Part 2 (1/2)
The Parliament Building is not at all grand. The Royal Palace is larger and considerably finer. At the head of a stairway is a good picture of Prometheus tortured by an eagle. The visitor is shown the war room, a large hall with war scenes painted on the walls and old flags standing in the corners. The throne room and reception room are both open to visitors, as is also the ball room, which seemed to be more elaborately ornamented than the throne room. There is a little park of orange and other trees before the palace, also a small fountain with a marble basin. The highest point about the city is the Lycabettus, a steep rock rising nine hundred and nineteen feet above the level of the sea, and crowned with a church building. From its summit a splendid view of the city, the mountains, and the ocean may be obtained.
I spent five days in this city, the date of whose founding does not seem to be known. Pericles was one of the great men in the earlier history of the old city. He made a sacred enclosure of the Acropolis and placed there the masterpieces of Greece and other countries. The city is said to have had a population of three hundred thousand in his day, two-thirds of them being slaves. The names of Socrates, Demosthenes, and Lycurgus also belong to the list of great Athenians. In 1040 the Normans captured Piraeus, the seaport of Athens, and in 1455 the Turks, commanded by Omar, captured the city. The Acropolis was occupied by the Turks in 1826, but they surrendered the next year, and in 1839 Athens became the seat of government of the kingdom of Greece. With Athens, my sight-seeing on the continent ended. Other interesting and curious sights were seen besides those mentioned here. For instance, I had noticed a variety of fences. There were hedges, wire fences, fences of stone slabs set side by side, frail fences made of the stalks of some plant, and embryo fences of cactus growing along the railroad. In Italy, I saw many white oxen, a red ox being an exception that seems seldom to occur. I saw men hauling logs with oxen and a cart, the long timber being fastened beneath the axle of the cart and to the beam of the yoke.
In Belgium, one may see horses worked three abreast and four tandem, and in Southern France they were s.h.i.+fting cars in one of the depots with a horse, and in France I also saw a man plowing with an ox and a horse hitched together. Now the time had come to enter the Turkish Empire, and owing to what I had previously heard of the Turk, I did not look forward to it with pleasure.
CHAPTER III.
ASIA MINOR AND SYRIA.
The Greek s.h.i.+p _Alexandros_ left the harbor of Piraeus in the forenoon of Lord's day, September eighteenth, and anch.o.r.ed outside the breakwater at Smyrna, in Asia Minor, the next morning. The landing in Turkish territory was easily accomplished, and I was soon beyond the custom house, where my baggage and pa.s.sport were examined, and settled down at the ”Hotel d'Egypte,” on the water front. This was the first time the pa.s.sport had been called for on the journey. The population of Smyrna is a mixture of Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Italians, Americans, and Negroes. The English Government probably has a good sized representation, as it maintains its own postoffice. The city itself is the main sight. The only ruins I saw were those of an old castle on the hill back of the city. The reputed tomb of Polycarp is over this hill from Smyrna, between two cypress trees, but I do not know that I found the correct location. Near the place that I supposed to be the tomb is an aqueduct, a portion of it built of stone and a portion of metal. As I went on out in the country I entered a vineyard to get some grapes, not knowing how I would be received by the woman I saw there; but she was very kind-hearted, and when I made signs for some of the grapes, she at once pulled off some cl.u.s.ters and gave them to me. She also gave me a chair and brought some fresh water. More grapes were gathered and put in this cold water, so I had a fine time eating the fruit as I sat there in the shade watching a little boy playing about; but I could not converse with either of them on account of not knowing their language. On the way back to the city I stopped at the railway station to make inquiries about a trip to Ephesus.
Most of the streets in Smyrna are narrow and crooked, but there is one running along the water front that is rather attractive. On one side is the water, with the numerous vessels that are to be seen in this splendid harbor, and on the other side is a row of residences, hotels, and other buildings. The people turn out in great numbers at night and walk along this street, sometimes sitting down at the little tables that are set in the open air before places where different kinds of drinks are dispensed. Here they consume their drinks and watch the free performances that are given on an open stage adjoining the street and the grounds where they are seated. Perhaps the most peculiar thing about it all is the quiet and orderly behavior of this great crowd of people.
While in this city I had occasion to go to the ”Banque Imperiale Ottoman,” and learned that it was open in the forenoon and afternoon, but closed awhile in the middle of the day. I saw a street barber plying his trade here one day. A vessel of water was put up under the customer's chin, and held there by keeping the chin down. The barber had his strop fastened to himself, and not to the chair or a wall, as we see it at home. Great quant.i.ties of oats were being brought down from the interior on camels. The sacks were let down on the pavement, and laborers were busy carrying them away. A poor carrier would walk up to a sack of grain and drop forward on his hands, with his head between them, and reaching down almost or altogether to the pavement. The sack of grain was then pulled over on his back, and he arose and carried it away. Some poor natives were busy sweeping the street and gathering up the grain that lost out of the sacks. There seems to be a large amount of trade carried on at this port. Several s.h.i.+ps were in the harbor, and hundreds of camels were bringing in the grain. There are now many mosques and minarets in Smyrna, where there was once a church of G.o.d.
(Revelation 2:8-11.)
On Wednesday, September twenty-first, I boarded a train on the Ottoman Railway for Aya.s.salouk, the nearest station to the ruins of Ephesus, a once magnificent city, ”now an utter desolation, haunted by wild beasts.” We left Smyrna at seven o'clock, and reached Aya.s.salouk, fifty miles distant, at half-past nine. The cars on this railway were entered from to side, as on European railroads, but this time the doors were locked after the pa.s.sengers were in their compartments. Aya.s.salouk is a poor little village, with only a few good houses and a small population.
At the back of the station are some old stone piers, that seem to have supported arches at an earlier date. On the top of the hill, as on many hilltops in this country, are the remains of an old castle. Below the castle are the ruins of what I supposed to be St. John's Church, built largely of marble, and once used as a mosque, but now inhabited by a large flock of martins.
I visited the site of Ephesus without the services of a guide, walking along the road which pa.s.ses at some distance on the right. I continued my walk beyond the ruins, seeing some men plowing, and others caring for flocks of goats, which are very numerous in the East. When I turned back from the road, I pa.s.sed a well, obtaining a drink by means of the rope and bucket that were there, and then I climbed a hill to the remains of a strong stone building of four rooms. The thick walls are several feet high, but all the upper part of the structure has been thrown down, and, strange to say, a good portion of the fallen rocks are in three of the rooms, which are almost filled. It is supposed that Paul made a journey after the close of his history in the book of Acts; that he pa.s.sed through Troas, where he left a cloak and some books (2 Tim. 4:13); was arrested there, and probably sent to Ephesus for trial before the proconsul. Tradition has it that this ruined stone building is the place where he was lodged, and it is called St. Paul's Prison. From the top of its walls I could look away to the ruins of the city proper, about a mile distant, the theater being the most conspicuous object.
There are several attractions in Ephesus, where there was once a church of G.o.d--one of the ”seven churches in Asia”--but the theater was the chief point of interest to me. It was cut out of the side of the hill, and its marble seats rested on the sloping sides of the excavation, while a building of some kind, a portion of which yet remains, was built across the open side at the front. I entered the inclosure, the outlines of which are still plainly discernible, and sat down on one of the old seats and ate my noonday meal. As I sat there, I thought of the scene that would greet my eyes if the centuries that have intervened since Paul was in Ephesus could be turned back. I thought I might see the seats filled with people looking down upon the apostle as he fought for his life; and while there I read his question: ”If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me” if the dead are not raised up? (I Cor. 15:32). I also read the letter which Jesus caused the aged Apostle John to write to the church at this place (Rev.
2:1-7), and Paul's epistle to the congregation that once existed in this idolatrous city of wealth and splendor. As I was leaving this spot, where I was so deeply impressed with thoughts of the great apostle to the Gentiles, I stopped and turned back to take a final look, when I thought of his language to Timothy, recorded in the first eight verses of the second epistle, and then I turned and read it. Perhaps I was not so deeply impressed at any other point on the whole journey as I was here. The grand old hero, who dared to enter the city which was ”temple-keeper of the great Diana,” this temple being one of the ”Seven Wonders of the World,” and boldly preach the gospel of Christ, realizing that the time of his departure was at hand, wrote: ”I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing.”
Meditating on the n.o.ble and lofty sentiment the apostle here expresses in connection with his solemn charge to the young evangelist, I have found my sentiments well expressed in Balaam's parable, where he says: ”Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his”
(Num. 23:10).
Near the front of the theater, on the left as one comes out, is quite a s.p.a.ce, which seems to have been excavated recently, and farther to the left excavations were being made when I was there. An ancient lamp, a fluted column, and a headless statue were among the articles taken out.
The workmen were resting when I viewed this part of the ruins, and an old colored man gave me a drink of water. Beginning a little to the right of the theater, and extending for perhaps fifteen hundred or two thousand feet, is a marble-paved street, along which are strewn numerous bases, columns, and capitals, which once ornamented this portion of the great city; and to the right of this are the remains of some mighty structure of stone and brick. In some places, where the paving blocks have been taken up, a water course beneath is disclosed. While walking around in the ruins, I saw a fine marble sarcophagus, or coffin, ornamented with carvings of bulls' heads and heavy festoons of oak leaves.
J.S. Wood, an Englishman, worked parts of eleven years, from 1863 to 1874, in making excavations at Ephesus. Upwards of eighty thousand dollars were spent, about fifty-five thousand being used in a successful effort to find the remains of the Temple of Diana. I followed the directions of my guide-book, but may not have found the exact spot, as Brother McGarvey, who visited the place in 1879, speaks of the excavations being twenty feet deep. ”Down in this pit,” he says, ”lie the broken columns of white marble and the foundation walls of the grandest temple ever erected on earth”; but I saw nothing like this.
When Paul had pa.s.sed through Galatia and Phrygia, ”establis.h.i.+ng all the disciples,” ”having pa.s.sed through the upper country,” he came to Ephesus, and found ”about twelve men” who had been baptized ”into John's baptism,” whom Paul baptized ”into the name of the Lord Jesus.” He then entered into the Jewish meeting place and reasoned boldly ”concerning the kingdom of G.o.d.” Some of the hardened and disobedient spoke ”evil of the Way,” so Paul withdrew from them and reasoned ”daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for the s.p.a.ce of two years; so that all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” The Lord wrought special miracles by Paul, so that the sick were healed when handkerchiefs or ap.r.o.ns were borne from him to them.
Here some of the strolling Jews ”took upon them to name over them that had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth.” When two of the sons of Sceva undertook to do this, the man possessed of the evil spirit ”leaped on them and mastered both of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.” There were stirring times in Ephesus in those days. Fear fell upon the people, ”and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” Many of the believers ”came confessing, and declaring their deeds. And not a few of them that practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.” ”So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed.”
”And about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no little business unto the craftsmen; whom he gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this business we have our wealth. And ye see and hear that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they are no G.o.ds that are made with hands: and not only is there danger that our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great G.o.ddess Diana be made of no account, and that she should even be deposed from her magnificence, whom all Asia and the world wors.h.i.+peth. And when they heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And the city was filled with the confusion: and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel. And when Paul was minded to enter in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. And certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent unto him and besought him not to adventure himself into the theater. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the a.s.sembly was in confusion; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
And they brought Alexander out of the mult.i.tude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made a defense unto the people. But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the s.p.a.ce of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And when the town clerk had quieted the mult.i.tude, he saith, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter? Seeing then that these things can not be gainsaid, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rash. For ye have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our G.o.ddess. If therefore Demetrius, and the craftsmen that are with him, have a matter against any man, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls: let them accuse one another. But if ye seek anything about other matters, it shall be settled in the regular a.s.sembly. For indeed we are in danger to be accused concerning this day's riot, there being no cause for it: and as touching it we shall not be able to give an account of this concourse. And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the a.s.sembly” (Acts 19:23-41).
As I was leaving the ruins, I stopped, sat down in sight of the spot where I supposed the temple stood, and read the speech of Demetrius, and thought his fears were well founded. Their trade has come into disrepute, ”the temple of the great G.o.ddess” has been ”made of no account,” and ”she whom Asia and all the world” wors.h.i.+ped has been ”deposed from her magnificence.” Portions of the temple are now on exhibition in the British Museum, in London, and portions have been carried to different other cities to adorn buildings inferior to the one in which they were originally used. ”From the temple to the more southern of the two eastern gates of the city,” says McGarvey, ”are traces of a paved street nearly a mile in length, along the side of which was a continuous colonnade, with the marble coffins of the city's ill.u.s.trious dead occupying the s.p.a.ces between the columns. The processions of wors.h.i.+pers, as they marched out of the city to the temple, pa.s.sed by this row of coffins, the inscriptions on which were constantly proclaiming the n.o.ble deeds of the mighty dead.” The ca.n.a.l and artificial harbor, which enabled the s.h.i.+ps of the world to reach the gates of the city, have disappeared under the weight of the hand of time. In some places the ground is literally covered with small stones, and even in the theater, weeds, gra.s.s and bushes grow undisturbed. How complete the desolation!
Before leaving Aya.s.salouk on the afternoon train, I bought some grapes of a man who weighed them to me with a pair of balances, putting the fruit on one pan and a stone on the other; but I didn't object to his scales, for he gave me a good supply, and I went back and got some more.
I also bought some bread to eat with the grapes, and one of the numerous priests of these Eastern countries gave me some other fruit on the train. I was abroad in the fruit season, and I enjoyed it very much. I had several kinds, including the orange, lemon, grapes, pomegranates, figs, olives, and dates. Perhaps I had nothing finer than the large, sweet grapes of Greece. The next day after the trip to Ephesus, I boarded the _Princess Eugenia_, a Russian s.h.i.+p, for Beyrout, in Syria.
Soon after leaving Smyrna the s.h.i.+p stopped at a port of disinfection.
The small boats were lowered, and the third-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers were carried to the disinfecting establishment, where their clothes were heated in a steam oven, while they received a warm shower bath without expense to themselves. A nicely dressed young German shook his head afterwards, as though he did not like such treatment; but it was not specially disagreeable, and there was no use to complain.
That evening, the twenty-second of September, we sailed into a harbor on the island of Chios, the birth-place of the philosopher Pythagoras. It is an island twenty-seven miles long, lying near the mainland. The next morning we pa.s.sed Cos and Rhodes. On this last mentioned island once stood the famous Colossus, which was thrown down by an earthquake in 224 B.C. The island of Patmos, to which John was banished, and upon which he wrote the Revelation, was pa.s.sed in the night before we reached Cos. It is a rocky, barren patch of land, about twenty miles in circ.u.mference, lying twenty-four miles from the coast of Asia Minor. On the twenty-fourth the _Princess Eugenia_ pa.s.sed the southwestern end of the island of Cyprus. In response to a question, one of the seamen answered me: ”Yes, that's Kiprus.” I was sailing over the same waters Paul crossed on his third missionary tour on the way from a.s.sos to Tyre. He ”came over against Chios,” ”came with a straight course unto Cos, and the next day unto Rhodes,” and when he ”had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand (he) sailed unto Syria and landed at Tyre”
(Acts 20:15 and 21:1-3).
On the evening of Lord's day, September twenty-fifth, the s.h.i.+p pa.s.sed Tripoli, on the Syrian coast, and dropped down to Beyrout, where I stopped at the ”Hotel Mont Sion,” with the waves of the Mediterranean was.h.i.+ng against the foundation walls. At seven o'clock the next morning I boarded the train for Damascus, ninety-one miles distant, and we were soon climbing the western slope of the Lebanon Mountains by a cog railway. When we were part way up, the engine was taken back and hitched to the rear end of the train. After we were hauled along that way awhile, it was changed back to the front end again. In these mountains are vineyards and groves of figs, olives, and mulberry trees, but most of the ground was dry and brown, as I had seen it in Southern Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. Beyond the mountains is a beautiful plain, which we entered about noon, and when it was crossed, we came to the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, and reached the old city in the evening.