Day Nine

Today we heard a lecture by Hilke Thur, one of the archaeologists who has been a principal excavator at the slope houses in Ephesus. After the lecture, she gave us a tour of them, including (once again!!) getting us into restricted areas. My pictures totally cannot do justice to the experience of seeing full structures of houses from the 1st century BCE - 2nd century CE. We were able to see so many of the archaeological concepts that we've been discussing--but also see the implications of them and imagine their impacts upon the lived experiences of the people of that time. From what it meant to have a peristyle house (hierarchical household, no privacy), to seating around a dining table, to the way that slaves would have been exchanged as goods among extended family. 

The first mosaic, of Poseidon and a mermaid (can't remember the name...), is one of the rare examples we of people in a floor mosaic, as well as color being used in a floor mosaic. It was located in front of the reading/resting niche in the house of Salutaris (a city official/elite man, whom we will be learning more about this morning). It is incredibly rare to know a person's function in the city, as well as know their house. For this reason, the home of Salutaris is an amazing site for scholars--and we got to go into the house!!


The next picture is an overview pic of another peristyle house, where you can somewhat see how each of the rooms in the house were connected to the courtyard. 

The next pic is of an imperial altar in a household. This niche is such an incredible site because the busts of Tiberius and Livia (his mother), along with a snake (representing the household genus) were found in this niche--indicating how this niche would have functioned for the house. 

These items have been placed in the Ephesus museum (which we visited on Day 2), and I have included their picture, as well. They are the real items that were found in the niche!! 

Further out from this niche in the house was an altar, where sacrificial ritual would have occurred for the household, to the imperial cult. I know I have said this before, but seeing a household sacrificial altar, connected so clearly to household imperial cult worship, made the entire trip for me. I could hardly absorb the moment, and the gravity of getting to see household sacrificial worship up close like that!

Behind that altar was another, smaller altar, that was set against a walll, and would have served as a place for household genus worship. All these things--the imperial niche, the primary altar, the minor altar, and the household genus items--would have been in perfect alignment in the house. It was stunning to see it, set out so obviously. 

Sunday is our last full day in Turkey. We have lecture in the morning (on an inscription regarding Salutaris), then we visit the Church of St. John, have lunch by the Aegean, and then a goodbye dinner here at the library.

Hope everyone is doing well!

love, 

Krista