Book: A Trip Abroad

D >> Don Carlos Janes >> A Trip Abroad




On Wednesday, September twenty-first, I boarded a train on the Ottoman
Railway for Ayassalouk, the nearest station to the ruins of Ephesus, a
once magnificent city, "now an utter desolation, haunted by wild
beasts." We left Smyrna at seven o'clock, and reached Ayassalouk, fifty
miles distant, at half-past nine. The cars on this railway were entered
from to side, as on European railroads, but this time the doors were
locked after the passengers were in their compartments. Ayassalouk is a
poor little village, with only a few good houses and a small population.
At the back of the station are some old stone piers, that seem to have
supported arches at an earlier date. On the top of the hill, as on many
hilltops in this country, are the remains of an old castle. Below the
castle are the ruins of what I supposed to be St. John's Church, built
largely of marble, and once used as a mosque, but now inhabited by a
large flock of martins.

I visited the site of Ephesus without the services of a guide, walking
along the road which passes at some distance on the right. I continued
my walk beyond the ruins, seeing some men plowing, and others caring for
flocks of goats, which are very numerous in the East. When I turned back
from the road, I passed a well, obtaining a drink by means of the rope
and bucket that were there, and then I climbed a hill to the remains of
a strong stone building of four rooms. The thick walls are several feet
high, but all the upper part of the structure has been thrown down, and,
strange to say, a good portion of the fallen rocks are in three of the
rooms, which are almost filled. It is supposed that Paul made a journey
after the close of his history in the book of Acts; that he passed
through Troas, where he left a cloak and some books (2 Tim. 4:13); was
arrested there, and probably sent to Ephesus for trial before the
proconsul. Tradition has it that this ruined stone building is the place
where he was lodged, and it is called St. Paul's Prison. From the top of
its walls I could look away to the ruins of the city proper, about a
mile distant, the theater being the most conspicuous object.

There are several attractions in Ephesus, where there was once a church
of God--one of the "seven churches in Asia"--but the theater was the
chief point of interest to me. It was cut out of the side of the hill,
and its marble seats rested on the sloping sides of the excavation,
while a building of some kind, a portion of which yet remains, was built
across the open side at the front. I entered the inclosure, the outlines
of which are still plainly discernible, and sat down on one of the old
seats and ate my noonday meal. As I sat there, I thought of the scene
that would greet my eyes if the centuries that have intervened since
Paul was in Ephesus could be turned back. I thought I might see the
seats filled with people looking down upon the apostle as he fought for
his life; and while there I read his question: "If after the manner of
men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me" if the dead
are not raised up? (I Cor. 15:32). I also read the letter which Jesus
caused the aged Apostle John to write to the church at this place (Rev.
2:1-7), and Paul's epistle to the congregation that once existed in
this idolatrous city of wealth and splendor. As I was leaving this spot,
where I was so deeply impressed with thoughts of the great apostle to
the Gentiles, I stopped and turned back to take a final look, when I
thought of his language to Timothy, recorded in the first eight verses
of the second epistle, and then I turned and read it. Perhaps I was not
so deeply impressed at any other point on the whole journey as I was
here. The grand old hero, who dared to enter the city which was
"temple-keeper of the great Diana," this temple being one of the "Seven
Wonders of the World," and boldly preach the gospel of Christ,
realizing that the time of his departure was at hand, wrote: "I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the
faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and
not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing."
Meditating on the noble and lofty sentiment the apostle here expresses
in connection with his solemn charge to the young evangelist, I have
found my sentiments well expressed in Balaam's parable, where he says:
"Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his"
(Num. 23:10).

Near the front of the theater, on the left as one comes out, is quite a
space, which seems to have been excavated recently, and farther to the
left excavations were being made when I was there. An ancient lamp, a
fluted column, and a headless statue were among the articles taken out.
The workmen were resting when I viewed this part of the ruins, and an
old colored man gave me a drink of water. Beginning a little to the
right of the theater, and extending for perhaps fifteen hundred or two
thousand feet, is a marble-paved street, along which are strewn numerous
bases, columns, and capitals, which once ornamented this portion of the
great city; and to the right of this are the remains of some mighty
structure of stone and brick. In some places, where the paving blocks
have been taken up, a water course beneath is disclosed. While walking
around in the ruins, I saw a fine marble sarcophagus, or coffin,
ornamented with carvings of bulls' heads and heavy festoons of oak
leaves.

J.S. Wood, an Englishman, worked parts of eleven years, from 1863 to
1874, in making excavations at Ephesus. Upwards of eighty thousand
dollars were spent, about fifty-five thousand being used in a successful
effort to find the remains of the Temple of Diana. I followed the
directions of my guide-book, but may not have found the exact spot, as
Brother McGarvey, who visited the place in 1879, speaks of the
excavations being twenty feet deep. "Down in this pit," he says, "lie
the broken columns of white marble and the foundation walls of the
grandest temple ever erected on earth"; but I saw nothing like this.

When Paul had passed through Galatia and Phrygia, "establishing all the
disciples," "having passed through the upper country," he came to
Ephesus, and found "about twelve men" who had been baptized "into John's
baptism," whom Paul baptized "into the name of the Lord Jesus." He then
entered into the Jewish meeting place and reasoned boldly "concerning
the kingdom of God." Some of the hardened and disobedient spoke "evil of
the Way," so Paul withdrew from them and reasoned "daily in the school
of Tyrannus. And this continued for the space of two years; so that all
they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and
Greeks." The Lord wrought special miracles by Paul, so that the sick
were healed when handkerchiefs or aprons were borne from him to them.
Here some of the strolling Jews "took upon them to name over them that
had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by
Jesus, whom Paul preacheth." When two of the sons of Sceva undertook to
do this, the man possessed of the evil spirit "leaped on them and
mastered both of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out
of the house naked and wounded." There were stirring times in Ephesus in
those days. Fear fell upon the people, "and the name of the Lord Jesus
was magnified." Many of the believers "came confessing, and declaring
their deeds. And not a few of them that practiced magical arts brought
their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they
counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of
silver." "So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed."

"And about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way. For a
certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of
Diana, brought no little business unto the craftsmen; whom he gathered
together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know
that by this business we have our wealth. And ye see and hear that not
alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath
persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they are no gods that
are made with hands: and not only is there danger that our trade come
into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana be
made of no account, and that she should even be deposed from her
magnificence, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth. And when they
heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is
Diana of the Ephesians. And the city was filled with the confusion: and
they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and
Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel. And when
Paul was minded to enter in unto the people, the disciples suffered him
not. And certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent unto him
and besought him not to adventure himself into the theater. Some
therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was in
confusion; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
And they brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him
forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made a
defense unto the people. But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all
with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of
the Ephesians. And when the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he
saith, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not that the
city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Diana, and of the
image which fell down from Jupiter? Seeing then that these things can
not be gainsaid, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rash. For ye
have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor
blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius, and the craftsmen
that are with him, have a matter against any man, the courts are open,
and there are proconsuls: let them accuse one another. But if ye seek
anything about other matters, it shall be settled in the regular
assembly. For indeed we are in danger to be accused concerning this
day's riot, there being no cause for it: and as touching it we shall not
be able to give an account of this concourse. And when he had thus
spoken, he dismissed the assembly" (Acts 19:23-41).

As I was leaving the ruins, I stopped, sat down in sight of the spot
where I supposed the temple stood, and read the speech of Demetrius, and
thought his fears were well founded. Their trade has come into
disrepute, "the temple of the great goddess" has been "made of no
account," and "she whom Asia and all the world" worshiped has been
"deposed from her magnificence." Portions of the temple are now on
exhibition in the British Museum, in London, and portions have been
carried to different other cities to adorn buildings inferior to the one
in which they were originally used. "From the temple to the more
southern of the two eastern gates of the city," says McGarvey, "are
traces of a paved street nearly a mile in length, along the side of
which was a continuous colonnade, with the marble coffins of the city's
illustrious dead occupying the spaces between the columns. The
processions of worshipers, as they marched out of the city to the
temple, passed by this row of coffins, the inscriptions on which were
constantly proclaiming the noble deeds of the mighty dead." The canal
and artificial harbor, which enabled the ships of the world to reach the
gates of the city, have disappeared under the weight of the hand of
time. In some places the ground is literally covered with small stones,
and even in the theater, weeds, grass and bushes grow undisturbed. How
complete the desolation!

Before leaving Ayassalouk on the afternoon train, I bought some grapes
of a man who weighed them to me with a pair of balances, putting the
fruit on one pan and a stone on the other; but I didn't object to his
scales, for he gave me a good supply, and I went back and got some more.
I also bought some bread to eat with the grapes, and one of the numerous
priests of these Eastern countries gave me some other fruit on the
train. I was abroad in the fruit season, and I enjoyed it very much. I
had several kinds, including the orange, lemon, grapes, pomegranates,
figs, olives, and dates. Perhaps I had nothing finer than the large,
sweet grapes of Greece. The next day after the trip to Ephesus, I
boarded the _Princess Eugenia_, a Russian ship, for Beyrout, in Syria.
Soon after leaving Smyrna the ship stopped at a port of disinfection.
The small boats were lowered, and the third-class passengers were
carried to the disinfecting establishment, where their clothes were
heated in a steam oven, while they received a warm shower bath without
expense to themselves. A nicely dressed young German shook his head
afterwards, as though he did not like such treatment; but it was not
specially disagreeable, and there was no use to complain.

That evening, the twenty-second of September, we sailed into a harbor on
the island of Chios, the birth-place of the philosopher Pythagoras. It
is an island twenty-seven miles long, lying near the mainland. The next
morning we passed Cos and Rhodes. On this last mentioned island once
stood the famous Colossus, which was thrown down by an earthquake in 224
B.C. The island of Patmos, to which John was banished, and upon which he
wrote the Revelation, was passed in the night before we reached Cos. It
is a rocky, barren patch of land, about twenty miles in circumference,
lying twenty-four miles from the coast of Asia Minor. On the
twenty-fourth the _Princess Eugenia_ passed the southwestern end of the
island of Cyprus. In response to a question, one of the seamen answered
me: "Yes, that's Kiprus." I was sailing over the same waters Paul
crossed on his third missionary tour on the way from Assos to Tyre. He
"came over against Chios," "came with a straight course unto Cos, and
the next day unto Rhodes," and when he "had come in sight of Cyprus,
leaving it on the left hand (he) sailed unto Syria and landed at Tyre"
(Acts 20:15 and 21:1-3).

On the evening of Lord's day, September twenty-fifth, the ship passed
Tripoli, on the Syrian coast, and dropped down to Beyrout, where I
stopped at the "Hotel Mont Sion," with the waves of the Mediterranean
washing against the foundation walls. At seven o'clock the next morning
I boarded the train for Damascus, ninety-one miles distant, and we were
soon climbing the western slope of the Lebanon Mountains by a cog
railway. When we were part way up, the engine was taken back and hitched
to the rear end of the train. After we were hauled along that way
awhile, it was changed back to the front end again. In these mountains
are vineyards and groves of figs, olives, and mulberry trees, but most
of the ground was dry and brown, as I had seen it in Southern Italy,
Greece, and Asia Minor. Beyond the mountains is a beautiful plain, which
we entered about noon, and when it was crossed, we came to the
Anti-Lebanon Mountains, and reached the old city in the evening.
Damascus, with its mixed population of Moslems, Greeks, Syrians,
Armenians, Jews, and others, is the largest city in Syria, and it has
probably been continuously inhabited longer than any other city on
earth. Away back in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis we read of
Abraham's victory over the enemies who had taken Lot away, whom Abraham
pursued "unto Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus," and in the next
chapter we read of "Eliezer of Damascus," who Abraham thought would be
the possessor of his house. Rezon "reigned in Damascus, and he was an
adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:23-25). Elisha
went to Damascus when Ben-Hadad was sick (2 Kings 8:7-15); Jeroboam
recovered the city, which had belonged to Judah (2 Kings 14:28); and
Jeremiah prophesied of the city (Jeremiah 49:23-27). It was probably the
home of Naaman, the Syrian leper, and here Paul was baptized into
Christ.

For a long time the Arabs have considered Damascus as "an earthly
reflection of Paradise," but an American or European would consider a
place no better than it is as being far from the Paradise of Divine
making. But it is not entirely without reason that these people have
such a lofty conception of the old city. The Koran describes Paradise as
a place of trees and streams of water, and Damascus is briefly described
in those words. There are many public drinking fountains in the city,
and owing to the abundance of water, there are many trees. The river
Abana, one of the "rivers of Damascus" (2 Kings 5:12), flows through the
city, but the most of its water is diverted by artificial channels. I
had some difficulty in finding the American Consular Agent, and it is no
wonder, for the place is not the most prominent in Damascus by a good
deal, and the escutcheon marking it as the place where the American
Government is represented is not on the street, but over a door in a
kind of porch. The Agent was not in, so I retraced my steps to the
French consulate, which is near by. I was kindly received by a gentleman
who could speak English, and after we had had a good, cool drink of
lemonade, he went with me to the "Hotel d'Astre d'Orient," in the
"street which is called Straight." The next morning I found the American
Agent in his office. Then I went to the postoffice, and after being
taken upstairs and brought back downstairs, I was led up to a little
case on the wall, which was unlocked in order that I might look through
the bunch of letters it contained addressed in English, and I was made
glad by receiving an epistle from the little woman who has since taken
my name upon her for life. After reading my letter, I went out and
walked up the mountain side far enough to get a bird's-eye view of the
city, and it was a fine sight the rich growth of green trees presented
in contrast with the brown earth all around. Returning to the city, I
walked about the streets, devoting some of my time to the bazaars, or
little stores, in which a great variety of goods are offered for sale. I
also saw several kinds of work, such as weaving, wood-turning and
blacksmithing, being carried on. The lathes used for turning wood are
very simple, and are operated by a bow held in the workman's right hand,
while the chisel is held in his left hand and steadied by the toes on
one or the other of his feet. It is a rather slow process, but they can
turn out good work. One gentleman, who was running a lathe of this kind,
motioned for me to come up and sit by his side on a low stool. I
accepted his invitation, and he at once offered me a cigarette, which I
could not accept. A little later he called for a small cup of coffee,
which I also declined, but he took no offense. "The street which is
called Straight" is not as straight as might be supposed from its name,
but there is probably enough difference between its course and that of
others to justify the name.

When Paul was stricken with blindness on his way here (Acts 9:1-30), he
was directed to enter the city, where he would be told all things that
were appointed for him to do. He obeyed the voice from heaven, and
reached the house of Judas in Straight Street. When I reached the
traditional site of the house of Ananias, in the eastern part of the
city, near the gate at the end of Straight Street, I found a
good-natured woman sitting on the pavement just inside the door opening
from the street to what would be called a yard in America. The "house"
has been converted into a small church, belonging to the Catholics, and
it is entirely below the surface. I went down the stairs, and found a
small chamber with an arched ceiling and two altars. I also went out and
visited the old gateway at the end of the street. The masonry is about
thirteen feet thick, and it may be that here Paul, deprived of his
sight, and earnestly desiring to do the will of the Lord, entered the
city so long ago. I then viewed a section of the wall from the outside.
The lower part is ancient, but the upper part is modern, and the portion
that I saw was in a dilapidated condition. "In Damascus," Paul wrote to
the Corinthians, "the governor, under Aretas the king, guarded the city
of the Damascenes in order to take me: and through a window was I let
down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands" (2 Cor. 11:32,33).
In some places there are houses so built in connection with the wall
that it would not be a very difficult thing to lower a man from one of
the windows to the ground outside the city.

Mention has already been made of the Arab's opinion of Damascus, and now
I wish to tell how it appeared through my spectacles. The view from the
distance is very pleasing, but when one comes inside the wall and begins
to walk about the streets, the scene changes. The outside of the
buildings is not beautiful. The streets are narrow, crooked, and usually
very dirty; in some cases they are filthy. It seems that all kinds of
rubbish are thrown into the streets, and the dogs are scavengers.
Perhaps no other city has so many dogs. At one place up along the Abana,
now called the Barada, I counted twenty-three of these animals, and a
few steps brought me in sight of five more; but there is some filth that
even Damascus dogs will not clean up. Some of the streets are roughly
paved with stone, but in the best business portion of the city that I
saw there was no pavement and no sidewalk--it was all street from one
wall to the other. I saw a man sprinkling one of the streets with water
carried in the skin of some animal, perhaps a goat. When I came out of
the postoffice, a camel was lying on the pavement, and in another part
of the city I saw a soldier riding his horse on the sidewalk. Down in
"the street which is called Straight" a full-grown man was going along
as naked as when he was born. Perhaps he was insane, but we do not even
allow insane men to walk the streets that way in this country. Carriages
are used for conveying passengers, but freight is usually moved on the
backs of horses, camels, donkeys, or men. Some wagons and carts are to
be seen, but they are not numerous. It is remarkable what loads are
piled upon the donkeys, probably the commonest beasts of burden in
Damascus. Sometimes the poor little creatures are almost hidden from
view by the heavy burdens they are required to bear, which may consist
of grapes to be sold, or rubbish to be carried out of the city.
Sometimes they are ridden by as many as three people at once. If the
gospel were to get a firm hold on these people, the donkeys would fare
better.

About 333 B.C., Damascus came under the control of Alexander the Great.
Antiochus Dionysius reigned there three years, but was succeeded by
Aretas of Arabia in 85 B.C. Under Trajan it became a Roman provincial
city. The Mongols took it in 1260, and the Tartars plundered it in 1300.
An enemy marched against it in 1399, but the citizens purchased immunity
from plunder by paying a "sum of a million pieces of gold." In 1516,
when Selim, the Turkish Sultan, marched in, it became one of the
provincial capitals of the Turkish Empire, and so continues. There was a
very serious massacre here in 1860. All the consulates, except the
British and Prussian, were burned, and the entire Christian quarter was
turned into ruins. In the two consulates that were spared many lives
were preserved, but it is said that "no fewer than six thousand
unoffending Christians ... were thus murdered in Damascus alone," and
"the whole number of the Christians who perished in these days of terror
is estimated at fourteen thousand." A number of the leaders were
afterward beheaded, and a French force, numbering ten thousand, was sent
into the country. The Mohammedans have about two hundred mosques and
colleges in this city, which was once far advanced in civilization.

I left Damascus and returned toward the coast to Rayak, where I took the
train on a branch line for Baalbec, the Syrian city of the sun, a place
having no Biblical history, but being of interest on account of the
great stones to be seen there. No record has been preserved as to the
origin of the city, but coins of the first century of the Christian era
show that it was then a Roman colony. It is situated in the valley of
the Litany, at an elevation of two thousand eight hundred and forty feet
above the sea. The chief ruins are in a low part of the valley by the
side of the present town, and are surrounded by gardens. Within the
inclosing wall are the remains of the temple of Jupiter and the temple
of the sun. The hand of time and the hand of man have each had a share
in despoiling these ruins, but they still speak with eloquence of their
grandeur at an earlier date. The wall is so low on the north that it is
supposed to have been left unfinished. Here are nine stones, each said
to be thirty feet long, ten feet thick and thirteen feet high, and they
are closely joined together without the use of mortar. Just around the
corner are three others still larger, and built in the wall about twenty
feet above the foundation. Their lengths are given as follows:
sixty-three feet; sixty-three feet and eight inches; and sixty-four
feet. They are thirteen feet high and about ten feet thick. Some may be
interested in knowing how such large building blocks were moved.
McGarvey says: "It is explained by the carved slabs found in the temple
of Nineveh, on which are sculptured representations of the entire
process. The great rock was placed on trucks by means of levers, a large
number of strong ropes were tied to the truck, a smooth track of heavy
timbers was laid, and men in sufficient number to move the mass were
hitched to the ropes." Some of the smaller stones have holes cut in
them, as if for bars, levers, or something of that kind, but the faces
of these big blocks are smooth. "A man must visit the spot, ride round
the exterior, walk among the ruins, sit down here and there to gaze upon
its more impressive features, see the whole by sunlight, by twilight,
and by moonlight, and allow his mind leisurely to rebuild it and
re-people it, ere he can comprehend it."--_McGarvey_.

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