Ephesus
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How it came to be
At Ephesus a continuous history of settlement can be traced from the seventh millennium BC. The sanctuary of Artemis existed by the 2nd millennium BC, and the temple completed around 550 BC was counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It burned down in 356 BC, and the citizens at once set about rebuilding it.
In the 4th century BC Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great's generals, moved the people about 2 km to the present site after silt from the river had choked the harbour and malaria spread from the marshes. When Asia Minor became part of the Roman Empire in 133 BC, Ephesus was made capital of the new province of Asia. In the 110s AD the consul Tiberius Julius Aquila commissioned the Library of Celsus in memory of his father, and it is believed to have held around 12,000 scrolls.
Councils of the early Church met in the city in 431 and 449. The harbour kept silting up, and by the 15th century the city was completely abandoned. Excavation began in 1863, and Ephesus was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2015.
Travellers who came here
- 1867-09
On 6 September all hands took the train some 45 miles to the ruins of ancient Ephesus. The book describes the procession of tourists on donkeys and the legend of the Seven Sleepers.
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