Ephesus Avantgarde Travel

02/01/2014

http://tourguides.viator.com/tour-guide-leyla-basar-67626.aspx

Book Kusadasi sightseeing tours with Leyla Basar, a private guide in Kusadasi. Viator only promotes tour guides in Kusadasi with a professional license or tour guiding certificate, ensuring you have the best possible personal tour experience.

31/12/2013

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297972-d5827206-Reviews-Ephesus_Avantgarde_Travel_Day_Tours-Kusadasi_Turkish_Aegean_Coast.html

30/12/2013

Painful Council Met at Ephesus
Posted by Ephesus Plus Tours at 20:21, December 30 2013.
The Third Ecumenical Council opened on this day June 22, 431 in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor. It was called to resolve a dogmatic controversy that had divided the church into two main camps. Theodore of Mopsuestia, supported by Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople, held to what has become known as the Nestorian heresy. The opposite camp was represented by Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, the pope, and emperor Theodosius the Younger. Theodosius, who called the Council, believed that the strength of his empire depended upon true worship of God without the intermingling of falsehood. Two hundred fathers attended.
The Nestorian teaching originated in the school of Antioch, and was taught by Diodorus and by Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia. What was the heresy? These men did not accept the Orthodox belief that the human and divine natures of Christ were united from the instant of the Word's conception in the womb of Mary. A symbol of this controversy was the acceptance or non-acceptance of the title, "Theotokos," or "God Bearer," translated in the West to "Mother of God," for the Virgin Mary. Of course that did not mean that Mary was the Mother of the eternal and indivisible Trinity, but that she was the mother, not just of the man Christ, but of the complete God-man. It was and remains in the Orthodox world as a title intended to emphasize the union of the two natures. But the term "God-bearer" is also used for saints in the Orthodox church, such as the "God-bearing Fathers," meaning those who lived Christ-like lives.
Nestorius verbally and in writing refused to accept the title Theotokos (God-bearer) for Mary, the mother of Jesus. In doing so, the rest of the church felt he he was proclaiming his refusal to accept the two natures of Christ. He was embittered by the refusal of the "other side" to agree with his teaching.
It has been pointed out many times that there was competition -- sometimes fierce -- between Alexandria and Constantinople. Alexandria wanted a Patriarch who would understand the needs of the African Church and listen to her theologians. They were very unhappy with Nestorius.
The Council opened under Cyril, a thoroughly unsympathetic figure, and a master of political intrigue. He had the agreement of Pope Celestine (who was deceased by the time the council began). Cyril was no believer in fair play. He opened the proceedings before Nestorius and his supporters arrived. For this and other actions, historians criticize Cyril of high-handedness; and of serving as both accuser and judge. But Cyril seems to have truly believed Nestorius was teaching heresy. In response he adopted a position of his own which was close to the monophysite heresy.
A careful reading of Nestorius has led some scholars to say he was no heretic. Certainly he set out to ensure that the manhood of Christ was not lost in his deity, and eventually, grudgingly allowed the term "Theotokos" to be used as long as it was understood Mary did not thereby become a deity. Whatever the faults of Cyril's approach, he and his camp believed that Nestorianism attacked a basic dogma of the Church -- the very nature of Christ himself. They reacted fiercely, in the strongest way they knew how.
www.ephesusplustours.com

30/12/2013

Judaism in Ephesus
Posted by Ephesus Plus Tours at 20:24, December 30 2013.
Capital of Ionia, Asia Minor, and later, under the Romans, capital of Asia Proconsularis. Many Jews lived in this large Greek city during the whole of the Hellenistic period. Josephus ("Contra Ap." ii. 4) traces the granting of citizenship to the Jews of Ephesus and of entire Ionia back to the Diadochi; but as the Greeks themselves, in their dispute with the Jews, ascribed the regulation of their affairs (idem, "Ant." xii. 3, § 2) to Antiochus II. Theos (261-246 B.C.), it is probable that the granting of equal rights to the Jews likewise dates from that period.

In 49 B.C., when the consul L. Lentulus recruited Roman citizens in Asia Minor for the legions of the party of Pompey, the Jews of Ephesus, although Roman citizens, were exempted from military service in deference to their laws ("Ant." xiv. 10, § 13); and in 43 B.C. Dolabella, at the instance of Hyrcanus II. (ib. § 12), granted them the same exemption. Dolabella directed the Ephesians to make this known in other cities also; and the privilege was carried into effect in Alexandria, Sardis, and throughout Asia Minor (ib. §§ 14-17). Another decree of the Ephesians assured to the Jews rest on the Sabbath and the observance of their laws (ib. § 25). Under Augustus the Ephesians demanded that, if the Jews deemed themselves the equals of the Ephesians, they should worship the gods of the Ephesians. The advocates of the Jews in this matter were Nicholas of Damascus, who later became a historian, and M. Agrippa, who at that time (10 B.C.) governed the East. Agrippa wrote to the Ephesians that the Jews throughout Asia should be permitted to send gifts to the Temple at Jerusalem and to observe the Sabbath (ib. xvi. 6, § 4). The proconsul C. Norbanus Flaccus (Philo, "Legatio ad Caium," § 40) and Julius Antonius ("Ant." xvi. 6, § 7) wrote in like terms to the Ephesians.

Paul preached Christianity in the synagogue of Ephesus during his first visit to that city (Acts xviii. 19); Apollos, a learned Jew from Alexandria, assisted by Priscilla and Aquila, proclaimed it in the same place (ib. xviii. 26). Paul, on his second visit, again preached in the synagogue; but when some Jews rejected his teaching, he went to preach in the private synagogue of a certain Tyrannus (ib. xix. 9).

The Jews of Ephesus were completely Hellenized, and the inscriptions on the Jewish tombs found there are written in Greek: one stone commemorates a certain "Mar Maussios," i.e., Rabbi Moses; another, a leading physician. Josephus often cites a certain Menander of Ephesus, whose history seems to have included that of the Jews. The city was the scene of the dialogue which Justin held with the Jew Tryphon (Eusebius, "Ecclesiastical History," iv. 18).

Ephesus is mentioned in the rabbinical writings in Targ. to I Chron. i. 5 and Yer. Meg. 71b. The Rabbis, when referring to Asia, always mean simply Ephesus. The charming tale of the widow of Ephesus, which was known as early as the Talmud (Ḳid. 80b), is treated several times in Jewish works (Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." p. 969). The so-called Ephesian script, used on amulets, seems to have been employed by the Jews also (Löw, "Gesammelte Schriften," ii. 80). The legend of the Seven Sleepers, connected with Ephesus, which has also been adopted by the Koran, is an episode in the Jewish accounts of the life of Jesus (Krauss, "Leben Jesu nach Jüdischen Quellen," p. 198).

www.ephesusplustours.com

ephesus tours,private ephesus tours,ephesus,kusadasi tours,izmir tours,selcuk

22/12/2013

Celsus Library (Ephesus)

This library is one of the most beautiful structures in Ephesus. It was built in 117 A.D. It was a monumental tomb for Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the governor of the province of Asia; from his son Galius Julius Aquila. The grave of Celsus was beneath the ground floor, across the entrance and there was a statue of Athena over it. Because Athena was the goddess of the wisdom.

The scrolls of the manuscripts were kept in cupboards in niches on the walls. There were double walls behind the bookcases to prevent the them from the extremes of temperature and humidity. The capacity of the library was more than 12,000 scrolls. It was the third richest library in ancient times after the Alexandria and Pergamum.

The facade of the library has two-stories, with Corinthian style columns on the ground floor and three entrances to the building. There is three windows openings in the upper story. They used an optical trick that the columns at the sides of the facade are shorter than those at the center, giving the illusion of the building being greater in size.

The statues in the niches of the columns today are the copies of the originals. The statues symbolize wisdom (Sophia), knowledge (Episteme), intelligence (Ennoia) and valor (Arete). These are the virtues of Celsus. The library was restored with the aid of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the originals of the statues were taken to Ephesus Museum in Vienna in 1910.

There was an auditorium ,which was for lectures or presentations between the library and the Marble Road, was built during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.

22/12/2013

Ephesus of Council

Ephesus, Council of, 431, 3d ecumenical council, convened by Theodosius II, emperor of the East, and Valentinian III, emperor of the West, to deal with the controversy over Nestorianism. Adherents of both parties attended; St.Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, had the support of Pope Celestine I and most of Christendom; Nestorius was backed by Theodosius and the Antiochene hierarchy. The council, late in starting, was opened by St. Cyril before the Antiochene bishops arrived. It anathematized Nestorius and his views. The Antiochenes arrived and, accusing Cyril of deliberately rushing the vote, deposed him. Soon afterward the papal legates arrived and the council reconvened, reaffirmed its position, and excommunicated the Antiochenes. The controversy continued until Theodosius held a hearing at Chalcedon between the disputants. He exiled Nestorius and ordered the consecration of a new patriarch of Constantinople; the council then broke up. Its chief dogmatic pronouncement was that from the very words of the Nicene Creed it follows that Mary may be called Mother of God, for the perfect coherence of godhead and manhood in Christ prevents any separation of natures such as Nestorius implied. This doctrine was later defined further (see Chalcedon, Council of). For the Robber Synod (Latrocinium) of Ephesus, see Eutyches.

22/12/2013

THE UPPER GYMNASIUM BATHS

The Great Baths located at the entrance to the ancient city of Ephesus,was in error named the Varius Baths,the excavation of these baths are not yet completed. It was constructed in the hillside of Mount Pion differs from the typical plan of Roman baths as it has as asymmetrical plan although it resembles the other baths of Ephesus in that in has a Frigadarium(Cold Selection),an Apodyterium (Dressing Section), a Tepidarium(Warm Section), a Calidarium(Hot Section), and a Sudatorium (Sweating Section). The Baths were heated through the ¨Hypocaust¨ system,where hot air was circulated beneath the paved floor.

In the west chamber (the Calidarium), there are huge Windows with a bathing pool and seven niches facing west. In the South there is a public lavatory (Latrina) and many smaller adjoinning rooms where traiding was conducted. There baths were ruined many time due to seismic activitiy but they were repeatedly repaired following seismic damage. On the western and southern sides of the baths are chambers with floor decorated with mosaics and it is understood from an inscrition on the mosaics floor that thethe construction of this phase of the structure was financed by a city chamberlain named Asclepius in the 5th century A.D. Some statue of Aphrodite,Dionysos,Hygeria and Pan were recovered during the excavation of this bath complex and are exhibited today in the Izmir Museum of Archeology.

22/12/2013

The Government Agora

There is a broad space accessed via a few stairs lying directly to the west of the Stoa Basileios.The construction of this Government Agora ,initaly founded in the Late Hellenistic Period ,was completed in the Late Augustan Period.The east side of this Agora area ,which is supported by ashlar stonework from the west ,was 160m. long and 58m. wide,being added to from the west .In ancient times the Agora was the central place in the city where religious and political meetings and debates took place and the important issues of the city were discussed and resolved and from where the city was administered .There are the fountains of Laecanius Bassus Hydrekdocheion and Domitianus located at the end of he South Stoa and in the southwest corner of the Government Agora’s terrace wall.

22/12/2013

http://ephesusavantgarde.com/

This full program which includes everything at the area.The House of Virgin Mary,Ephesus Ancient City,Terrace Houses(entrence fee is not include),The Basilica of St. Jean and The Temple of Artemis would be the things that you would see in almost 8 hours. Read more »

19/12/2013

http://www.serifwebresources.com/control.php?uid=8260260f88a4688451257a44ca8bebcd2771b1fe

There is a broad space accessed via a few stairs lying directly to the west of the Stoa Basileios.The construction of this Government Agora ,initaly founded in the Late Hellenistic Period ,was completed in the Late Augustan Period.The east side of this Agora area ,which is supported by ashlar stonew...

13/12/2013

http://ephesusavantgarde.com/