Temple of Hadrian in Ephesus, a photo from Izmir, Aegean

Photographer's Note

This came out of of the scans of my slides. It was shot in a blazingly hot Summer day in one of the most impressive historic places I have ever been.

Ephesus is a city that already existed on the 14th century BC, when it's believed to have been the capital of a Hittite kingdom. It was then colonised by the Greeks on the 10th century BC. According to them, the city was founded by the mythical Amazons). During the Greek period, the town was home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Temple of Artemis.

Then came the Romans in the 3rd or 4th century BC, who made it the capital of the Roman territories in Anatolia (then called Asia Minor). It kept its importance, being the second most important city of the Byzantine Empire, until the 8th century AD, when the Arabs sacked it. After that, it began declining, and the fact that its harbour, once an important one, was completely silted, should have something to do with it (now the Aegean Sea lies 6 Km away). It regained some importance during a period in the 12th century, but in the 15th century it was completely abandoned.

The city appears several in the early history of Christianity, although that probably has little to do with some believing that the Virgin Mary had her last home there.

The photo shows the Temple of Hadrian, which was built in the 2th century AD to commemorate the visit of the Emperor Hadrian, and was renovated 200 hundred years later. The relieves depict the legendary story of the foundation of Ephesus and that prominent figure on the centre of the arch is supposed to be the Medusa, a female monster of the Greek Mythology that enters that story.

More weblinks (I guess I can apply to a record on the number of links on one post 8-):
� Wikipedia
� ephesus.us
� turizm.net
� sailturkey.com (panoramic 360� views)
� ce.eng.usf.edu / Temple of Artemis

Location (latitude, longitude): 37.93836,27.34193

riclopes, cuneyt-sb, xuaxo, paura, pboehringer, lucasgalodoido, adores, jhm, luiscar, henrytf, atus, dospordostres, sabyasachi1212, sarahnatalie, sufi, nivaldo, JEPC, feather, zmey has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

zeca (19762) 2007-06-19 23:44

Oi Jos�!
Que belo 鈔gulo! A foto � bonita mesmo em miniatura! As linhas est鉶 bem valorizadas por esta perspectiva e contra este lindo c閡. Uma 髏ima foto!
Abra鏾,
Zeca

grantlp (2113) 2007-06-20 0:27

Hi Jose,
An excellent perspective of this famous architecture, and the bright blue colour of the sky contrasts well with the ruins. Very well captured.
Cheers Grant

leo61 (0) 2007-06-20 0:33

Hi Jose!
Interesting perspective and a nice view through this arch.Nice carving at the second arch and a great contrast of these nruins with this wonderful blue sky.
Regards,Leo

cemsultan (4726) 2007-06-20 1:04

Hi Jose
Very nice colour and very nice pic..
FATİH

riclopes (35577) 2007-06-20 4:31

Bom dia Jos�, tamb閙 tenho uma data de fotos destas ru韓as - se vier a postar alguma, j� sei a quem vou roubar a nota... ;-) Aqui tinha de se chegar de madrugada, para evitar os magotes de visitantes. Est� muito bonita a composi玢o destes arcos contra o c閡 azulinho e mais uma vez tens um excelente resultado do scan, neste caso de um slide, com boa defini玢o dos pormenores e texturas da pedra. Ainda me lembro de estudar este triplo arco (circular central com dois rectangulares laterais) em hist髍ia da arquitectura e agora j� nem me lembro do nome...
Um abra鏾,
ricardo

cuneyt-sb (6576) 2007-06-20 4:36

Hi Jose
Wellcomes to Turkey, From 2004 have you had visit once?
Good POV and colors,
TFS/Kind regards

UnTrained (0) 2007-06-20 4:40

Ol� Jos�,
wonderful details and textures on the arches of stones. The sky is amazingly blue ;-) I think with a little help from my friend. The light is also well balanced to see bright and shadowed parts.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

xuaxo (6854) 2007-06-20 7:51

Ol� Jos�
Gosto muito de ver estes detalhes com esse magn韋ico c閡 azul atr醩. O ponto de vista n鉶 � convencional, mas j� que seria imposs韛el mostrar tudo, gosto da solu玢o encontrada, dando 阯fase a certas partes.
F

paura (25802) 2007-06-20 9:14

Jos�,
Ficou boa sua composi玢o. estavas com polarizador, n鉶? A inclus鉶 da localiza玢o � um detalhe muito interessante.

Paulo

batalay (41261) 2007-06-20 9:54

Hello Jos�,

This is a first rate scan of a favorite scene for me, and you have captured it with an unusual perspective. Usually, one sees Hadrian's Temple shot straight on. The colors are vibrant and the definition very good; and as usual you have provided a first rate note. As you probably know, Medussa, meant to ward off the evil (evil eye) has its present spin-off in the evil eye stone that people often wear. But the tradition goes back several millennia, well before the Greeks.

Warm regards,
Bulent

pboehringer (770) 2007-06-20 10:28

Despite the scanning it is a high quality image, Jose. The texture of the stones is crisp and you found the right light incidence to explore it. I like very much the play betwenn sun light exposed areas contrasting well with the shadows. That gives almost a perfect 3-D feeling.

lucasgalodoido (27698) 2007-06-20 15:40

Ol� Jos�!
Imponente essa entrada, as cores ficaram boa, principalmente o azul! Acho que se voc� tivesse uma grande angular de 28mm ficaria melhor ainda essa imagem!
Parab閚s e Abra鏾!

fkokol (1636) 2007-06-20 16:15

Great shot. I like composition here. Good POV. very different shot from Ephesus. Greetings,

figen

Bluejeans (64251) 2007-06-20 18:17

Ola maaigo fantasticas estas contru珲es com estes arcos romanos de pedra , deve ser um templo bem bonito .
Um abra鏾 amigo

adores (46979) 2007-06-20 20:06

Al� Jos�!
Vejo que mudaste de pa韘! Boa foto de Efesus! Gosto desta perspectiva, acho que destaca bem os relevos da pedra. Boa defeni玢o e cores. Bom trabalho com o scanner tamb閙!
Anabela

vincz (19113) 2007-06-21 4:06

Beautiful POV taking full advantage of the bright blue sky above the ruins. This POV choice shows at its best the arch and we can wonder - as you did yourself I imagine when you looked up- how it is still staying up tthere in the air! Great scan auqlity.

nata (488) 2007-06-21 5:40 [Comment]

Show Comment

Charo (51290) 2007-06-21 7:10

Hola Jose,
Estupenda captura con 醤gulo asim閠rico bien escogido y un cielo magn韋ico para destacar m醩 esa arquitectura.
excelente trabajo.
Cordialmente
Charo

jhm (211738) 2007-06-21 7:58

Hello Jose,

This is a art work, an excellent perspective of this famous architecture, excellent quality and composition, the gray colour against the blue sky make this picture very attractive.
Thanks for sharing.

Best regards,
John.

henrytf (985) 2007-06-21 18:43

Hello Jose,
your low angle shot of the temple is really amazing. I particularly like the contrast between the monuments lit by the warm sunshine and the deep blue sky.
The high quality of the scanning is really surprising.
It just makes me feel like returning there.
Though I know a little about Ephesus your very instructive note completes my knowledge of the place.
Friendly greetings
Henry

luiscar (3286) 2007-06-22 4:08

Hello Jose, very good vision of this photography, believes that you have obtained very good pespectiva and depth of the image.
good work
a greeting

jmcl (14535) 2007-06-22 11:48

Hi Jos�,

Stunning capture of this place .. the bright light .. the blue sky .. the incredible point of view .. all communicate the majesty and scale of the place .. wonderful ..

take care,

John

Clementi (52514) 2007-06-22 18:54

Ciao jose' ,
ottima inquadratura per questo stupendo sito .
nittidezza super e colori fantastici , fanno di questa foto una opera d ' arte .
bel lavoro
Giorgio

Wanda1 (15142) 2007-06-23 2:55

Hi Jose,
A good angle of view that you have chosen for this beautiful structure. The brilliant blue sky makes for a good background bringing out the details of the building. Nicely done.
Regards
Wanda

dospordostres (1170) 2007-06-23 11:59

Hola Jose,
Una foto muy linda de estas ruinas. Tu composicion casi diagonal es interesante, y los contrastes entre el cielo inmensamente azul y las piedras del monumento son perfectos.
Saludos,
Daniel

atus (15878) 2007-06-23 16:16

Hi Jos�,
the perspective is very impressive from this low and close pov. It is nicely composed with this fantastic blue sky, used as bg. Being a scanned one, the overall quality is very good. Well done!
Tfs and best wishes.
Attila

sabyasachi1212 (19779) 2007-06-23 23:35

Hi Jose,
Yes, I had seen pictures from this place in xavier's gallery and this is a fitting tribute. Excellent architectural shot, well framed through the magnificent arches.
With Greetings from India
Sabyasachi

sarahnatalie (697) 2007-06-24 0:12

Absolutely incredible perspective here, Jose. The bold, blue sky adds a lot to the image against the lines of the columns and arches. Excellent presentation, excellent lighting. Well done indeed!
Sarah

oochappan (4880) 2007-06-24 14:22

Your low POV make this wide view on the ruin gates very impressive Jose, well done.
Henk

sufi (9588) 2007-06-25 15:28

Merhaba Jos�, my friend...
What a wonderful point of view... The colors and the light are perfect...
Also perfect details and sharpness... It's a very succesful and creative cadrage... Thank you for your educational and detailed note too...
TFS...
Stay well..
Salim.

nivaldo (15417) 2007-07-01 18:26

Ol� Jos�,
j� estive em Ephesus e fiquei boquiaberto de ver tanta hist髍ia!!!A biblioteca ali tamb閙 � fenomenal, entre outras ru韓as!
A sua fotografia ficou 髏ima, nesta perspectiva e contrastando nesse lindo c閡 azul! Parab閚s!
Um abra鏾, Nivaldo

Yar (793) 2007-07-02 10:35

Hello,
a very curvy and nice image. the lines are great against the bright sky

JEPC (1305) 2007-07-08 12:36

Ol� Jos�,
Excelente composi玢o com um 髏imo POV que captou com detalhes a grandiosidade do p髍tico!
Abra鏾s,
Jo鉶 Eduardo

rozy975 (3047) 2007-07-10 17:49

Interesting PoV, Jose.
The color of the sky is perfect.
Well done!

feather (51130) 2007-07-11 8:22

I'm waiting for a new post from you Jose. I discovered this one I missed while in the Cotswolds. You know I love the use of arches as frames and the low POV looking up at the sky throws a different angle to that device. That blue sky is tremendous. The scan has come out well with good details captured.
Kath

Suellen_Feroldi (288) 2007-08-31 0:36

Ol�....
O angulo dessa foto est� realmente muito interessante.
O azul do c閡 bastante intenso!!!
Parab閚s...essa composi玢o est� realmente muito boa.
Espero reve-lo em breve.
Obrigada por compartilhar suas fotos conosco!!!
Tenha um 髏imo final de semana!!!

Sue

zmey (7335) 2008-02-07 6:04

hello jose

a classical postcard view... and a nice presentation of these perfect structural shapes. the deep blue is pleasing to my eye too. i understand, the lack of sharpness is most likely due to scanning. the original probably is sharp as razor.

my compliments and TFS
kristaps