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Ephesus Part 2 3 Celsus Library and Great Theater

544 views · Published 3 January 2015 · 2:58 · Indexed 29 October 2026

Channel: guitar singapore travels Rapture! · 2015 · People & Blogs

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Ancient Ephesus - Celsus Library and Great Theater

Once we exited the Terrace Houses, there were good views of the Ephesus site.  Take note that we now had to climb down a long flight of stairs which could be slippery when wet, before we got back to the Ephesus ancient city.

Our next stop would be the library of Celsus.  From wiki, I learnt that this library was built in honour of Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, hence the name Library of Celsus. Celsus had been consul in 92AD, governor of Asia in 115D, and a wealthy and popular local ciizen.  He was Greek, but honoured as both a Greek and Roman in the library itself.  Celsus paid for the construction of the library with his own personal wealth.   The library was built to store 12,000 scrolls and to serve as a monumental tomb for Celsus, who was buried beneath the library.  It was unusual to be buried within a library or even within city limits, so this was a special honour for Celsus. 

The Theatre of Ephesus is mentioned in the Bible (Acts 19:23-41), the theatre was the site of the riot of silversmiths who made figures of pagan idols like Artemis (Diana).  A silversmith by the name of Demetrius was named to have rallied fellow silversmiths to his cause.  They stirred up the people of Ephesus, who were confused, and all rushed to the theatre.  Acts 19:34 records the people in the theatre as chanting "Great is the Artemis (Diana) of Ephesus!"

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