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Ancient Ephesus by Lance Jenott University of Washington (2004) ![]() |
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The city of Ephesus was one of the largest and most important cities in the ancient Mediterranean world, lying on the western coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). It was one of the oldest Greek settlements on the Aegean Sea and later the provincial seat of Roman government in Asia. Situated at end of the Royal Road—the chief thoroughfare of the Roman East—the city was a western terminus of East-West trade and boasted one of the most important Mediterranean harbors for exporting products on to Greece, Italy and the rest of the Roman West. As a center of religious piety Ephesus was preeminent: the city itself developed from the earliest time around an ancient shrine of the earth goddess Artemis (Roman Diana) and became her chief place of worship. From the earliest time of the Christian era Ephesus was a key city in the expansion of Christianity. St. Paul used the city as a hub to launch proselytizing missions into Greece, and later the city was home to important cults including those of St. John and the Virgin Mary. |
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Little is known of Ephesus’ origins. Greek settlements dotted the coast of Asia Minor as early as the Bronze Age (second millenium BCE) and increased during the age of Greek colonization (ca. 700 BCE). At an early time the coast of Asia Minor was divided by Aeolian cities in the north, Dorian cities in the south, and Ionian cities in the center, to which cluster Ephesus belonged. Interspersed among the Greeks were settlements of non-Greeks, such as native Anatolians and Phoenician traders. |
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Under the Roman Republic Ephesus held the technical status of a “free” city, although it was of course ultimately subject to Roman control. A city like Ephesus could pay tribute to Rome while still being considered “free” insofar as it was allowed to coin its own money and operate its own city council (boule). For a period in the late Republic the city’s economy declined due to administrative corruption (especially of the harbor) which led to an uprising and support for King Mithridates of Pontus who waged war against Rome. Mithdidates was put down, however, in 84 BCE by the Roman general Sulla who, in the aftermath of the war, did little to improve the city’s condition and even imposed a penalty tax upon the city for revolting. Four decades later Ephesus was the residence of Marc Antony and Cleopatra shortly before they were defeated at the battle of Actium by Augustus in 31 BCE, the decisive battle which is often pointed to as the beginning of the Roman imperial era. |
In the Imperial era Ephesus became the seat of Roman government in the new province of Asia, while Caesar Augustus’ reforms improved the city economy and initiated a time of peace and prosperity which would last down to the third century CE. Such provincial seats were not only the city in which the provincial governor lived and conducted his judicial court: they also greatly benefited from Roman civic development necessary in arraying the city to be the face of the Roman Empire, to show the glory and greatness of Rome to the provincials. Many of the great ruins in Ephesus today were completed during the reigns of Caesar August (r.30-14 CE) and his predecessor Tiberias (r.14-37). These include, for example, the town-hall (Prytaneion), a hippodrome stadium with theatre seating in the east end, and new aqueduct lines. Throughout the Pax Romana (or ‘Roman Peace’: a time of prosperity roughly spanning from Augustus to 180 CE) civic development continued in Ephesus on a grand scale. During this time such Hellenistic sites as the famous theatre were revamped and new Roman sites like the Odeum, Library of Celsus, State Agora, bath houses and public latrines were built. |
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Beginning at the Magnesian Gate and walking westward along the Sacred Way on the south-east side of the city one comes to the State Agora. This Agora (usually translated as “market place” but in this case more of a “town square”) was built in the first century CE under the Flavian Emperors as the site of the Roman state cult. In the middle of the State Agora sat the temple of Divius Julius (Divine Julius Caesar) and Dea Roma (the divine personification of the Roman Empire). The temple of Isis, a popular Egyptian goddess throughout the Roman world, is also thought to have been located here. |
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From the south-west end of the State Agora one enters the Square of Domitian, also known as the ‘Flavian Sebastoi’ or ‘Divine Flavians’: the dynasty which ruled the Empire from 69-96 CE. The square and temple were built under the last Flavian emperor, Domitian (r.81-96), who was the first to grant civic cult rights to Ephesus. |
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Continuing NW on Curetes Street, leaving the State Agora behind, one passes the Memmius Monument (first century CE) on the right. This monument is a four-sided arch dedicated to the memory of the victorious soldier Memmius, the grandson of the Roman general Sulla. |
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A bit further along is the little Temple of Hadrian (Roman Emperor between 117-138) built in the early to mid-second century CE. The exterior arch is supported by four columns, the outer two square, the inner two round, all with Ionian style capitals, much like the Gate of Hadrian in Athens. Featured in the middle of the arch is the bust of Tyche, the personification of the city’s fortune. Inscriptions still intact on the architrave dedicate the temple to Emperor Hadrian and more importantly reveal that the temple was constructed by Publius Vedius Antoninus, the same city clerk under whose auspices the Odeum was built. |
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At the north-west end of Curetes Street one enters a small plaza whose most eye-catching attraction, in the ancient world and still today, is the Library of Celsus. This library, completed about 134 CE, was built as a mausoleum in honor of the Roman senator Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, a native of nearby Sardis, one time Roman Consul (an office of high distinction in Rome), and governor of Asia in 105-6 CE. Nine steps lead up from the plaza to the library’s entrance where, as one can see in the pictures here, four sets of double-columns support a two-storied portico. At intervals with three large doorways are four niches in which sit four statues representing Celsus’ cardinal virtues: Sophia (wisdom), Arete (excellence), Eunoia (benevolence), Episteme (knowledge). While the facade of the building shows a two-storied plan, the interior (one large hall) had three stories: a main floor and two balconies where scrolls stored in cubby-holes in the walls could be retrieved. Three large windows in the upper story of the exterior facade face east to allow the morning light to shine into the main reading room. In the middle of the west wall there is an apsidal niche where in antiquity there stood a statue either of Athena (according to Miltner) or Celsus himself (according to Hueber). Below the statue was the arched tomb of Celsus. |
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Adjacent to the Celsus library stands the Gates of Mazaeus and Mithridates, a first-century CE construction sponsored by two emancipated slaves of Caesar Augustus after whom the gates are named. |
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Passing the Celsus Library on the left and walking through the Gates of Mazaeus and Mithridates one enters the mercantile Agora (not to be confused with the State Agora discussed above), the heart of the business district of ancient Ephesus. This Agora, the market-place proper, is 112 meters square, encompassed on all four sides by a two storied stoa which presumably consisted of merchant stalls. Its construction began under the reign of Tiberius, about the year 23 CE, and was completely finished about thirty years later. According to dedicatory inscriptions, however, it appears to have been open for business by as early as 43. |
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