Ephesus Theater
One of the key features of Ephesus is the “largest theater in antiquity” with capacity of 25,000 souls. Used for dramas and performances when first built and expanded to gladiatorial exhibitions in the Roman times, the Ephesus theater climbs up the mountain. Horseshoe in shape, the seats surround the stage.
This theater must have been even more spectacular in its glory days. Most of the stage wall is gone. Based on other theaters we saw and a little logical deduction, I imagine this theater would have had a massive multi-leveled backdrop wall with columns and statues. This is not a secret to visitors. However, I cannot imagine the backside or city-facing side of that structure to be so barren and unadorned as it appears or our guide said it might have been.
If the theater was such an important place to the ancient civilization, which it was. And if it were in such a prominent location, at the intersection from the harbor road, by the head of the agora, and near the main gymnasium, which it was. Then, I can’t imagine the people leaving that side without decoration. It must have been magnificent. It would have been the first thing people saw as they entered the harbor and approached from the sea. The theater can be seen from so far away, it would have been a spectacular site when Ephesus was booming.
Paul in Ephesus
What makes this theater more special beyond the size is its significance in early Christianity. This is the place where Paul was brought after criticizing the worship of Diana. A group of believers in Diana assembled in the theater and brought Paul in. The account states that the people almost laid their hands on him, but Alexander quieted them. In the end they arrested him and put him in prison in a tower above the harbor.
Paul spent a lot of time in this city, as did many other early Christians we read about in the New Testament. However, our guide told one story to us that we don’t read in that book regarding this missionary that I love. He told us the apocryphal account of Paul with a lion he met on one of his journeys. He taught and baptized the lion.
As a prisoner in Ephesus, Paul was thrown into an arena with a lion. It so happened that the lion he was meant to fend off was none other than the lion he had baptized. They recognized each other and celebrated. Paul was not killed by the lion. Instead they prayed together.
Though the story is not from the Bible, he does tell Timothy in an epistle that the Lord saved him from the mouth of the lion. This reads more metaphorically as saved from evil and the devil, but perhaps this was taken literally by many people in his time and turned into this fantastic tale.
More Ruins of Ephesus
Outside the theater a broad road, flanked by columns, runs straight to the harbor. Again I imagined what it may have been like with hundreds if not thousands of people going up and down that major avenue each day. Ruins of the city’s main gymnasium and another bath line the path to the gate we exited. Other ruins near the archaeological site include the ancient arena and a grand gate erected in honor of Augustus Caesar. We visited other sites in the modern town of Selcuk and Mary’s home, but more about those in the next post.
