The son of a wine merchant from Ephesus, Lucius left his villa when darkness fell on the city and began walking towards the Library of Celsus on Curetes Street. A naive young man, Lucius was very interested in reading. His greatest ambition was to become a poet in the future. He would often go to the library built in honor of Gaius Julius Celsus Plemaeanus, an ancient Roman senator, and which contained the tomb of this important man. Recently, he had become interested in the work of the Roman poet Ovid, ‘Metamorphoses’.
Reading the mythological stories written in Ovid’s beautiful and artistic Latin from papyrus scrolls dragged 18-year-old Lucius into the depths of his imagination. Lucius loved the story of the Hellenic hero Perseus the most. For some reason, Lucius was deeply affected by the fact that Perseus, the son of the god Jupiter, called Zeus by the ancient Hellenes, born of a mortal woman, became a hero by cutting off the head of the snake-haired Medusa, who turned men into stone with her gaze.
When Lucius arrived at the Library of Celsus, he looked up and saw the Medusa reliefs on the second floor arches of the building. After Medusa was killed by Perseus, she had become a protective talisman, and important buildings and temples were decorated with her depictions for protection. It is not known whether it was because of what he read, but Lucius shivered when he looked at the Medusa reliefs for a long time. So much so that he could swear that he heard the hissing of the snakes on Medusa’s severed head. Attributing this state of mind to the richness of his imagination, Lucius quickly entered the library and continued reading the story of Perseus and Medusa from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’.
Hours passed, but the fear inside Lucius was increasing exponentially. He was having a hard time fighting the feeling that Medusa would emerge from behind the columns at any moment and turn him into stone. Just as he was getting up and getting ready to return to his villa in the Terrace Houses, he heard a woman’s voice coming from deep within. “Oh my,” he said to himself. “What if Medusa is not dead and comes out of the darkness and turns me into stone…” This feeling quickly took Lucius in the palm of his hand. While trying to collect himself, he saw Apollodoros, one of his father’s close friends. Humming a cheerful song, Apollodoros walked towards the interior of the library, smiled when he saw Lucius and said, “Come on, you come with me.”
Lucius was so scared that he followed Apollodoros without asking where they were going. The two of them passed through a door that Lucius had never seen before and entered a half-lit, half-dark tunnel where women’s voices echoed on its walls. These were the voices Lucius had heard while he was in the library. Lucius was covered in sweat from fear. Perhaps it was not Apollodoros who put him in this tunnel but a monster that had changed shape. Lucius, who was dragged after Apollodoros, had no will to turn back. When they saw a light at the end of the tunnel, he thought the nightmare was about to end and became hopeful, but when he realized that a long-haired woman was waiting for them under that light, his heart started beating rapidly as if it would jump out of his place. He gathered all his strength and held Apollodoros tightly by the arm and asked, “Is that woman the snake-haired monster Medusa? Will she turn me into stone?”
Apollodoros burst out laughing at the young man’s words. “You are such a dreamer, son. What Medusa? That woman works in a brothel. Didn’t you know that there was a tunnel under the library that led to the brothel across the street? Come on, come on, it’s time to introduce you to another world.”
Written by Author Archaeologist Özlem Ertan for the Ephesus Foundation.