EPHESUS

Ephesus is the most famous and most visited site in this part of the world. This is not just because of the fantastic remains but also its proximity to the port of Kusadasi with its berths for up to 4 enormous cruise ships. All the same its well worth a visit. In the vicinity are the remains of the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the world, and the medieval fortifications and basilica of St John.

In ancient times the Ephesus was the major port of western Anatolia, and economically was very important. It stands where the overland road coming across Anatolia from the east reaches the Aegean sea, and where the products of its rich agricultural hinterland as well as trade goods brought from far afield were trans-shipped for onward trading westwards around the Mediterranean. It was also the ancient centre for the worship of the Anatolian mother-goddess, Cybele, who later became identified with Artemis (for Greeks) or Diana (for Romans).

Some believe that the city was already important in the latter part of the second millennium B.C., identifying it with a city that the Hittite texts refer to as Apasa.

The city we see today was established in its present location by order of Lysimachus, one of Alexander's companions and generals, who established himself in Pergamon.

Lysimachus had the new city laid out on an ambitious scale. A vast area was encompassed with massive fortification wall. In 133 BC, as a city in the kingdom of Attalus of Pergamon, Ephesus became part of the Roman Empire. The wealthy city paid court to the emperors by dedicating shrines and temples to the cult of the emperor, and in return emperors such as Nero and Hadrian sponsored public works, such as the maintenance of the harbour, which was silting up badly, and the erection of major public buildings. In the early Roman imperial period, Ephesus was much more than a city of successful merchants. It had an energetic and varied cultural life, and was famed for painters, sculptors, poets (such as Hipponax, credited with the invention of parody), dramatists and philosophers. Heracleitus is the best known of the philosophers who were sons of Ephesus. He summarised his beliefs about the world in a pithy, four-word (in Greek) epigram: everything changes - nothing stays the same.

St Paul preached in the synagogue on his second missionary journey through Anatolia, and he returned to spend two years in the city on his third journey. So we know that Ephesus housed an early Christian community. Paul preached publicly during this stay, and managed to provoke a riot. The riot, which was led by the silversmiths, probably had more to do with the threat to trade in souvenir trinkets for pilgrims than a genuine concern for the ancient goddess Artemis. There is an ancient belief that St John the Evangelist spent his last years in Ephesus, where he cared for Mary, the mother of Christ, until her death. The place where Mary lived, according to the story, is a few kilometres away in the wooded hills, and it is still a place remarkable for the number of pilgrims.

Statuary on Curetes Street

Southern entrance - Curetes Street

Temple/tomb?

Baths of Scholastika

Temple of Hadrian

The terraced area of dwellings and shops alongside Curete Street have recently been opened to the public. The whole area is under cover. The multi-storey dwellings were built in the early Roman Imperial period. Each featured a peristyle courtyard from which the residential and utility areas could be reached. They were destroyed by an earthquake in the 3rd Century A.D.







The much photographed Library of Celsus. It was built in 117 A.D. It was a monumental tomb for Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the governor of the province of Asia; from his son Galius Julius Aquila. The grave of Celsus was beneath the ground floor, across the entrance and there was a statue of Athena over it. Because Athena was the goddess of the wisdom.

The scrolls of the manuscripts were kept in cupboards in niches on the walls. There were double walls behind the bookcases to prevent the them from the extremes of temperature and humidity. The capacity of the library was more than 12,000 scrolls. It was the third richest library in ancient times after the Alexandra and Pergamum. (gate to the Agora on the right)



The most magnificent of the three entrances to the Agora was the gate alongside the Celsus Library which was dedicated to Augustus and his family by slaves, Mazaeus and Mithridates. The gate was constructed in 40 A.D. The dedicatory inscription in Latin is seen above and below. The two prisoners originally were employed by Augustus and later by his son in law Agrippa. Subsequently they were manumitted and settled in Ephesus. After making their fortunes they had this gate constructed and dedicated in honour of their former master.



Part of the Agora, or market place.

The Theatre, which held 25,000 spectators

So what did the Romans do for us, then?

The Temple of Artemis

The great temple of Artemis at Ephesus was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World - a concept first mentioned by Herodotus in the 5th century B.C., and referred to by other Greek and Roman writers, although the definitive list as we know it today was not finalised until the Middle Ages. Antipater of Sidon, a Greek writer and poet of the 2nd century BC, included it on his list of the Seven Wonders.

The great temple was built in c. 550 B.C., sponsored by the wealthy Lydian king Croesus, and designed by the Greek architect Chersiphron. This wonder was, however, burnt to the ground on 21st July 356 B.C. by a certain Herostratus, because he wanted to do something for which he would be remembered. This apparently happened the very night that Alexander the Great was born, whilst Artemis, goddess of childbirth, was too busy overseeing this important event to protect her sanctuary. Alexander later provided funds towards the rebuilding. The Romans continued to worship and enhance the site, but it was damaged and plundered by the Goths in AD 263. It was dismantled for building materials in the 4th century, much of it going into the Basilica of St John, and another church which was built on the site of the temple in the 5th century. The site of the Artemesion was gradually lost and forgotten, until a British railway engineer, J T Wood, tracked it down in 1869, after searching for 7 years.

The site of the Artemesion , now a sorry sight!

The Fortress and Basilica of St John

The emperor Constantine I (307 - 337 A.D.) rebuilt much of the city of Ephesus and erected a new public bath. Ephesus remained the most important city of the Byzantine Empire in Asia after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries. St John's tomb, on a rocky outcrop in the modern town of Selcuk, was a place of pilgrimage from the second century, and it was included within a major Christian basilica built by the emperor Justinian. Two major Councils of the early church took place at Ephesus. At the first, in AD 431, the belief of the followers of Nestor that Christ had two distinct natures, one human, the other divine, was condemned as a heresy.

The town was again partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614.

The importance of the city as a commercial centre declined as the harbour slowly silted up. When the Seljuk Turks conquered Ephesus in 1090, it was a small village. Control passed between the Turks, Byzantines, Crusaders and eventually the Ottomans.

The Fortress and Basilica of St. John, with the 14th Century Isa Bey mosque in the foreground.

The remains of the basilica

The remains of the basilica

The tomb of St. John the Evangelist

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Alinda
Aphrodisias
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Euromos
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