EPHESUS 1

Ephesus, Ancient Greek Ἔφεσος, Ephesos; Turkish Efes) was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era. In the Roman period, Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean world, next in importance and size to Rome only.

The area surrounding Ephesus was already inhabited during the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC).

About 560 BC, Ephesus was conquered by the Lydians under king Croesus. He treated the inhabitants with respect, despite ruling harshly, and even became the main contributor to the reconstruction of the temple of Artemis. His signature has been found on the base of one of the columns of the temple (now on display in the British Museum).

Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written here. The city was the site of several 5th century Christian Councils.The tomb of the Evangelist Luke is also in Ephesus.

Later in the 6th century, the Lydians under Croesus invaded Persia. The Ionians refused a peace offer from Cyrus the Great, siding with the Lydians instead. After the Persians defeated Croesus, the Ionians offered to make peace but Cyrus insisted that they surrender and become part of the empire. They were defeated by the Persian army commander Harpagos in 547 BC. The Persians then incorporated the Greek cities of Asia Minor into the Achaemenid Empire. Those cities were then ruled by satraps.

The Odeion, which was a music hall and and also was used as the City Council Hall. It was constructed in the 2nd century AD by Vedius Antonius and his wife Flavia Papiana, who wre among the wealthy inhabitants of the city. The structure had a permanent wooden roof, covered with glazed tiles.
Our guide, Emrullah Acarkan is waiting to expalin it all to us.

Stairs with decorations of lion paws divided the audience seating into sections called kerkis. The buildiing had a seating capacity of about 1500.

When Alexander the Great defeated the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, the Greek cities of Asia Minor were liberated. The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death, and Alexander was greeted warmly when he entered Ephesus in triumph.

After the murder of king Antiochus II Theos and his Egyptian wife, pharaoh Ptolemy III invaded the Seleucid Empire and the Egyptian fleet swept the coast of Asia Minor. Ephesus came under Egyptian rule between 263–197 BC.
When the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great tried to regain the Greek cities of Asia Minor, he came in conflict with Rome. After a series of battles, he was defeated by Scipio Asiaticus at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC. As a result, Ephesus came under the rule of the Attalid king of Pergamon Eumenes II (197–133 BC). When his grandson Attalus III died without male children of his own, he left his kingdom to the Roman Republic.

Ephesus, a territory that was traditionally Greek to the core, became subject of the Roman Republic. The city felt at once the Roman influence. Taxes rose considerably, and the treasures of the city were systematically plundered. In 88 BC Ephesus welcomed Archelaus, a general of Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, when he conquered Asia (the Roman name for western Asia Minor). This led to the Asiatic Vespers, the slaughter of 80,000 Roman citizens in Asia, or any person who spoke with a Latin accent. Many had lived in Ephesus. But when they saw how badly the people of Chios had been treated by Zenobius, a general of Mithridates, they refused entry to his army. Zenobius was invited into the city to visit Philopoemen (the father of Monime, the favorite wife of Mithridates) and the overseer of Ephesus. As the people expected nothing good of him, they threw him into prison and murdered him. Mithridates took revenge and inflicted terrible punishments. However, the Greek cities were given freedom and several substantial rights. Ephesus became, for a short time, self-governing. When Mithridates was defeated in the First Mithridatic War by the Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Ephesus came back under the Roman rule in 86 BC. Sulla imposed a huge indemnity, along with five years of back taxes, which left Asian cities heavily in debt for a long time to come.

When Augustus became emperor in 27 BC, he made Ephesus instead of Pergamum the capital of proconsular Asia, which covered western Asia Minor. Ephesus entered an era of prosperity. It became the seat of the governor, growing into a metropolis and a major center of commerce. It was second in importance and size only to Rome only. Ephesus has been estimated to be in the range of 400,000 to 500,000 inhabitants in the year 100, making it the largest city in Roman Asia and of the day. Ephesus was at its peak during the 1st and 2nd century AD.

The city and temple were destroyed by the Goths in 263 AD. This marked the decline of the city's splendor.

The emperor Constantine I rebuilt much of the city 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.

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

The importance of the city as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the river (today, Küçük Menderes) despite repeated dredging during the city's history. (Today, the harbor is 5 kilometers inland). The loss of its harbor caused Ephesus to lose its access to the Aegean Sea, which was important for trade. People started leaving the lowland of the city for the surrounding hills. The ruins of the temples were used as building blocks for new homes. Marble sculptures were ground to powder to make lime for plaster.

This lady of Moroccon decsent from Paris caught my eye in the crowd of tourist...

The square in front of the Temple of Domitianus.

The temple was erected to honor Emperor Domitianus (81-96 AD), his wife and deified ancestors, for granting the city the title of Neokoros (Guardian of the Temple).When Domitianus was killed, the Roman Senate deemed him damnatio memoriae (removed from memory). Therefore the head of the statue of Domitianus was replaced with that of his father, Vespasianus and all inscriptions referring to Domitianius was scratched out. (That eerily resembles of what goes on in my counrty with renaming streets and publc places after each change of government, seems like...)

The staute of Nike dating back to the first half of the 4th century.

Sackings by the Arabs first in the year 654–655 by caliph Muawiyah I, and later in 700 and 716 hastened the decline further.

One of the doorposts of the Gate of Herkules. This monumental gate was built from reused materials at the east corner of Kuretes Street in the 5th century to control vehicles moving up the street.
In the background remains of the Monument of Memmius, nephew of the Roman Dictator Sulla, from the third quarter of the first century BC, the only monument from the Late Hellenistic period to survive. It was discovered in 1960.

The Fountain of Traianus, one of the three magnificent fountains in Ephesus.It was erected in 114 AD in honor of Emperor Traianus

Reconstructed image of the same fountain.

Mosaic pavements of Kuretes street

Kuretes Street is 210 m long with a 20 m difference in elevation between the two ends of the street. It is paved in marble and has a deeep drain pipe to handle rainwater.