Most Important Trade Center of Asia Minor; Ephesus
‘Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.’
Heraclitus of Ephesus
Located within what was once the estuary of the River Kaystros, Ephesus was inhabited from the end of the Bronze Age onwards, but the location changed owing to floods and the whims of various rulers. While Carians and Lelegians were among the city’s first inhabitants, Ionian migrations began around 1200 BC and Ephesus is chiefly known as Ionian Greek city and listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.
According to the legend Ephesus was founded by the Amazons, a tribe of female warriors, and the city was named after their queen Ephesia. It is also being said that the name have been derived from ‘Apasas’, which was the name of the city in ‘Kingdom of Arzawa’ meaning ‘City of Mother Goddess’ and some scholars maintain that the sign of the labrys, the double axe of the mother goddess, which adorned the palace at Knossos, Crete, originated in Ephesus.
The city was founded for the second time by Ionian prince Androclos who searched for a New Greek settlement, founded Ephesus (Ephesos) in 11th century BC. Much of Ephesus ancient history is unrecorded and sketchy. We know however that the Cimmerians destroyed the Greek settlement in the 7th century BC; later Ephesus fell under the rule of the Lydian King of Croesus and became a thriving city where men and women enjoyed equal opportunities. It was a center of learning and the birthplace of the famous Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus. There are records of female artists, sculptors, painters and teacher from that period.
The Lydian King Croesus was most famous for funding the rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis. Modern day excavations have revealed that three smaller Artemis temples preceded the Croesus’ temple. When it was burned in 356 BC by a crazed man named Herostratus the Ephesians rebuilt the temple even bigger which was estimated to be four times larger than the Parthenon and became known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
When the Ionian city-states rebelled against Persian Rule in the 5th century BC, Ephesus remained neutral and thus escaped the destruction suffered by so many other cities at the hands of the Persians. In 334 BC Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and entered Ephesus. Upon his death one of his successors Lysimachus took over the city and renamed it Arsineia after his wife Arsione. Hence the coastline was retreated westward; Lysimachus moved the city 2 kilometers to the new harbor and built new defensive walls on the slopes of Panayir and Bulbul mountains. The city was renamed Ephesus again after Lysimachus was killed at the Battle of Corupedium. It is believed that he is buried in Belevi Mausoleum.
In 263 BC Ephesus fell under Egyptian rule along with much of the Seleucid Empire. The Seleucid king Antiochus the 3rd took back Ephesus in 196 BC. However being defeated at the Battle of Magnesia six years later, Ephesus fell under Pergamum rule. In 129 BC the last king of Pergamum bequeathed the city to the Roman Empire and the city became the seat of the governor of the roman province of Asia.
During this time, the heavy taxes imposed by the Roman government led to the rebellion of Mithridates and in 88 BC a massacre of all the Latin speaking inhabitants of the city was carried out during the storming and sack of Ephesus by the Roman army under Sulla. The city suffered severe damage in an earthquake in 17 AD. The reforms of Caesar Augustus brought Ephesus to its most prosperous time, which lasted until the third century. Most of the ruins seen today such as Great Theatre, the Library of Celcus, the Agora and the aqueducts were built or rebuilt during Augustus’ reign. The historian Aristo, and others, describe Ephesus as being recognized by all the inhabitants of the region as the most important trading center in Asia. It also remained a leading political and intellectual center and the second school of philosophy in the Aegean.
Ephesus played a vital role in the spread of Christianity. Starting in the 1st century AD notable Christians such as Saint Paul and Saint John visited and rebuked the cults of Artemis, winning many Christian converts in the process. Ephesus is mentioned multiple times in the New Testament, and the Biblical Book of Ephesians, is an epistle written by Paul to the Christian community of Ephesus around 60 AD. Not every Ephesian was open to Paul’s Christian message. A riot started by silversmith of Artemis coins started a riot against Paul as it is mentioned in the Book of Acts.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is said to have retired there along with Saint John. Since the 5th century AD the House of Virgin Mary, a domed cruciform chapel 7 kilometers from Ephesus, became a major place of Christian pilgrimage.
In 262 AD the Goths destroyed the city. Some restoration took place but it never gained its splendor. In 431 AD an ecumenical council was held in the Church of Saint Mary which confirmed the Virgin Mary as the mother of God. Emperor Theodosius erased all traces of Artemis during his reign, closed the schools and temples, banned freedom of worship and forbade woman many of the rights.
The city was already facing decline due to accumulating silt in its harbor and left to fend increasingly for itself. Ephesus was a port city with a deteriorating harbor and there was only so much that could be done to literally keep it afloat. In the 6th and 7th centuries AD massive earthquakes and the harbor’s continuing decline left Ephesus a Shell of the city it used to be. Arab invasions forced most of the population to flee and start a new settlement.
Ephesus continued to deteriorate, although it experienced a brief period of growth and construction under the rule of Seljuk Turks in the 14th century. When Ottomans took control on 15th century the city was in dire straits. Its harbor was practically useless. By the end of that century it was totally abandoned.