ARTEMIS and the essence of her mother divinity

    Man lives in a universe of symbols. Everything that surrounds us; numbers, colours, shapes are symbols.

    Human beings comprehend each historical phenomenon with symbols/symbols. It is undeniable that mankind has used symbols expressing this power on the way to a divine power and creation by concretising the events he has seen or perceived in nature since the Upper Palaeolithic Period. These symbols are the very essence of nature, the cycle of reproduction and death, and nature itself.

    The cult of the mother goddess is found in every region of Anatolia since Prehistoric times. The characteristics of this belief, which provides all kinds of abundance and fertility and has great power over plants and animals, have developed depending on natural conditions.

    God and idol are synonymous in Neolithic Period cultures. The idols created especially at Çatalhöyük in the Neolithic Age and at almost all settlements during the Chalcolithic Age and at Alaca and Kültepe in the following Bronze Age are the fruits of the Mother Goddess cult in Anatolia. With the Early Bronze Age; the Mother Goddess Wurushemu, who was perceived abstractly in Hatti, becomes the Sun Goddess of Arriana and Hepat in Yazılıkaya by becoming pictorialised in the Hittite Civilisation of the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Even the fall of the Hittites could not destroy this belief, which was worshipped in every region of Anatolia. Like ploughed soil, like a tree whose branches have been pruned, it continues uninterruptedly with the New Hittite Kubaba. This continuity affects Phrygian art and beliefs in sculpture and Cybele beliefs, and the 7th century BC Phrygian Cybele paintings shape the Ionian Goddesses. The Archaic Age shows the first signs of the golden age of Ionian art. After the Persian invasion, the belief in the Mother Goddess and the symbols expressing her have now left Anatolia and reached the opposite shore. All the goddesses known as "Greek" were born from her, only their names changed.

    Artemis emerged from this idea, daughter of Zeus and Leto, sister of Apollo. Even this mythos cannot tear her away from Anatolia, the arrival of the Achaeans in front of Troy binds her to her ancestral land and keeps the Trojans. He sits on the mountains and peaks again. He inhabits the forested valleys. All plants and animals are under her control.(Potnia Theron) According to another local rumour of antiquity, Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis not in Delos, but in Patara and Ephesus in the pains of holy birth, in the Anatolian Mother Goddess's own land.

    Artemis draws her essence from nature and the cult of the Anatolian Mother Goddess. So much so that she is symbolised by the very primitive image "xoanon", a statue of an almost unhewn tree. Artemidoros of Ephesus, who lived in the second century AD, recommends the worship of Artemis Ephesia and Eleuthera as well as the old abstract form of Artemis Pergaia.

    Artemis Eleuthera, Artemis Pergaia, Artemis of Ephesos, Phrygian Cybele and Neo-Hittite Kubaba share common characteristics.  It is known that the Goddess Artemis was worshipped in Myra with the epithet Eleuthera and festivals were held in honour of the Goddess. And this worship continued until the Roman Period. So much so that the depiction on the reverse side of one of the Myra city coins of the reign of Gordianus III (238-244 A.D.) is very interesting.

    While the goddess is depicted as a whole with the tree trunk, two snakes prevent two figures on her right and left from attempting to cut the tree with axes in their hands. It is interesting that this depiction appears on a coin during the Roman Period. In other words, by emphasising the identity of the goddess with nature, it is expressed that this belief and worship is protected by nature itself. The fact that the idea of perceiving the divine power in the tree goes back to the Bronze Age Beycesultan with concrete findings coincides with the fact that Eleuthera was "born" from the essence of the Anatolian Mother Goddess. Artemis Pergaia, locally known as Wanassa Periia, who was worshipped in Perge, is depicted in relief on a pillar belonging to the skene frons of the Perge Theatre; with her high calathos on her head and inside the temple.

    In Ephesos, the most important Artemis cult centre known, the goddess shows us her identity with nature with her high headdress, plant and animal ornaments, breast-like braids on her torso symbolising fertility and fertility, and deer figures on both sides. It is difficult to make a definite judgement whether the "stele" shaped abstract body of both goddesses and the Artemis of Kaumos symbolises the "tree" or the rock in which her power is perceived; what is known is that in every case the Mother Goddess exists in that essence.

ANCIENT CITY OF EPHESUS

     

    

The first foundation of the ancient city of Ephesus within the borders of Selçuk District in İzmir Province dates back to 6000 BC. Recent researches and excavations have revealed Bronze Age and Hittite settlements in the mounds (prehistoric hill settlements) around Ephesus and on Ayasuluk Hill where the castle is located. The name of the city was Apasas during the Hittite Period. The harbour city of Ephesus, where immigrants from Greece started to live in 1050 BC, was moved around the Temple of Artemis in 560 BC. Ephesus, which is visited today, was founded by Lysimakhos, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, around 300 BC. Ephesus, which lived its most glorious times during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, had a population of 200,000 people as the capital of the Asian province and the largest harbour city. Ephesus was relocated again during the Byzantine Period and came to Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, where it was founded for the first time.

What is the most important feature of the ancient city of Ephesus?

    Ephesus, which was the main gate between East and West, was an important harbour city. This position enabled Ephesus to develop as the most important political and commercial centre of its time and to become the capital of the province of Asia during the Roman period. Ephesus does not only owe its importance in ancient times to this. The largest temple of the Artemis cult based on the ancient Anatolian mother goddess (Cybele) tradition is also located in Ephesus. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus is considered one of the seven wonders of the world. Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, 3 kilometres from today's Selçuk district, which later became an important Roman city. It was one of the twelve cities of Ionia during the classical Greek period. Its foundation dates back to 6000 BC in the Neolithic Age. The first foundation of the ancient city of Ephesus within the borders of Selçuk District of İzmir Province dates back to 6000 BC, the Neolithic Period, the Neolithic Stone Age. Recent researches and excavations have revealed Bronze Age and Hittite settlements in the mounds (prehistoric hill settlements) around Ephesus and on Ayasuluk Hill where the castle is located. 

    The name of the city was Apasas during the Hittite Period. The harbour city of Ephesus, where immigrants from Greece started to live in 1050 BC, was moved around the Temple of Artemis in 560 BC. Ephesus, which is visited today, was founded by Lysimakhos, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, around 300 BC. Ephesus, which lived its most glorious periods in the Hellenistic and Roman ages, had a population of 200.000 people as the capital of the Asian province and the largest harbour city. Ephesus was relocated again in the Byzantine Age and came to Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, where it was first founded. In 1330, Ayasuluk was taken over by the Turks and became the centre of Aydınoğulları, and gradually started to shrink from the 16th century onwards. After the establishment of the Republic in 1923, it was renamed Selçuk and today it is a touristic place with a population of 30.000 people. Ephesus, one of the most important centres of the ancient world, has always played an important role in the fields of civilisation, science, culture and art throughout its history dating back to the 4th millennium BC. Ephesus, which was the main gate between East and West (Asia and Europe), was an important harbour city. This position enabled Ephesus to develop as the most important political and commercial centre of its age and to become the capital of the province of Asia during the Roman period. However, Ephesus did not only owe its importance in antiquity to its development as a major trade centre and its status as a capital city. The largest temple of the Artemis cult based on the ancient Anatolian mother goddess (Cybele) tradition is also located in Ephesus. This temple is considered one of the seven wonders of the world. Since Ephesus has been relocated many times throughout its history, its ruins spread over a wide area. These ruins spread over an area of approximately 8 km², excavation-restoration and arrangement works have been carried out and are open to visitors.

1- Ayasuluk Hill (the earliest settlement dated to the 3rd millennium BC and the Church of St. Jean, which belongs to the Byzantine period and is of great importance for the Christian world)

2- Artemision (an important religious centre from the 9th-4th centuries BC; Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the world)

3- Ephesus (Archaic-Classical-Hellenistic-Roman and Byzantine Period settlement)

4- Selçuk (Seljuk, Ottoman settlement and the modern city that hosts this settlement, which is an important tourism centre today), Ephesus, which was an important civilisation centre in ancient times, is still an important tourism centre visited by an average of 1.5 million people annually.

    The first archaeological excavations in Ephesus began in 1869 by J.T. Wood on behalf of the British Museum. Wood's excavations to find the famous Temple of Artemis were continued by D.G. Hogarth after 1904. The Austrian excavations at Ephesus, which continue today, were first started in 1895 by Otto Benndorf. The work of the Austrian Archaeological Institute, which was interrupted during the First and Second World Wars, continued uninterruptedly after 1954. In addition to the work of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Ephesus, the Ephesus Museum has been carrying out excavation, restoration and arrangement works on behalf of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism since 1954.