Asia Minor (1)

Chapter Six. ASIA MINOR

Once again I found myself aboard a Navy ship, sailing through
open waters. It was a long journey between Alexandria and
the Island of Rhodes, where we made a two day stop to rest
and resupply our ship. Entering the harbor, I pondered over
the once biggest statue in the world: the Colossus of Rhodes!
Built several centuries back, it was toppled by an earthquake
some fifty years later. It must have been a sight to see!

Rhodes seemed a bountiful island, with lots of vineyards, olive
groves, and wheat fields. And the port was really busy shipping
all its produce throughout the Empire. I considered writing
my brothers about this place, in terms of trade, but thought the
better of it. Our family corporation was extended enough.

Walking about I came across the ancient Stoa at Rhodes, the
famous Stoic school where Julius Caesar once attended when
he was a young student. Little did I know then, but the Stoa at
Rhodes would eventually play an important part in my life. But
for now, I had to take my leave and re-board my ship. Plowing
around a myriad of smaller islands, we headed for the port of
Ephesus!

Again, the same Praetorian procedures applied in the Province
of Asia Minor. We were quartered at the Governor's Palace, and
once again I had to spend familiarization time with the Speculatore's
junior officer in Ephesus. We spent a number of months meeting
local contacts, observing not only the Province's capital--Ephesus--
but also two other major cities: Pergamum and Miletus.

Ephesus was a humongous city, with a population of probably
some 400,000 people. This quite surprised me. Alexandria
seemed large, but I didn't expect this on the far western borders
of Asia! Not only was Ephesus huge, it seemed a fairly happy
place as well. With a long history, it has chosen to flourish
within the Empire.

Right off it became obvious that the patron goddess of Ephesus
was Artemis (known as Diana in Rome). What intrigued me
was that the statues of the Ephesian Artemis differed incredibly
from the usual Greco-Roman imagery of Artemis as the "huntress"
armed with bow-and-arrow. The Ephesian Artemis was a strange
creature, seemingly standing as a many-breasted fertility figure.
I couldn't figure any of this for quite some time.

But I had to familiarize myself with other aspects of Ephesus. It
contained marketplaces, a major forum, long colonnaded streets,
an amphitheatre, and library amongst neighborhoods of comfortable
apartments, townhouses, and outlying villas. The Library of Celsus
was a great repository of books, consisting of thousands of bound
scrolls. I was told that it had replaced the lost Library of Alexandria
in terms of importance, because of its many and significant holdings!

And I did manage to take-in a late afternoon play in the amphitheatre.
Though, as an Equestrian wearing that special gold ring, I had the
right to sit in the near front seats, I decided rather to stand atop. I
was interested in how much I might hear. Astounding! In this 25,000
seat theatre, I could literally hear clearly every word that was being
said down on the stage. The acoustics were incredible.

All I could think was that I was really going to like working in Asia Minor.