37°5N 27°9E. Ancient city of Lydia and important Greek city-state on the W coast of Asia Minor; at the mouth of R Bayindir, near the Aegean coast; centre of the cult of Cybele (an Anatolian fertility goddess) and worship of Artemis/Diana, whose temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; in Roman times, principal city of the province of Asia, and seat of the Roman governor; visited by St Paul; ruins excavated, 19th20th-c; resort village of Ku?adasi 12 km/7 mi S on the Aegean coast; museum at Selçuk; camel wrestling festival (Jan); 7 km/4 mi from Selçuk is the Mereymana chapel where the Virgin Mary is believed to have spent the last days of her life.
Ephesus (Greek: Έφεσος, Turkish: Efes), was one of the great cities of the Ionian Greeks in Anatolia, located in Lydia where the Cayster River (Küçük Menderes) flows into the Aegean Sea (in modern day Turkey).
History
Ancient Ephesus
Ephesus is believed by many to be the Apasa (or Abasa) mentioned in Hittite sources as the capital of the kingdom of Arzawa. The many-breasted "Lady of Ephesus", identified by Greeks with Artemis, was venerated in the Temple of Artemis, the largest building of the ancient world, according to Pausanias (4.31.8) and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, of which scarcely a trace remains (illustration, left).
Roman Ephesus
Beginning in the Roman Republic, Ephesus was the capital of proconsular Asia, which covered the western part of Asia Minor.
The original city of Ephesus was located on low ground, and was completely flooded by the sea. The city was rebuilt by Lysimachus, who destroyed the cities of Lebedos and Colophon in 292 BCE and relocated their inhabitants to the new city.
The city bore the title of "the first and greatest metropolis of Asia." The population of Ephesus has been estimated to be in the range of 400,000 to 500,000 inhabitants in the year 100 CE, making it the largest city in Roman Asia and one of the largest cities of the day. Ephesus also had several major bath complexes, built at various points while the city was under Roman rule. The city had one of the most advanced aqueduct systems in the ancient world, with multiple aqueducts of various sizes to supply different areas of the city, including 4 major aqueducts.
Although sacked by the Goths in 263 CE, Ephesus remained the most important city of the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries.
Ephesus and Christianity
Ephesus was an important center for early Christianity.
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes, "the Apostle and Evangelist John lived in Asia Minor in the last decades of the first century and from Ephesus had guided the Churches of that province...After Domitian's death the Apostle returned to Ephesus during the reign of Trajan, and at Ephesus he died about 100 CE at a great age". Ephesus was one of the seven cities addressed in Revelation (2:1–7).
There is also a letter written by Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians in the early 2nd century CE, that begins with, "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fulness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory" (Letter to the Ephesians).
The house of the Virgin Mary (Turkish: Meryemana, meaning "Mother Mary"), about 7 km from Selçuk, is believed by many to have been the last home of Mary, mother of Jesus and is a popular place of pilgrimage.
Ephesus was the setting for the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, which resulted in the condemnation of Nestorius.
Main sights
A part of the site, St. John's Basilica, was built in the 6th century CE, under emperor Justinian I over the supposed site of the apostle's tomb.
The Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is represented only by one inconspicuous column, owing to the removal of the vast majority of material by the British. Other edifices excavates include:
The Odeon The Temple of Hermes The Temple of Domitian (once attributed to Serapis) The TheaterSelçuk's annual camel wrestling championship occurs at near Ephesus in the winter.
User Comments Add a comment…