess Artemis was among the most widely venerated Gods in the centuries leading up to Christianity, worshipped throughout the eastern Mediterranean - but in vastly different ways. In Greece, the illegitimate daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo was a virgin huntress with silver bow and arrows and with a proclivity for changing those who displeased her into wild animals, often stags and bears, and killing them. But in the larger cities of the eastern regions and particularly Ephesus Artemis was the mother goddess of fertility and childbirth and source for one of the greatest cults of the time. So devoted were the people of Ephesus that the early Apostles who preached here found considerable resistance and as much as 200 years would pass before Christianity became the dominant religion of the area.

Archaeologic explorations at the site of the temple suggest that the first of many was built in the 8th C BC. Most authorities believe there have been seven temples on this site. It would be destroyed twice before a massive reconstruction by Croesus, the famed overly rich king of the Lydians in 550BC, becoming one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The centerpiece was a marble statue of the goddess covered in ivory and gold. At 45000 square feet it was supported by over 100 columns and the walls were covered with art and gifts from all over the known world.

In 356 BC, the temple was burned to the ground by Herostratus, a young man seeking as he put it fame at any cost ( hence the phrase " herostratic fame ", on the night Alexander the Great was born. The replacement temple was even larger than the Parthenon and may have taken anywhere from 60-129 years to construct. It was the first temple constructed entirely of marble, richly decorated, with Artemis at the center. The temple was destroyed by the Goth invaders in 262 AD and never really rebuilt. The Romans regained control but the emperor Constantine was a Christian and had no interest in restoring pagan temples. The site was plundered for materials used in the construction of the Ayasofia in Istanbul as well as many other buildings, and the Wonder of the Ancient World was no more. By the time of the Crusades, there is abundant documentation that the local inhabitants had no knowledge whatsoever of the existence of the maginificent Greek temple the Crusaders had anticipated.
The Temple would not be re-discovered until the mid 19th Century when British Museum architects first discovered the ruins after an incredible 6 year effort. Many priceless artifacts were removed to the British Museum, but enough remain locally to be represented at the local Selcuk museum which is small but highly recommended.

Today the site is a low-lying unattractive marshy field containing scattered marble blocks and a single faux column - not an original but just multiple pieces of debris piled on on top of the other. Several miles inland, it is actually located at the former site of the Ephesus harbor, long since filled in by debris and silt. The site is on the main expressway from Selcuk to Izmir, with a simple sign. There are no admission fees or facilities and the single attendant is a vendor with a few shabby souvenirs. Looming in the background is the Basilica of St. John, but the temple itself requires only a short stop to appreciate the size of the building and the passage of time for what must have been a remarkable shrine.