Yesterday I went to Ephesus, a place I could almost claim as my spiritual home. Almost but not quite.
As a schoolboy I played the role of Antipholus, in Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors, a rather dreadful play which like most, perhaps all, Shakespeare comedies produces scarcely a titter; even if the audience is mostly friends and relatives (as it was for this production).
The plot pivots round the idea that there are two Antipholi: one from Syracuse and the other from Ephesus.
As it happens I played the one from Syracuse. Close, but no cigar.
Anyway Ephesus is a remarkable place even if it is sometimes difficult to believe your eyes. The history of it goes back to at least the early Bronze Age, and probably before that.
As ancient monuments go, probably the most remarkable thing about it is the vast quantity of wildlife and semi wildlife. Once upon a time almost every posh English house had a tortoise. Ephesus still does; along with numerous dogs, cats and crows.
Quite why they are there is a mystery to me but I guess they do no harm: which is more than you can say for the tourists.
Jonathan Brind