Selçuk Ephesus Archaeological Museum
 |
| Tel: |
(+90 232) 892 60 10
|
| Opening hours: |
Summer – 08.30–12.00 & 13.00-19.00
Winter – 08.30-12.00 & 13.00-17.00
|
The Selçuk Archaeological Museum is reputed to be one of Turkey's finest small museums, and it is easy to see why. It has exhibits that cover every phase of Ephesus' history from archaic times to the Ottoman period. The museum itself seems to be constantly developing, as new exhibits are added and the way in which they are displayed and lit are improved. The designers have made great use of limited space, and for those with even only a slight interest in history its a fascinating show.
Outside there is a garden with a café for history-overloaded, foot-weary visitors.
The museum's main attraction, of course, is the astounding alabaster statue of the fertitlity goddess Artemis, known as the "Beautiful Artemis", considered to be the most beautiful of three on show. All three were found in the area of the Prytaneion in Ephesus. Although it is not quite 2000 years old, having been made during Roman times in the first or second century AD, it is thought to be a copy of a much more ancient statue (perhaps of wood) from the Temple of Artemis.
It is quite unlike the classical Greek and Roman statues we are used to seeing with their emphasis on the human form, movement, the folds of clothing and ideal geometric proportions. This Artemis, standing rigidly upright and covered and flanked by symbolic animals, has something more ancient and even oriental about her. Whether the copies we see today are faithful to the older originals, or remodelled to suit contemporary Graeco-Roman taste is unknown. Historians such as Pausanias (who may have been an Ionian himself) refer to a wooden statue of Artemis set up by the Amazons in an age long before the Ionian Greeks arrived here.
This type of Artemis is known as Artemis Polymatros, the many breasted, although some experts believe that the many protuberances on her chest are either eggs, large amber beads or testicles of sacrificial bulls. |
|
|
