Some Ruined Cities of Asia Minor 



847 



deserted. The real cause of this decline, 

 however, is probably due to the choking 

 up of the harbor and the rise of Smyrna 

 and Constantinople, rather than the many 

 wars which raged about the city on land 

 or sea. In the third and fourth centuries, 

 however, before her decline, Ephesus at- 

 tained a degree of considerable prosper- 

 ity and retained a certain ascendancy in 

 church affairs, as is shown by the fact 

 that no less than six councils were held 

 here. For some time during the early 

 middle ages, Ephesus and Miletus, far- 

 ther down the coast, continued to rival 

 each other as a gateway to the commerce 

 of the interior districts. 



EPHESUS IS WITHIN EASY REACH OE THE 

 TRAVELER 



Ephesus is about forty-eight miles dis- 

 tant from Smyrna, and can be reached 

 from this city in three hours. The trains 

 are so arranged that the visitor who 

 wished to view the ruins may have about 

 four hours at his disposal. Anybody 

 who takes advantage of this opportunity 

 carries away impressions which last for a 

 lifetime. 



Yet very few people who visit Smyrna 

 ever go to Ephesus. Only the other day 

 (February 20, 1908) a German tourist 

 steamer, with two hundred and fifty pas- 

 sengers, stopped a day in the harbor, and 

 nobody went to Ephesus. The Arabic, 

 coming from New York, calls for a day 

 at this port every spring, and only a lim- 

 ited number of tourists ever go to see 

 Ephesus. I am inclined to think that 

 this is due to both ignorance and indif- 

 ference. 



Ephesus is the only ruined city in Asia 

 Minor of any importance which may be 

 easily and comfortably reached. I know 

 by experience that the others can only be 

 visited after hours, or even days, of 

 horseback riding from the nearest rail- 

 way station, at considerable expense, 

 hardships, and constant danger from 

 brigands. In many districts the govern- 

 ment flatly refuses to permit the traveler 

 to go, even when guarded by mounted 

 police. 



It therefore seems a sin for anv one to 



come to this interesting port without 

 taking advantage of the opportunity of 

 seeing the only really accessible and one 

 of the most important of the ruined an- 

 cient cities which abound in Asia Minor. 



MAGNESIA 



At one time Magnesia must have sur- 

 passed in magnificence and splendor all 

 the other towns of Ionia, Lydia, and 

 Phrygia, for the simple reason that the 

 Persian Satrap for many years gave this 

 city the preference as his residence. Such, 

 at least, is the opinion of many, and an 

 inspection of the ruins certainly give this 

 impression. The city was built near the 

 base of Mount Thorax, and the walls 

 may still be distinctly traced almost the 

 entire way around the site. The ruins of 

 all the public buildings show that a snow- 

 white marble was used, the quarries of 

 which existed in Mount Pactyas, the 

 same source, it is claimed, which supplied 

 the Ephesians with the necessary material 

 for many of their monumental structures. 



A band of some fifty gipsies have 

 squatted among the ruins, and they earn 

 a living by weaving baskets. At least 

 the women earn the living, while the men 

 spend the day in smoking cigarettes and 

 drinking coffee. The straw huts of these 

 people are not only filthy in the extreme, 

 but they are also the haunts of every 

 kind of vermin. From one of the fore- 

 most cities in Asia Minor to a wretched 

 gipsy village is a steep descent, and the 

 contrast is complete. Of Magnesia, as 

 of Babylon, the denunciation is fulfilled: 



"I shall make it a possession for the 

 bittern ; and pools of water. . . . 

 The cormorant and the bittern shall pos- 

 sess it ; the owl also and the raven shall 

 dwell in it ; and he shall stretch out upon 

 it the line of confusion and the stones of 

 emptiness." 



As if to prove to me how literally this 

 is true, as I approached the gymnasium 

 in the plain a startled owl rose up from 

 the "stones of emptiness" and took refuge 

 in a deep crack in the wall. Pools, too, 

 have taken possession of the ancient site, 

 and the winding Lethseus seeks its way 

 over broken pillars and marble fragments 



