Ephesus

Often crowded with tourists, Ephesus(Efes) is a must-see stop on any itinerary through western Turkey.Few archaeological sites in Turkey are as impressive as Ephesus.(Efes)

They demand great knowledge of ancient rulers, archaeology, myths and legends in order to rebuild a city’s fragmented walls and temples in your mind and envisage life among its streets.Ephesus requires little invention to see what a functioning Greco-Roman city would have looked like.

Ephesus is situated near the Aegean coast, east and slightly north of the island of Samos and approximately 40 miles south of Izmir.The modern city of Selcuk is located in the general area of ancient Ephesus.In antiquity Ephesus was a major port city situated on the Aegean coast. Over the years alluvial deposits from the Cayster River, which ran near the city, filled in the harbor,and as a result, the site of the city today lies approximately 5 miles inland from the coast.In addition, Ephesus was the beginning point for the main highway that ran from the Aegean coast to the eastern part of Anatolia, which along with its harbor allowed the city to flourish as a commercial and transportation center.

Neighbours 

Selcuk, Yedi Uyuyanlar, Pamucak

Ephesus Climate and Weather

Summers are extremely hot with temperatures well above 40°C in July and August, you should drink plenty of water to keep hydrated which is important in a very hot place such as Ephesus. Winters are cool with temperatures around 14-20°C. Spring and Autumn are the wettest seasons, yet still very sunny, which is the best time to go for people who want a warm holiday that is not too hot like the summer, with temperatures around 20-28°C.

Weather for Ephesus

Today	05/24/2013	05/25/2013
Chance of Rain 82°/57°	Chance of Rain 73°/55°	Partly Cloudy 82°/55°

What is the best time for travelling to Ephesus?

Touring : All year round, July-August is not recommended as it may be too hot.

Getting There

Turkish Airlines (THY) currently has flights daily from Istanbul to Izmir (Adnan Menderes International Airport), about approximately 30 minutes by car from anywhere in Ephesus

Bus service to Ephesus is available from Istanbul, Ankara, and the major cities of Turkey

History

According to the geographer Strabo, the earliest inhabitants of Ephesus were a group of peoples called Leleges and Carians. Sometime around 1100“1000 B.C.E., a group of Ionian Greek colonists, supposedly led by the legendary Athenian prince Androclus, established a Greek settlement at the base of the northern slope of Panayir Dagi (Mt. Pion), one of three hills in the vicinity of ancient Ephesus. An ancient legend claims that Androclus chose this site on the basis of an oracle that said the city should be established at the site indicated by a fish and a wild boar. When Androclus and his companions landed on the coast of Asia Minor, Androclus joined some locals who were grilling fish. One of the fish, along with a hot coal,flipped off the grill. The burning coal ignited the grass, and the ensuing fire caused a wild boar to bolt from the burning grass,whereupon the boar was killed. Taking this as a fulfillment of the oracle’s sign, Androclus built his city on that location. The locals worshiped the mother goddess Cybele. The Greek colonists assimilated this native religion, identifying Cybele with the Greek goddess Artemis, the virgin hunter.

Around 560 B.C.E. Croesus of Lydia conquered Ephesus and most of western Asia Minor. Under Croesus’ rule, the city was moved farther south to an area southwest of the hill Ayasoluk. A magnificent temple, the Artemision, was constructed for the worship of Artemis. In 547 B.C.E., following the defeat of Croesus by Cyrus of Persia, Ephesus came under Persian control. One of the city’s most famous citizens, the philosopher Heraclitus, lived during the latter part of the 6th and the early part of the 5th centuries B.C.E. Disaster struck the city in 356 B.C.E., when fire destroyed the Artemision.

Alexander the Great, who was reportedly born on the same day as the Artemision fire, took over the area in 334 B.C.E. His offer to finance the ongoing reconstruction of the temple was diplomatically declined by the Ephesians, who said that it was not fitting for one god to make a dedication for another god. The rebuilt temple became known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. (The other six were the Great Pyramid [of Khufu, or Cheops] of Egypt, the lighthouse at Alexandria, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.) Lysimachus, one of Alexander’s generals, ruled over Ephesus from approximately 301 to 281 B.C.E., when he was killed by Seleucus I.

Under Lysimachus the city was moved again, this time to higher ground to escape the danger of flooding, to the area between Panayir¯ and Bülbül Dağı (Mt. Coressus). Lysimachus built city walls, part of which are still visible on the slope of Bülbül Dağı, constructed a new harbor, and laid out new city streets. After the death of Lysimachus, Ephesus came under the control of the Seleucids, then the Ptolemies, and then back to the Seleucid rulers. After the Romans defeated the Seleucid king Antiochus III in 189 B.C.E., Rome rewarded Eumenes II of Pergamum for his military assistance by giving him large areas of western Asia Minor, including Ephesus. In 133 B.C.E., at the death of the last Pergamene ruler (Attalus III), the city came under direct Roman control.

Ephesus thrived under the Romans, reaching the pinnacle of its greatness during the 1st and 2nd centuries of the Christian era, and served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia. During this time Ephesus was probably the third or fourth largest city in the Roman Empire, with a population estimated at 225,000 “250,000. (It ranked behind Rome, Alexandria, and maybe Antioch.) Most of the remains of the city visible today date from this period.The city proudly boasted that it was the first and greatest metropolis of Asia and was honored on at least four occasions with the title of eokoros, or temple warden, for temples for the imperial cult. Two of the reasons for the city’s economic success through the centuries were the Temple of Artemis and the ommercial harbor at Ephesus.

Eventually the city lost both of these assets. The Temple of Artemis was important economically because it drew visitors from all over the ancient world, served as a bank, and employed many people. In 262 C.E. Goths attacked the western part of Asia Minor, including Ephesus. They plundered the Artemision and set it on fire. Even though the temple underwent repairs, it never regained its former glory. When Christianity became the official religion of the empire in the following century, the Temple of Artemis was abandoned and eventually used as a stone quarry.

The depositing of silt from the Cayster River in the city harbor was a problem throughout the city’s history, with several efforts made

to dredge the harbor and deepen its entrance. In fact, it is believed that the city’s harbor was located at three different sites throughout history, as silting forced the moving of the harbor and also the city. Hadrian even shifted the course of the river to try to alleviate the problem. Sometime during the late Byzantine period, however, the battle against the silting was lostand Ephesus was no longer a harbor city.

During the Byzantine period, much of the city shifted from the harbor area to Ayasoluk Hill. On top of the hill in the 6th century C.E.