Located in the town of Selçuk a few miles away from Ephesus, the remains of St. John’s basilica overlook the remnants of the Temple of Artemis…two great religious landmarks now fallen into ruin.
Ayasuluk Hill, the site of the ruins of the church, overlooks the cute little town of Selçuk (It’s pronounced Sell-Chuck) and the surrounding valley. Its remains definitely hint at the grandeur of the building that once stood here. It was built in the sixth century by the Emperor Justinian and was once one of the largest and most important churches because it is believed that the body of the apostle John was buried here.
Historical evidence is strong for St. John’s presence in the area and it is believed John brought the Virgin Mary with him to Ephesus ( a few Km away). During John’s lifetime, this was the spot where he liked to write. Before his death, he asked his followers to bury him in the place that meant so much to him. St John is believed to have spent the last years of his life in Ephesus writing his version of the Gospel, he died a age 98.
St. John's grave was originally marked by a memorial and enclosed by a church of modest proportions in the 4th century. In the 6th century, Emperor Justinian built this magnificent church on the site dedicated to the saint.
The tomb of St. John, located under the main central dome, elevated the site to one of the most sacred sites in the Middle Ages and thousands made pilgrimage here.
With the decline in importance of Ephesus and after Arab raids, the basilica fell into ruins until the Seljuk Aydinoglu clan converted it into a mosque in 1330. The building was then completely destroyed in 1402 by Tamerlane's Mongol army.
The ruined church was then pillaged for building materials, but recent restoration enables visitors to understand its size and visualize its former splendour.
We decided to forgo any sort of organised tour of the sites and do it on our own…especially since Selcuk is small and everything walkable from our hotel. We visited this quiet and serene site about an hour before the tour buses converged…we had the place to ourselves and the masses were literally coming in as we were leaving!
After St. Johns we walked down the hill to see that last remaining column left over from the Temple of Artemis, one of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world! The pyramids in Egypt are the only one still in existence.
The Temple of Artemis was first built around 800 BC in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times, always on the same site. It was always rebuilt more impressively than the temple that had been destroyed before it.
The first temple was destroyed in war around 550 BC,
some years later it was burnt down by a man who wanted his name to be remembered forever. The townspeople created a law that said anyone who mentioned his name would be put to death, so his plan did not work very well, although he did successfully destroy the temple. Coincidentally, it was burned down on the same day that Alexander the Great was born.
The temple was under construction again when some years later Alexander the Great visited the town. Alexander was so impressed with this famous temple that he offered to give the town enough money to finishing building it if they would put his name on it. The town did not want to do that and refused.
It was 425 feet long, 225 feet wide, and 60 feet high. 127 columns supported the roof.
The temple was destroyed again around 200 AD by the Goths but this time it was not rebuilt. There was not enough money in the town treasury to rebuild the temple to its former magnificence. The pieces that were not taken for new building projects slowly sunk in the marshy field until the ruin disappeared from sight altogether.
Hundreds of years later, in the 1800's, the British Museum sent a team to search for the now fabled Temple of Artemis. By then, no one had any idea where the temple used to stand. Short of digging up the whole town and the surrounding countryside, the first team found themselves rather stuck.
Another team, sent out a few years later, got lucky. While digging in a field, they found the remains of 5 temples, one built on top of the other. They believed they had found the Temple of Artemis.
Today all that remains of this incredible structure is a single column in the middle of a marshy field, left to mark the spot where the famous Temple of Artemis once stood.
We are quite enjoying Selcuk. It’s a small town with lots of good restaurants. There was a big 4 day festival here that ended on the first night we arrived so we got to walk around and enjoy that…we also discovered the deliciousness that is Turkish delight and we both bought small Turkish rugs to take home here.
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