Usky's visit to the city of Ephesus - Pt.4 - The Sacred Way, left side

The two sides of The Sacred Way are very different. While on the right as you walk down the marble roadway you are bombarded by huge and elaborate monuments, the left side is bordered by the earthy hillside of Mount Coressus until you approach the lower end of the street.

The Sacred Way

There is undoubtedly archeology waiting to be discovered in the hill, where work has been undertaken complexes of houses and shops have been uncovered.

Shops and storage warehouses

The shop fronts are small by modern standards, but we should remember most shopkeepers were solely responsible for the produce they sold.

Individual shop fronts with houses behind

The jewel in the crown is hidden from sight by a covered area where delicate work and restoration is still underway; I refer to the area known as the Terrace Houses of Ephesus.

Just to the rear of the shops on Curetes Street near the Library of Celsus there are six luxurious residential buildings that were in use from the 1^st century to the 7^th century AD. Because of their location on the slopes of Mt. Coressus they have become known as the Slope Houses or the Terrace Houses.

These two storey houses were abandoned in the 7^th century AD following a series of devastating Arab raids and the continued silting up of the city harbor, which caused the Ephesians to move to Ayasuluk Hill.

Each house has an elaborate series of decorations, with mosaic floors. The ground floors consisted of living and dining rooms while the upper storey housed the bedrooms and guest rooms. The walls are decorated with frescoes involving theater scenes.

These houses were built according to the Hippodamian grid style plan popular in the city during Roman times. Each one was built with an atrium with an entrance onto the side street. They were equipped for running water and supplied with heating through clay pipes similar to the city’s bath houses.

After abandonment the houses fell into decay or were buried under soil from landslides. The soil proved to be a good preservation agent and the houses with their contents have offered archeologists a close look into the lives of the Ephesian upper class in the Roman and Byzantine periods.