Ephesus (pronounced EF-uh-suhs) was an ancient Greek city located on the coast of Ionia, in what is now Selçuk, İzmir Province, Turkey. It was established in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, a city-state that was also the capital of Arzawa, by Greek settlers from Attica and Ionia. During the Classical Greek period, Ephesus was one of twelve cities that belonged to the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

Ephesus was well known for the nearby Temple of Artemis, completed around 550 BC. This temple is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The city had many important buildings, including the Library of Celsus and a theatre that could hold 24,000 people.

Ephesus was mentioned in one of the letters written by the Apostle Paul and was one of the seven churches of Asia described in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and several Christian meetings, including the Council of Ephesus, took place in the 5th century. The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263 AD. Although it was rebuilt later, its importance as a port and trade center decreased over time because the Küçükmenderes River filled in the harbor. In 614 AD, an earthquake damaged the city further.

Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a popular tourist destination for people from around the world and nearby areas. They can be reached from Adnan Menderes Airport and the resort town of Kuşadası. In 2015, the ruins were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

Humans began living near Ephesus during the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC), as shown by evidence from excavations at nearby tells (artificial mounds) such as Arvalya and Cukurici. Recent excavations have uncovered settlements from the early Bronze Age on Ayasuluk Hill.

Hittite records mention that the capital of the Arzawa kingdom (a separate state in western and southern Anatolia) was called Apasa (or Abasa). Some scholars believe this was the same place the Greeks later named Ephesus. In 1954, a burial site from the Mycenaean era (1500–1400 BC) was found near the ruins of the basilica of St. John. This was a time when the Mycenaean people, known as the Ahhiyawa, began settling in Asia Minor, a process that continued into the 13th century BC. The names Apasa and Ephesus appear to be related, and recent inscriptions support this connection.

Ephesus was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC on Ayasuluk Hill, three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the center of ancient Ephesus, as confirmed by excavations at the Seljuk castle in the 1990s. According to legend, the city was founded by Androklos, a prince from Athens who fled after his father, King Kodros, died. The oracle of Delphi told him to follow a fish and a boar to find the city’s location. Androklos was a strong warrior and united the twelve cities of Ionia into the Ionian League. He died in a battle against the Carians while helping Priene, another city in the league. Androklos and his dog are shown on the Hadrian temple frieze from the 2nd century. Later, Greek historians and poets, such as Pausanias, Strabo, Herodotos, and Kallinos, linked the city’s founding to Ephos, queen of the Amazons.

The Greek goddess Artemis and the Anatolian goddess Kybele were worshiped together as Artemis of Ephesus. The many-breasted "Lady of Ephesus," associated with Artemis, was honored in the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Pausanias wrote that the temple was built by Ephesus, son of the river god Caystrus, before the arrival of the Ionians. Very little of this structure remains today.

Ancient sources suggest the area was once called Alope (Ancient Greek: Ἀλόπη, romanized: Alópē). Ephesus became an important ally to the kingdom of Lydia because it had a port that helped Lydia trade. Its rulers were connected to the Mermnad dynasty through marriage. Melas the Elder was the brother-in-law of Gyges (680–652 BC), and his grandson Miletus married the daughter of Ardys in the late 7th century BC. This may explain why the Cimmerians raided Ephesus and the Artemis sanctuary in 640 BC, after attacking Sardis. Pythagoras became a tyrant in the late 7th century BC and supported anti-aristocratic policies. Melas the Younger likely succeeded him, and his son Pindar ruled when his uncle Croesus became king of Lydia. During a conflict over the Lydian throne, Pindar supported Croesus’s half-brother Pantaleon.

Croesus besieged Ephesus, but the city avoided destruction by connecting its walls to the sacred Artemisium. Pindar was exiled, and Ephesus made peace with Lydia. Croesus reportedly regretted the attack and helped rebuild the Artemis temple. Later, the Lydians under Croesus fought Persia, which had recently conquered the Median Kingdom. The Ionians refused a peace offer from Cyrus the Great and sided with the Lydians. After the Persians defeated Croesus, the Ionians surrendered to Persia in 547 BC. The Greek cities of Asia Minor were then part of the Achaemenid Empire and ruled by satraps.

Archaeologists are puzzled because no clear location for Ephesus’s settlement has been found during the Archaic Period. Many sites suggest the city moved between the Bronze Age and the Roman period, but the silting of natural harbors and changes to the Kayster River made the city’s location unstable.

Ephesus prospered but joined the Ionian Revolt against Persian rule in 498 BC, an event that started the Greco-Persian Wars. In 479 BC, the Ionians and Athens drove the Persians from Asia Minor. In 478 BC, Ephesus supported Athens financially in the Delian League against Persia.

During the Peloponnesian War, Ephesus first allied with Athens but later joined Sparta, which had Persian support. This allowed Persia to regain control of Ionia. These wars did not greatly affect daily life in Ephesus. The Ephesians were modern in their social practices, allowing strangers to live among them and valuing education. Pliny the Elder later mentioned seeing a statue of the goddess Diana by Timarete, the daughter of a painter.

In 356 BC, the temple of Artemis was destroyed by a man named Herostratus, who was called a lunatic. The people of Ephesus immediately began rebuilding the temple and planned a larger version.

When Alexander the Great defeated the Persians at the Battle of Gran

Ephesus and Christianity

Ephesus was an important place for Early Christianity starting in the AD 50s. From AD 52 to 54, the apostle Paul lived in Ephesus for three years. He worked with the local Christian group and helped spread the faith to nearby areas. At first, Paul visited the Jewish synagogue in Ephesus, but after three months, he moved to a school called the school of Tyrannus because some Jews were not willing to listen. A Bible commentary explains that while some Jews did not believe, many others did, showing that there were Jewish Christians in Ephesus. Paul taught about twelve men about the "baptism with the Holy Spirit," which was different from the baptism of John the Baptist. Later, a silversmith named Demetrios led a crowd against Paul, claiming Paul was harming the business of people who made silver statues of Artemis. Demetrios mentioned an object (perhaps a statue or stone) that "fell from Zeus." Between 53 and 57 AD, Paul wrote the letter 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, possibly from a place called the "Paul tower" near the harbor, where he was briefly imprisoned. Later, Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians while he was in prison in Rome around 62 AD.

Roman Asia was also connected to John, one of the main apostles. The Gospel of John might have been written in Ephesus around 90–100 AD. John is said to have died naturally in Ephesus after AD 98, during the time of the Roman emperor Trajan, making him the only apostle who did not die as a martyr. His tomb is believed to be in the Basilica of St. John at Selçuk, a town near Ephesus. Ephesus was one of the seven cities mentioned in the Book of Revelation, showing that the church there was strong.

According to Eusebius of Caesarea, Saint Timothy, a companion of Saint Paul, was the first bishop of Ephesus.

In the early 2nd century, the church in Ephesus was still important enough to receive a letter from Bishop Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians. The letter began with praise for the church and mentioned the support the Ephesians gave to Ignatius, who was sent to Rome for execution.

Polycrates of Ephesus was a bishop in the 2nd century. He is best known for writing a letter to Pope Victor I, defending a position about when Easter should be celebrated.

A legend, first mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis in the 4th century, suggested that Mary, the mother of Jesus, may have lived her final years in Ephesus. This idea came from the belief that John, who was told by Jesus to care for Mary, was in the city. However, Epiphanius noted that the Bible does not say Mary went to Asia with John. Since the 19th century, a place called the House of the Virgin Mary, near Selçuk, has been thought to be Mary’s last home before her assumption into heaven in the Roman Catholic tradition. This site is based on visions by a nun named Anne Catherine Emmerich and is a popular place for Catholic pilgrimages, visited by three recent popes.

The Church of Mary near Ephesus’ harbor was the location of the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, which led to the rejection of Nestorius’ teachings. A Second Council of Ephesus was held in 449, but its decisions were not accepted by Catholics. This council became known as the Robber Council of Ephesus or Robber Synod of Latrocinium by its critics.

Ephesus is believed to be the city of the Seven Sleepers, who were persecuted by the Roman emperor Decius for their faith. They slept in a cave for three hundred years, surviving their persecution. These individuals are considered saints by Catholics and Orthodox Christians, and their story is also mentioned in the Qur’an.

Main sites

Ephesus is one of the largest Roman archaeological sites in the eastern Mediterranean. The ruins that remain today still show how grand the city once was. The names connected to these ruins remind people of the city’s past. The theatre is the most noticeable feature along Harbour Street, which leads to a harbour that is now filled with sand and silt.

The Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was once 418 feet long and 239 feet wide. It had more than 100 marble pillars, each 56 feet tall. The temple gave the city the nickname “Servant of the Goddess.” Pliny wrote that it took 120 years to build, but today only one small column remains. This column was discovered during an archaeological dig by the British Museum in the 1870s. Some pieces of the temple’s frieze and other small items were taken to London and İstanbul for display.

The Library of Celsus was built around 125 AD to honor Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, a Roman official who lived in the region. Celsus used his own money to fund the library, and he is buried beneath it in a sarcophagus. His son, Gaius Julius Aquila, helped build the library, which once held nearly 12,000 scrolls. The building’s entrance was designed to look larger, and its reading rooms faced east to use morning sunlight. The library’s interior was about 180 square metres (1,900 square feet) in size. It stopped being used by the year 400 AD after being damaged in 262 AD. The library’s front was rebuilt between 1970 and 1978 using pieces found on site or copies of pieces taken to museums.

The Great Theatre, which could hold about 25,000 people, is believed to be the largest ancient theatre in the world. It was first used for plays but later hosted gladiatorial fights. Evidence of a gladiator burial site was found in 2007.

There were two agoras in Ephesus: one for business and one for government activities.

The city also had several large bathhouses built during the Roman era.

Ephesus had one of the most advanced water systems in the ancient world, with at least six aqueducts of different sizes. These aqueducts supplied water to different parts of the city and powered water mills, including one used for cutting marble.

The Odeon was a small, roofed theatre built around 150 AD by Publius Vedius Antoninus and his wife. It was used for plays and concerts and could seat about 1,500 people. The theatre had 22 steps and red granite pillars in the Corinthian style. The entrances were on both sides of the stage and reached by a few steps.

The Temple of Hadrian was built in the 2nd century and repaired in the 4th century. It was rebuilt using pieces found on site. Some reliefs on the temple are copies, while the original reliefs are now in the Ephesus Archaeological Museum. The reliefs show Emperor Theodosius I with his wife and son. The temple appeared on Turkish banknotes from 2001–2005 and 2005–2009.

Opposite the Temple of Hadrian, the Terrace Houses—called “The Houses of the Rich”—include six Roman homes. These homes had mosaics on the floors and frescoes on the walls. They were built on three terraces at the base of Bulbul Mountain and followed the Hippodamian plan, where roads crossed at right angles. Some of these homes date back to the first century BC and were used until the 7th century AD. Today, the homes are protected by roofing.

The Temple of the Sebastoi, also called the Temple of Domitian, was one of the largest temples in Ephesus. It had 8 × 13 columns and was built on a specific design plan. The temple and its statue are among the few remains linked to Emperor Domitian.

The Tomb/Fountain of Pollio was built in 97 AD to honor C. Sextilius Pollio, who constructed the Marnas aqueduct. It was built by Offilius Proculus and has a curved front.

Part of the site, the Basilica of St. John, was built in the 6th century under Emperor Justinian I over the believed location of the apostle’s tomb. It is now surrounded by the town of Selçuk.

Archaeology

The history of archaeological research in Ephesus began in 1863, when British architect John Turtle Wood, supported by the British Museum, searched for the Artemision. In 1869, he found the temple's pavement, but further discoveries did not happen, so excavations stopped in 1874. In 1895, German archaeologist Otto Benndorf, who received money from a 10,000 guilder donation by Austrian Karl Mautner Ritter von Markhof, started digging again. In 1898, Benndorf created the Austrian Archaeological Institute, which is very important in Ephesus today.

Artifacts from the site are displayed in the Ephesos Museum in Vienna, the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Selçuk, and the British Museum.

In October 2016, Turkey stopped the work of archaeologists, which had been ongoing for more than 100 years, because of disagreements between Austria and Turkey. In May 2018, Turkey allowed Austrian archaeologists to start again.