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finlay mcquade

"Easy reading is damn hard writing."--Nathaniel Hawthorne

All About Me

Finlay McQuade is a retired educator. He has a BA from Pomona College, where he
received the John Dye award for writing, and an MA in British and American literature from
Harvard. He began his career as a high school English teacher, and after earning a PhD in
education from the University of Pittsburgh, he worked as a consultant to schools and
school improvement projects, mostly in the USA, but sometimes in schools abroad. He co-
authored How to Make a Better School and was frequently commissioned to write
instructional manuals about teaching and learning for The College Board and The Modern
Red Schoolhouse Institute. His articles have appeared in English Journal, Independent
School, and Science and Children. He ended his career in education when he retired from
Bogazici University in Istanbul.

For eight years after retirement, he lived among the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus.
Its streets and squares and monuments became his neighborhood. His companions
included archeologists, tour guides, and souvenir sellers. His curiosity about the people who
had occupied those empty buildings in their heyday 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, the finds himself returning again and again to his Huckleberry boyhood
on the coast of Ireland. The result of this time travel will be another collection of stories, part
fiction, part memoir.

My HP Books

Ephesus Final Front Cover Small.jpg

I shall reveal the true story of the destruction of the temple of Artemis...

 

For over a thousand years, Ephesus, on the Aegean coast of what is now modern Turkey, was a thriving city. It was the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Wonders of the Ancient 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 hosted, in 431 CE, the God-defining Council of Ephesus.

Life and Death in Ephesus is a collection of stories about major events in the history of the ancient city. Characters appearing in these stories include Herostratus, first to commit a "herostratic crime"; Alexander, the warrior king; Lysimachus, his lieutenant and later his successor; Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, both conquerors 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.

FINLAY MCQUADE

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Book Excerpt

From “Father Dis” in Life and Death in Ephesus

It was Curly who told Ahirom what would happen to him. “Yes, lad,” he said, “you’ll go up against a gladiator, a young fellow probably, not much older than yourself, a novice from the academy, but a trained gladiator, armed as he would be in the munus. Or he might be a captured slave who has all the qualities of a gladiator and was bought for a tidy sum. He’ll be new to the business, but either way, you don’t have a chance.”
“Not the animals, then?”
“No, the animals will fight one another. Maybe some archers will shoot at them to make things even—you never know how these things turn out. The high priest of the Emperors’ Temple, I think you met him. He’s in charge, you know. Whatever he pays for is what we get. But animals and prisoners together? No, not nowadays. You know what they did in Rome, I suppose?”
“Yes, thousands of Christians—”
“I know, lad, but that was then. That was Nero, a long time ago. We’re more civilized now; we’ve got Hadrian. You’ll see. It’s our job to keep you fit so you put on a good show. You’ll die with dignity, don’t you worry.”
Ahirom tried not to worry. He got into the habit of praying silently, secretly, with no outward expression of his faith, maybe more in hope than in faith. “Oh God, dear God, what have I done?”

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Book Awards

Book Reviews

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​"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." - Hilke Thur, Austrian Academy of Sciences

 


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Historical Ephesus Brought To LIfe

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2023

Verified Purchase - BRETT NEDERHOOD

Having visited Ephesus on multiple occasions, I could tell from the detail in the stories that Dr. McQuade has an intimate knowledge of both the history of the area and its geography. In fact, he lived next door to the ancient city for eight years. I wish I would have read this book prior to my visits to Ephesus, because those ruins would have come to life. Dr. McQuade draws characters from history and uses his story telling skills to animate them with human virtues and vices. After these eight tales of life in ancient Ephesus, I was left hoping a second volume is on the way.

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