The castle is a large and barbarous edifice, with square towers. You ascend to it over heaps of stones, intermixed with scraps of marble. "An outwork," continues Dr. Chandler, "which secured the approach, once consisted of two lateral walls from the body of the fortress, with a gateway. This is supported on each side by a huge and awkward buttress, constructed chiefly with the seats of a theatre, or stadium, many marked with Greek letters. Several fragments of inscriptions are inserted in it, or lie near. Over the arch are four pieces of ancient sculpture. Two in the middle are in alto-relievo, of most exquisite workmanship, and parts of the same design; representing the death of Patroclus, and the bringing of his body to Achilles." A third is in basso-relievo. "The figures are, a man leading away a little boy, a corpse extended, two women lamenting, and soldiers bearing forth the armour and weapons of the deceased, to decorate his funeral pile." This referred to the story of Hector. The fourth is much injured, but sufficient remains to show boys and vine-branches. The gateway faces the sea. Within the castle were a few huts, an old mosque, and a great deal of rubbish. "If you move a stone, it is a chance but you find a scorpion under it."
The grand mosque is situated beneath the castle. The side next the foot of the hill is of stone; the rest of polished marble, veined. In front is a court, having a large fountain; there are, also, broken columns—remains of a portico. The fabric was raised with old materials; and the large granite columns which sustain the roof, as well as all the marbles, are remains of what were long supposed to constitute ancient Ephesus.
In regard to the aqueduct, the piers are square; not large, but many, with arches formed with brick. These are constructed with inscribed pedestals, on one of which is the name of Herodes Atticus, whose statue it once supported. These ruins abound in snakes. Chamelions and lizards, also, are frequently seen basking in the sun. "The marbles, yet untouched, would form a copious and curious harvest, if accessible. The downfall of some may be expected continually, from the tottering condition of the fabric; and time and earthquakes will supply the place of ladders; for which the traveller wishes in vain at a place, where, if a tall man, he may almost overlook the houses."
And yet these ruins, strictly speaking, are in Dr. Chandler's opinion not those of Ephesus: those lie nearer the sea; and are visible from the castle hill. The ruins of Aiasaluck are those of a town, built in great part, if not entirely, of Ephesian ruins; and it may be supposed, by the Mahometan potentate, Mantakhia, who conquered Ephesus and all Caria, in the year 1313.
The site of Ephesus is to be sought for in the way from Aiasaluck to a square tower of white marble, which stands on a ridge, projecting from the chain of Corissus, the southern boundary of the plain of the Cayster. For about half a mile from the village the route is over a flat, interspersed with thickets of tamarinds, agnus-castus, and other shrubs; it then arrives at a low round hill which extends to the north-east from the high range of Corissus. All the inhabitants of the once famous Ephesus, the chief of this part of Asia, as the mistress governing the rest, by the residence of the proconsul here, amount now not to above forty or fifty families of Turks, living in poor thatched cottages, without, says Wheler, one Christian among them. They lie in a knot together, on the south side of the castle. "Within the gate, on the castle wall," continues he, "we saw a marble, whereon is cut a face, representing the moon, with two snakes; one on one side of the head, and the other on the other; joining their heads in the middle of the crown, and their tails pointing outwards; with each of them a circle in such shape, they both represent a bow. This was to represent the deity Hecate triformis; the moon in the heavens, represented by the large round visage; Proserpine in Hell, represented by the snakes; and Diana upon earth by the bow."
All the principal part of the ruins are on the side of the hill, lately mentioned, and in a flat recess between the west side of it and the high mountains. On the slope of the hill which is called Pion, or Prion (sometimes Lepre Acte), is a large arch of white marble, built, like the aqueduct before mentioned, from ancient ruins. On another part of the hill are two arches and vestiges of a theatre. This was, doubtless, the theatre into which the people rushed, shouting, "Great is Diana!" when St. Paul, by his preaching, produced a tumult at Ephesus. In both wings of this theatre, the seats and the ruins of the proscenium of which are removed, are several architectural fragments; and over an arch, once one of the avenues, is an inscription, enjoining the reader: "If he did not think proper to approach the festive scene, at least to be pleased with the skill of the architect, who had saved a vast circle of the theatre; all-conquering time having yielded to the succour he had contrived."
Coming to a narrow valley, broken columns and pieces of marble are observed, with vestiges of an Odeum, or music-room; this is stripped of the seats, and is naked. Beyond this are the remains of a large edifice, greatly resembling the one with an arcade at Troas. The top of one of the niches is painted with waves and fishes; and amongst the fragments lying in the front are two trunks of statues, of great size, without heads and almost buried; the drapery of which is both the same, alike remarkable. This was the gymnasium. "We pitched our tents," says Dr. Chandler, "among the ruins of this huge building, when we arrived from Claros, and employed on it three days in taking a plan and view. We found the area green with corn, and the site in general overrun with fennel, in seed, the stalks strong and tall."
At the entrance from Aiasaluck is a street, and from the remains still existing, it must have been a noble one. The edifices must have been, also, ample ones, with colonnades. There are many bases and pedestals of columns; and the vaulted substructions of the fabrics are still entire.
Turning towards the sea, the traveller is greeted with the sight of a prostrate heap, once forming a temple. The cell, or nave, was constructed of large, coarse stones. This temple had four columns between the antæ. Their diameter is about four feet six inches; their length about thirty-two feet; but, including the base and capital, forty-six feet and about seven inches. Though the dimensions of these pillars was so great, the shafts are fluted. The most entire of them, however, are broken into two pieces. The ornaments were rich; but "of inferior taste, and the mouldings ill proportioned[248]." This temple is supposed to be the remains of that erected at Ephesus, by permission of Augustus, to the god Julius. Some, however, have imagined that it might have been that dedicated to Claudius Cæsar on his apotheosis.
About a mile from this are the remnants of a sumptuous edifice; among the bushes beneath which are altars of white marble. These stand upon an eminence; and from that is beheld a lovely prospect of the river Cayster, which there crosses the plain from near Gellesus, into a small but full stream, and with many luxuriant windings.