More about Terrace Houses in Ephesus, Turkey
Life, however long, will always be short.
Wisława Szymborska, Our Ancestors’ Short Lives
Our guide calls the Roman Period (129 BCE-395 CE) Terrace Houses in Ephesus, the Beverly Hills of Ephesus.
So far, archeologists excavated seven houses, or more accurately, a complex of seven houses. They vary in sizes from about 1000 to 6000 square feet (from 92 to 557 square meters).
We climb the stairs to different floors silently and in awe, imagining the inhabitants, marveling on how different their lives were from our own, thinking — How difficult would it be to live here in 129 BCE?
I eavesdrop on my fellow travelers and conclude that we all travel the world to discover something new, to see the differences, to learn about “the other,” but all the efforts exist in hope of discovering the similarities. We all feel strangely comforted by learning that the Romans living in the Terrace Houses had hot and cold water, that the houses were heated through the floors, that the inhabitants liked elaborate entrances to announce their social status, and that they sat around the table for meals in their dining rooms, and slept in bedrooms.
As I enter different rooms, designed to entertain, comfort, and serve as a statement of a life well lived, Wisława Szymborska comes to my mind:
“Dlatego jeśli radość, to z domieszką trwogi,
jeśli rozpacz, to nigdy bez cichej nadziei.
Życie, choćby i długie, zawsze będzie krótkie.
Zbyt krótkie, żeby do tego coś dodać.”
“Hence, if joy, then with a touch of fear;
if despair, then not without some quiet hope.
Life, however long, will always be short.
Too short for anything to be added.”
“The passage of time,” my fellow traveler says, and the timber of her voice reaches all the way to the future, far and not too far away. No one says anything. No one travels to think of that. There is silence a bit too long. It makes it impossible to concentrate on the guide, until the guide laughs, and we all fall in line, grateful for her laugh. She points to the wall, and says: “Do you see it?”
“Do you see it?” the guide repeats, laughing again, pointing to the wall. “Look at the corner!” the guide says. I think of Georgia O’Keeffe, but say nothing, just wonder how many in the group are thinking of the Red Canna (here):
No one guesses anything before the guide continues: “Archeologists discovered seven layers of different paintings and frescos on the walls of some of the houses, and we know what that means!” the guide exclaims with excitement. “When the people living in these houses got bored with the paintings, they changed them. Or maybe the new owners were changing the paintings on the walls. They were changing the paintings the way we change wallpapers!” she laughs, but this time she is not alone. Many of us laugh and all of us know what that means — They were just like us!