Life and Death in Ephesus
A Short Story Collection
by Finlay McQuade
Publication Date: June 13th, 2023
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 257
Genre: Historical Fiction / Short Story Collection
For over a thousand years, Ephesus, on the Aegean coast of what is now Turkey, was a thriving city. It was the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Wonders of the World, and a destination for religious pilgrimage long before the advent of Christianity. In the first century CE, St. John and St. Paul introduced Christianity to Ephesus, where it survived its turbulent beginnings and, in the fifth century CE, hosted the God-defining Council of Ephesus.
Life and Death in Ephesus is a collection of stories about major events in the history of Ephesus. Characters appearing in these stories include Herostratus, first to commit a “herostratic crime”; Alexander, the warrior king; Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, both lovers of Cleopatra; Heraclitus, the philosopher who said, “You can’t put your foot in the same river twice”; St. Paul, persona non grata in Ephesus; Nestorius, whose characterization of Jesus split the Eastern and Western church, and others, also important, whose names I have had to make up.
Hilke Thür, a leading archeologist, has said of these stories, “Life and Death in Ephesus will be a delightful and enjoyable accompaniment to the many available guidebooks. Not just tourists, but anyone interested in history will benefit from reading them.”
From “Herostratus.”
It was hot and the dusty air in the distance was barely transparent. From the Acropolis I could see the flash of polished metal sent by lookouts on rocky promontories. He was coming as predicted, right on time. At first there was no sound, then the dull beat of a drum, and then the shush-shush of tramping feet, felt as much through the ground as heard through the air.
As they emerged from the mist, other sounds became distinct, shouted commands of no meaning to us observers, an occasional trumpet, the whinny of a horse. Alexander on horseback led the way; it had to be him, followed by two chariots side by side, and then by a troop of cavalry, jostling close together and clinking as they came toward us. The road brought them to the edge of town directly below our hill.
The two chariots advanced to flank Alexander and separate him from the young men who were running alongside, causing older, more cautious citizens to pull the youths away from the wheels of the chariots. Behind the mounted leaders—Alexander’s famous companions—and the cavalry, came a regiment of infantry, resplendent in white and red tunics, their elongated pikes forming a dense and perfectly angled forest of polished wood above their heads, their shields across their chests. There must have been a thousand men, more than a thousand, in the regiment. I watched them wheel to the left, then separate according to some well-rehearsed plan, completely surrounding Alexander in orderly rows before they came to a halt. There they waited until wagons pulled by mules and loaded with all the paraphernalia of war overtook them.
I saw them break ranks and cluster their long pikes in upright rows. Almost immediately the limp canvas of tents began to appear and take shape along the same straight rows. I looked again for Alexander, but he and his companions had disappeared into one of the tents.
Finlay McQuade
Finlay McQuade is a retired educator. He was born in Ireland, went to high school in England, and university in the USA. He has a BA in English from Pomona College, an MA in British and American literature from Harvard University, and a PhD in education from the University of Pittsburgh, where he also taught writing courses in the English department. He spent some happy years as a high school English teacher and soccer coach, but after co-authoring the book How to Make a Better School he found himself in demand as a consultant to schools and school improvement projects in the USA and often, also, abroad. He ended his career in education when he retired from Bogazici University in Istanbul, where he had mentored young teachers in the school of education.
For eight years after retirement, he lived in Selcuk, Turkey, among the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. The streets and squares of Ephesus became his neighborhood. His companions included archeologists, tour guides, and souvenir sellers. His curiosity about the people who had lived in those empty buildings for over a thousand years resulted in Life and Death in Ephesus, a collection of stories chronicling major events in the city’s history.
Now, back in the USA with time on his hands, he finds himself returning again and again to memories of his boyhood on the coast of Northern Ireland. The result of these forays into his past will be another collection of stories, part memoir, part fiction, called Growing Up in Ulster.
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