NOGAL FOR SALE
ATLANTIC 57
NEVER CHARTERED, CIRCUMNAVIGATION READY
Ephesus
A FACINATING ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
EPHESUS WAS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CITIES IN HISTORY AND LIKE MOST ANCIENT CITIES IT WAS CONSTRUCTED NEAR A RIVER. IT WAS AN ACIENT SETTLEMENT SINCE 6000BC. IT WAS FOUNDED BY THE PRINCE OF ATHENS NAMED ANDROKOLOS IN THE 11TH CENTURY. HIS FATHER WAS KING KADEROS AND HE WANTED TO ESTABLISH A NEW CITY. THE FIRST THING HE DID WAS TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHERE TO BUILD HIS CITY WHICH TODAY IS KNOWN AS EPHASUS.
Delphi
ANDOKOLOS GOES TO THE ORACLE OF DELPHI FOR ADVICE
WHENEVER SOMEONE IN ACIENT GREECE NEEDED TO MAKE A MAJOR DECISION LIKE STARTING A CITY OR GOING TO WAR THEY WOULD GO TO AN ORACLE. THE ORACLE OF DELPHI WAS THE MOST POWERFUL AND FAMOUS ORACLE FROM THAT TIME. WE VISITED DELPHI AND THE PICTURE ON THE LEFT IS WHERE THE ORACLE LIVED. AN ORACLE IS TYPICALLY A YOUNG VIRGIN LADY. THE STORY OF THE ORACLE OF DELPHI WAS THAT THERE WAS A CRACK IN THE EARTH UNDER THE TEMPLE WHERE SHE LIVED THAT WOULD RELEASE A GAS INTO THE TEMPLE. THE ORACLE WOULD INHALE THE GAS UNTIL SHE WAS ENLIGHTENED. THE ORACLE WAS SO DRUNK ON THE GAS THAT NO ONE COULD UNDERSTAND HER. PEOPLE SAID THAT SHE WAS SURROUNDED BY SPIRITUAL MEN WHO WOULD TRANSLATE HER WORDS AND FEED IT TO THE PEOPLE THAT SEEKED ADVICE. HER MESSAGE TO ANDROKLOS WAS " THE FISH WILL JUMP, THE BOAR WILL FLEE, AND THERE YOU WILL ESTABLISH A CITY HAVING A BRIGHT FUTURE". WITH THAT HE SET OUT TO FIND HIS FUTURE CITY.
Ephesus
MORE ADVENTURES FROM ANDROKLOS AND THROUGH THE ROMAN EMPIRE
ANDROKOLOS SAILED EAST TOWARD THE COAST OF WHAT IS TURKEY TODAY TO FIND A CITY. ONE NIGHT THE PRINCE WAS COOKING A FISH, THE FISH JUMPED OUT OF THE PAN, SET FIRE TO A BUSH, SCARED A BOAR WHICH RAN OUT OF THE BUSH. ANDROKOLOS RAN AFTER IT AND KILLED IT ON THE SITE WHERE HE BUILT HIS FUTURE CITY. THE CITY WAS LATER FOUNDED BY GREEKS. IN 545BC, THE LYDIAN KING CROESES CAPTURED THE CITY AND STARTED BUILDING THE TEMPLE OF ARTERMIS WHICH TODAY IS KNOW AS ONE OF THE 7 WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. KING CROESES WAS KNOWN TO BE THE RICHEST KING BACK IN THESE DAYS. HE WAS THE KING OF LYDIA AND ALSO THE FIRST TO MINT GOLDEN COINS. THE PERSIANS CONQUERED KING CROESUS AND USED EPHESUS AS A MILITARY BASE IN THE LATE 5TH CENTURY.
THIS PERIOD OF THE 5TH CENTURY WAS A PERIOD OF MANY WARS WITH PERSIA. FIGHTING CYRUS THE GREAT AND XERXES AS WELL. THE PEOPLE OF EPHESUS FOUGHT BACK AGAINST PERSIAN LEADERS. EPHESUS JOINED THE ATTIC/DELOS MARITIME LEAGUE FOR PROTECTION AGANST THE PERSIANS. THE DELOS MARITIME LEAGUE WAS A NAVY BASE RIGHT NEXT TO THE ISLAND OF MYKINOS THAT WAS CONTROLLED BY ATHENS AND PROTECTED ALL OF ITS MEMBERS FROM THE PERSIANS AND OTHER INVADERS. IT WAS AN ORGANIZATION THAT ITS MEMBERS PAID INTO AND THE LEAGUE GAVE THEM PROTECTION. THIS WAS A PERIOD OF CHAOS FOR THE CITY OF EPHESUS WHERE MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE TRIED TO RULE OVER THE CITY.
IN 334BC ALEXANDER THE GREAT TOOK OVER EPHESUS WHICH STARTED A 50 YEAR PERIOD OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY. THIS WAS KNOWN AS THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD. THE ROMANS TOOK CONTROL IN THE 2ND CENTURY BC. THERE WAS A LOT OF CHAOS UNTIL THE AUGUSTAN PERIOD WHEN AUGUSTUS RULED FROM 27BC UNTIL 14AD. DURING AUGUSTUS EPHESUS BECAME ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE CITIES TO ROME. AFTER AUGUSTUS CHRISTIANITY CAME TO EPHESUS WITH THE ARRIVAL OF ST PAUL, JOHN AND MARY WHO WERE THE MOST WELL KNOWN CHRISTIANS AFTER JESUS' CRUCIFIXION. ST JOHN WAS LATER EXHILED BY DOMITIAN WHO RULED AFTER AUGUSTUS. JOHN WAS SENT TO PATMOS WHERE HE WROTE REVELATIONS, THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE BIBLE ABOUT THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS ALSO KNOWN AS JUDGEMENT DAY. JOHN RETURNED TO EPHESUS AND DIED THERE AS AN OLD MAN. HE WAS THE ONLY CHRISTIAN APOSTLE TO NOT DIE AS A MARTYR.
THEN IN 262AD THE GOTHS DESTROYED EPHESUS AND THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS WHICH HAVE NEVER RETURNED TO THEIR PROSPERITY AND GLORY. CHRISTIANITY GAINED STRENGTH UNDER THE RULE OF CONSTANTINE LED TO MANY CHANGES - TEMPLES WERE DISMANTLED TO BUILD CHURCHES AND ANCIENT STATUES OF GREEK GODS WERE BURIED. THEN, DURING THE OTTOMAN PERIOD, THE PLACE WAS FORGOTTEN AND THE SILT OF THE MENDERES RIVER COVERED THE CITY OVER TIME. IT WAS FINALLY UNCOVERED BY THE BRITISH IN THE 19TH CENTURY.
