Ephesus

Ephesus
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Ephesus contains successive settlements from the Neolithic, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Selçuk and Ottoman periods. The property is located at the Aegean Coast of Turkey.

This site comprises 4 locations:

  • Cukurici Mound
  • Ancient City of Ephesus
  • Ayasuluk Hill, the Artemision and the Medieval Settlement
  • The ‘House of Virgin Mary’
4 Locations 3 Reviews 31 Ratings 21 Connections 222 Visitors

Map of Ephesus

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Community Reviews

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Jay T

USA - 03-Jan-16 -

Ephesus by Jay T

Ephesus was one of the great cities of antiquity, and erstwhile home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After its harbor silted up, Ephesus lost value as a commercial center and never recovered. However, it left behind impressive ruins, which unfortunately don't include the Temple of Artemis. Ephesus is also important for Christian travelers, both for its Biblical history and as a pilgrimage site to the believed last home of Mary, the mother of Jesus. With such history I was surprised it took until 2015 for the city to become a World Heritage Site. I visited Ephesus in the spring of 2013, and thoroughly enjoyed wandering the ruins of the city. The restored façade of the Library of Celsus was magnificent, as was the large theater at the end of the former Harbor Street. Also on view were ancient baths, the agora, and a smaller Odeon theater. Although I didn't visit them, there was an archeological excavation of Terrace Houses on display for an additional fee. Ephesus was crowded with tour groups, but I didn't notice them because the city was so fascinating to explore.

Logistics: Ephesus is located near Selçuk, and can be reached by walking, biking, minibuses, or private transportation or tours. Ephesus is a popular stop for cruise ships, which often bring large tour groups.

Michiel Dekker

The Netherlands - 01-Oct-10 -

Beautiful site with a lot of history. Also the site of one of the seven wonders of the world; the Temple of Artemis (eventhough not much remains of this site).

Worth a visit and worthy to be a World Heritage Site.

Christine Gravlin

United States - 19-May-09 -

This is a wonderful place to visit and experience history. I hope that it will be made permanent site. It needs to be preserved.

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Site Info

Full Name
Ephesus
Unesco ID
1018
Country
Turkey
Inscribed
2015
Type
Cultural
Criteria
3 4 6
Categories
Archaeological site - Ancient Greece
Link
By ID

Site History

2015 Inscribed

Site Links

Unesco Website
Ephesus
Official Website

Efes Örenyeri

In the News

Ephesus excavations by Austria canceled (05.09.16)

Archaeozoologists open bone lab at Ephesus (29.08.15)

Locations

The site has 4 locations

Ephesus: Ancient city of Ephesus
Ephesus: Ayasuluk Hill, Artemision and Medieval Settlement
Ephesus: Cukurici Mound
Ephesus: House of Virgin Mary

Connections

The site has

Architecture
Macellum: See no. 100 on this City Map
Constructions
Theatres: The Odeon was a small roofed theater (wiki)
Bouleuterion: The "Odeon" doubled as the "Bouleuterion"
Latrines
History
Ancient Greek colonies
Ancient Roman colonies
Human Activity
Sea Ports: "Now located several kilometres inland from the Aegean coast of Turkey, Ephesus was a thriving harbour city in the Roman period," (AB eval)
Historical Graffiti: Ancient Roman inscription, presumably directions to a nearby brothel
Individual People
Ibn Battuta: "We went on to the city of Aya Suluq [Selçuk/Ephesus], a large and ancient city venerated by the Greeks, in which there is a great church [Church of Mary] built with huge stones, each measuring ten or less cubits in length and skilfully hewn."
Religion and Belief
Mentioned in the Bible: Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation (wiki)
Serapea: "Another Temple of Serapis is in Ephesus .... The temple is located behind the Library of Celsus. The Egyptian temple was turned into a Christian church." (Wiki)
Tombs of Biblical Figures: Basilica of St John "stands over the believed burial site of John the Apostle" (Wiki). See
St Paul was here: St Paul visited Ephesus on both his 2nd and 3rd mission - staying over 2 years on the latter occasion. His preaching stimulated the "Silversmith's Riot". See link. And Nomination File "In a quickly arranged assembly in the large theater of Ephesus the disputes became tumultuous. Supposedly the people chanted “Great is the Artemis of Ephesus” for two hours until the municipal scribe was able to calm the situation"
Science and Technology
Libraries: Library of Celsus
Timeline
Built in the 10th century BC: temple to Artemis, which cult can be traced back to the early first millennium BCE. Excavated finds indicate that the first Greek colonisers arrived c 1000 BCE (AB ev)
Trivia
One million visitors or more: 1.7 million (2015)
In the British museum: Croesus' signature has been found on the base of one of the columns of the temple (now on display in the British Museum) (wiki)
On Banknotes: On backside of the 20 new lira banknote (2005–2008)
Minor Planet named after them
WHS on Other Lists
Seven Wonders of the World: Temple of Artemis, one of the Classical Seven Wonders of the World
Part of Our Top 50 Missing

Visitors

Community Members have visited.

A. Mehmet Haksever AYB Adolfo Afshin Iranpour Alexander Barabanov Alexander Lehmann Alexander Parsons Alfons and Riki Verstraeten Ali Zingstra Alias65 Amy Tull Ana Lozano Andrea Gormley Angel Ying Liu Anne Anne_Mellow AnteEP1979 Antlane Argo Artur Anuszewski Atcardamone Atila Ege Aurelien Drilant-Abenascad Aurora Petan BH Baiqitun Bauchat Bergecn Bin Blegg Brigitte Huber Butterflybird Byronb CAN SARICA Carlo Medina Carlo Sarion Carolinerowe25 Chalamphol Therakul ChenMing Christian Wagner Christine Schmit Corinne Vail Craig Harder Dani Cyr David Berlanda David Dove Dean Swift Deborah Caster Delpupp Dennis Nicklaus Dibro Dimitar Krastev Dioni Don Irwin Doug Robertson Dsch2oman@me.com EDC ELVAN YURDUSEN ERIC ZHOU Eanna81 Echwel Elaine McArdle Elia Vettorato Ellen Nielsen Els Slots Emason Erdem Engin Tavlayan Eric Lurio Eric PK Erik Jelinek Eva Kisgyorgy FS Fan Yibo Felicite Fairer-Wessels Ferhatdonmez Frank Frédéric M Ge zhang Geert Luiken George Gdanski Gernot Gisella Grzegorz Andruszkiewicz Hadrianus Haining Guan Handballrama Harald T. Howard Howe Siang Tan Iain Jackson Ivan Rucek James Welker Jan Korpeg Jan-Willem Jason and Corrinna Javier Coro Jay T Jaynew Jean-Philippe Platroz Jeanne OGrady Jens Jgera Jiangliu bian Joachim Nölte-Baumann John Smaranda Jonathanfr Jonathanliao Judith Tanner Jun Zhou Jurgen Stevens Juwels Karin Heyl Kati Drimmer Kelly Henry Kevin McFarland Klaus Bondar Krijn LKERPS Lale Eralp Turkey Lara Adler Leslie84 Lexxiface Liu tuo Lizzy Ludvan Luke LOU Luke725 Luke725 MBennett MMM MaYumin Maciej Gowin Maddie Reeves Magnien Malgorzata Kopczynska Maltishah100 Martina Librio Martina Ruckova Maryhattie Mauro Martino Mdnichol Michael Novins Michal Marciniak Michiel Dekker Mikal Ahmet Milan Jirasek Miles Hu Monica Tasciotti Morodhi Naim Y Nanvano Nej153 Nihal Ege Nina Padro Nmocosta PabloNorte Pang Liang Fong Pascal Cauliez Patphilly Paul Hilder Paw90 Peter mathews Philipp Peterer Plutomu Pressdm Rach Rob Rachel Perkins Randi Thomsen Reinhardt Reza RobRos Robert Roger Ourset Rogerlee Sabariah Sandersx2 Saxondean Sergio Arjona Shyeen Sidburr Simmot2019Z Socon Solivagant Squiffy Stanislaw Warwas Stetrab Sun_jianyuan@me.com Super-Sophie Sutul Suzanne Svein Heltberg Szucs Tamas Tamara Ratz Tammy Gouldstone Tatiana Nikulnikova The Salmons Thomas Buechler Thomas van der Walt Timothy C Easton TonicSupernova Tonisan Tony H. Tony0001 Topaas Torkjell Djupedal Travel Addicts Travelindan Van Hung Vanessa Buechler Veelineen Vernon Prieto Vicente B. Avanzado Jr. Vidiot Violeta Walter Walter H. Watkinstravel Werner Huber WolfgangHl Zoë Sheng Zsuzsanna Forray