The weather was cold and windy. Summer was behind us and autumn was beginning to make itself felt. The blind prophet fell asleep in front of the fire he had lit to keep warm. As soon as he passed through the door of the dream world, he was right in the middle of a bloody attack. The blind prophet saw fierce-faced warriors coming from foreign lands in his dream. He woke up as the screams of the strangers who had besieged the hill where the once glorious Luwian city of Apashash stood and where the blind prophet still lived with the remnants of his people echoed in his ears. When he opened his blind eyes, he was in terror. Because he understood that what he had seen was a prophetic dream. He sat up immediately, woke up those around him and told them what he had seen. The blind prophet’s people, the Luwians, had been suffering from such burning troubles for a long time that he did not care about the dream.
Uhhaziti, one of the powerful warriors of the Luwians, looked at the old woman known to everyone as the blind prophet and said, “This is just a dream.” “You are very tired and old now. That’s why you’re interpreting everything as bad. Go to bed and sleep now and let us sleep too. We’ll go to work in the fields tomorrow. We’ll go hunting in the evening. Our real concern is to feed ourselves. We don’t have a strong city and king like before.” Everyone agreed with Uhhaziti. The blind oracle insisted that they should prepare for an upcoming war, but he couldn’t convince anyone and cursed his ability to see the future and sat in deep thought next to the dying fire.
**
The Ionian tribe, who set out from Athens and crossed the sea, were advancing on the lands of Western Anatolia under the leadership of Androklos, the son of the Athenian King Kodros. The Athenian oracle who came to Androklos said, “We can establish our new city near here, sir.” “I have received a divine sign. A wild boar will show us exactly where we should establish our city.” Androklos nodded in approval to the oracle and ordered his men to stop for a meal break. The Ionians from Athens started a fire and started cooking the fish they had just caught, but one of the fish jumped over the fire as if it were still alive and jumped into the bushes a short distance away. Then a wild boar jumped out of the bushes and started running towards the hill ahead. When the Athenian oracle saw that the divine message he had received had come true, he loudly told Androcles and his companions to follow the wild boar…
With Androcles’ approval, the warrior Ionians who had come from the other side of the sea to find a new home for themselves started chasing the boar. The boar ran, and they followed. Until they reached the hill where the blind oracle and his people lived, where the beautiful Luwian city of Apashash had once been located… The hill, located above the fertile plain, was suitable for establishing a beautiful new city, but first it was necessary to eliminate the surrounding locals. While the Ionians were tearing holes in the locals of the hill with their spears, the oracle of Androcles and the blind Luwian oracle came face to face. The blind oracle of Anatolia saw and recognized the other with his heart, if not with his eyes. Then he slowly stood up and began to walk slowly among the people lying on the ground covered in blood and the foreigners plundering the surroundings. The looters led by Androklos, for some reason, did not notice the blind oracle. The blind oracle, who had just passed by the lifeless body of Uhhaziti, the Luwian warrior who had just been killed by Androklos, saw Uhhaziti, who did not listen to his oracle, with his heart’s eye.
As the blind oracle of the Luwians jumped to his death from the top of the hill, a few drops of tears flowing from the eyes of the Athenian oracle mixed with the soil.
NOTE: According to legends, the city of Ephesus was founded by Androklos, who was guided by a wild boar. It is said that Androklos, the son of the King of Athens Kodros, and the Ionians with him formed the core of Ephesus after they expelled the local people from the region.
Written by Author Archaeologist Özlem Ertan for the Ephesus Foundation.