Aegean

Anatolia is the homeland of philosophers who are the fathers of modern science and humanities. Among these homelands, Ionia on the shores of the Eastern Aegean and the ancient city of Miletos in Asia Minor come first. Thales of Miletos was the first philosopher who claimed that he observed nature not for the sake of the gods but for his daily practical needs. He was the first person who observed nature objectively for the sake of curiosity. His student Anaximander and Anaximander’s student Anaximenes of Miletos continued his legacy. They attempted to explain the origin and structure of the world in a rational manner. Anaximander was the first to discribe Earth as suspended in emptiness, with no support from anywhere.  Heraclitus of Ephesos saw the world in a continual state of flux and fire was conceived as the underlying order of the cosmos, continuously transforming itself yet remaining the same. Anaxagoras, born in Clazomenae, regarded material substance as an infinite multitude of imperishable primary elements, understanding all generation and disappearance of materials as the mixture and separation of these elements respectively. He believed that all substance is ordered by an ordering force, the cosmic mind (nous). A philosophical school was established in Assos under the rule of Hermias of Atarneus, who was a former slave of Eubulus, a Buthynian banker, and a former student in Plato's Academy. Hermias invited a number of philosophers and natural scientists to Assos, including Aristotle and Xenocrates whom he knew from Plato’s Academy in Athens.

Homer, the great author of the epics Iliad and Odyssey, was from İzmir, ancient Smyrna. He was referred to as “Melesigenes,” the “son of Meles” (Meles refers to the River Meles or more appropriately Meles Brook). The cave where he was to compose his epic poems was described as being near the source of the brook, which flows through the city of İzmir. A temple dedicated to the poet, the Homereion, stood on this river’s banks. Despite being one of the most famous poets in the world we know very little about him. A master storyteller himself, he is completely silent about his own life. In Troia, one can retrace almost the entire Iliad while along Türkiye’s Aegean coast one can follow in the footsteps of the protagonists of the Odyssey. The ruins of the Sanctuary of Claros, the oracle center of antiquity, is located in the province of İzmir, near the coastal town of Özdere. The religious center in Claros consisted of the temple and oracle of Apollo, revered locally as Apollo Clarius. In ancient times, the oracle was as significant as the ones in Delphi and Didyma. The earliest information about the oracle at Claros dates back to the 7th century BC in the form of Homeric Hymns. These were a collection of thirty-three anonymous poems attributed to Homer, who, according to some scholars, was born in nearby Colophon.

Shrine of the Virgin Mary – St. John’s Basilica – Temple of Artemis, Ephesos – Şirince Village The Council of Ephesos (AD 431) decreed that the Virgin Mary spent her last years in the vicinity of Ephesos. From Ephesos, St. John the Apostle traveled throughout Asia Minor. Going back in time, the earliest pilgrims arrived to worship the Anatolian goddess known as Kybele. Later, this deity merged with the Greek goddess Artemis and was venerated at the great Artemision as Ephesian Artemis, attracting pilgrims from all across the Mediterranean region. These ancient cults of female deities were later echoed in the worship of Mary, mother of Jesus, who is believed to have spent the last years of her life in Ephesos. St. John the Apostle was buried on Ayasuluk Hill in the town of Selcuk, where an impressive basilica was built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. According to this tradition, Mary arrived in Ephesos together with St. John and they spent the last years of their lives here. When Lazarist priests discovered the house following a vision of Anne Catherine Emmerich they discovered that the locals of the nearby village of Şirince had been celebrating the “Dormition of Virgin Mary” at this spot for centuries. Today, the House of the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana Evi in Turkish) can be visited along with the Holy Spring in the vicinity and the historic Wall of Wishes.

The Jewish heritage of İzmir has a unique character with its Sephardic traditions of religion and worship, and the architectural styles of the synagogues which drew inspiration from medieval Spain. İzmir is the only city in the world with a surviving unusual cluster of synagogues displaying a specific architectural style from the 16th century.  Some of these synagogues are adjacent to each other, creating a unique historical architectural complex. Out of 33 synagogues built in previous centuries in İzmir, only eight have survived and are open to visitors around the Kemeraltı historical market area, in the area known as Havra Sokağı (Synagogue Street). These synagogues constitute a living testimony to the history of the Jewish community in İzmir, which was one of the most spectacular of its kind and which had the greatest spiritual and cultural influence of all Jewish diaspora communities in the 17th and 18th centuries. The existing synagogues in İzmir are being restored and reconstructed by an international initiative called the “İzmir Project” with the support of the local authorities and İzmir’s Jewish community. The Jewish district in İkiçeşmelik was located between Kadifekale, Basmane, and Havra Street, and later in the 19th century spread to the districts of Karataş, Göztepe, and Karantina. The few remaining cortijos (family houses) in the area of İkiçeşmelik, where the Sephardic Jewish residents of İzmir settled, are being renovated. A cortijo referred more specifically to a building type organized around a courtyard, historically housing the poorest members of the Sephardic community in the city. Each family lived in a single room facing the courtyard, sharing service facilities like the kitchen, bathroom, and water well. The Sephardic synagogues of Kemeraltı that are open to visit are Bikur Holim, Beth Hilel, Seniora, Shalom, Algazi Synagogues & Beth Israel in Karataş.

The Book of Revelation addresses seven letters to seven churches in Asia Minor, the geographical location of modern-day Türkiye. Each letter, as proclaimed by Christ and recorded by St. John the Apostle, declares the triumphs and failings of the recipient churches and warns each congregation that they must repent. The seven churches of the Revelation were among a number of early Christian communities in Asia Minor. These particular seven churches may have been chosen to receive Christ’s apocalyptic message because they were located along an established, circular trade route that brought together the most populous and influential parts of the province. All seven churches of the Revelation are located in the Aegean region of western Türkiye. Ephesos (Selcuk-Efes/İzmir) Smyrna (İzmir) Pergamon (Bergama/İzmir) Thyatira (Akhisar/Manisa) Sardis (Salihli/Manisa) Philadelphia (Alasehir/Manisa) Laodicea (Denizli)