February 08, 2025

Today I was able to visit Ephesus, one of my bucket list sites.  I studied Old World Archaeology and New Testament Church History, so it is natural to be drawn to this site.  Ephesus was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BCE on a hill 1.9 miles (3 km) from the current center of ancient Ephesus.  The Greek goddess Artemis and the Anatolian goddess Kybele were identified together as Artemis of Ephesus and venerated in the Temple of Artemis (550 BCE), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and largest building of its time.  Ephesus has intrigued archaeologists because there is no definite location during the Archaic Period.  The silting up of the natural harbor along with the movement of the Kayster River meant the location never remained the same.  During the Hellenistic period the city was again forced to move to its present site, as the silted in marshes caused malaria and death.  During the Classical Roman period (129 BCE to 395 CE) Ephesus became part of the kingdom of Pergamon.  Deforestation, overgrazing (goats), erosion, and soil degradation, means the coast is now 2 miles (3 to 4 km) away from this once port city.

When I looked online, I found Ephesus was a city in Ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, 1.9 miles (3 km) southwest of present-day Selçuk, Turkey.  During the Classical Greek era (5th and 4th centuries BCE), it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League.  The city later came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BCE.  The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis and the many monumental buildings, including the Library of Celsus (12,000 reported volumes) and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.  Ephesus was a recipient of a Pauline epistle, and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Christian Bible in the Book of Revelation.  The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus).  The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263CE, and although later rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial center declined as the river continued to slowly silt up the harbor.  The present-day ruins of Ephesus are a favorite local and international tourist attraction accessible from the resort town Kuşadası, Turkey.  The city ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

Our Ephesus tour guide led us through the gates and past the upper theater along the stone paved road.  While most of the groups continued to follow this road, our guide took us off to the left to see some of the servant houses.  Even this area had sewers, water pipes, and a fountain used to cool the air and stone blocks during the heat of the summer.  The stone side street we found led back to the main street leading down through the city toward the Celsus library.  Another tour could have taken me through the excavated houses of the rich with their mosaic tile floors and muraled walls.  Half-way down the street was the (small) temple of Hadrian, dedicated by the emperor to his companion whom he had killed for infidelity (remorse?).  Then it was down to the library, a truly impressive building whose style I recognized from Petra and other ancient sites.  We passed the Plaka (market) and proceeded out of the city, pausing to look back at the larger theater.  This area is currently under excavation using a lift crane and dump trucks to remove the dirt to be sifted for artifacts (not the trowel and hand baskets I was used to).  Ephesus stood at the eastern end of the silk road to Persia.

Thoughts: Arriving at Ephesus we went through the metal checks and turnstiles and gathered around our tour guide.  Seeing the well-fed stray dog upside down and spread eagle in the middle of the path I noticed she had a clip tag in her ear.  The tags mean they’ve been neutered/spayed and vaccinated. Like the strays of Greece, these dogs (and cats) are fed by the community, but life outside is still hard.  The same is true for unhoused people.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.