Biblical Ephesus Tour

Ephesus was an ancient city which is located on the west coast of Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era. In the Roman period, it was for many years the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire; ranking behind Rome, Alexandria and Antioch. Here was the capital of Roman Empire in Asia Minor. The city's importance as a commercial center declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Cayster River (Küçük Menderes). Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC.

Today, it contains one of the largest collection of Roman ruins in the world. Ephesus’ main attraction is the fact that much remains intact and so little imagination is needed to see what the Roman city would have looked like. Archaeological site of Ephesus lies 3 kilometers southwest of the town of Selçuk, in the Selçuk district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Only 15% of its area was explored by archaeologists. The ruins that are visible give some idea of the city's original splendor, and the names associated with the ruins are evocative of its former life. The ruins of Ephesus are a favorite international and local tourist attraction, partly owing to their easy access from Adnan Menderes Airport and via the port of Kusadasi. In additionally, here is one of the great outdoor museums of the world.

The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ephesus is also a sacred site for Christians because of its association with several Biblical figures. Here was one of the seven churches of Asia Minor that are cited in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written here. Probably, John the Apostle brought Virgin Mary to here after Jesus was crucified and both of them were died here. Tomb of John the Apostle is here even today.

The history of archaeological research in Ephesus stretches back to 1863 when British architect John Wood, sponsored by the British Museum, began to search for the Artemis Temple. In 1869 he discovered the foundation of the temple, but since further expected discoveries were not made the excavations stopped in 1874. In 1895 German archaeologist Otto Benndorf resumed excavations which are made by Turkish and Austrian archaeologists today.

It is known with certainty that the Virgin Mary went to Ephesus and lived there for some time. Whether or not she died in Ephesus was not known until Anne Catherine Emmerich’s vision. The stigmatized German nun who had never been to Ephesus had a vision of the House of the Virgin Mary and described it in detail to the German writer Clemens Brentano who later published a book about it. Catherine Emmerich died in 1884. In 1891 Paul, Superior of the Lazarists from Izmir read about her vision and found a little building which corresponded with Emmerich’s descriptions. Archeological evidence showed that the little house was from the 6C AD but that the foundations were from the 1C AD.

This place was officially declared a shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in 1896, and since then it has become a popular place of pilgrimage. Pope Paul VI visited the shrine in 1967, Pope John Paul II in 1979 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

The Basilica of St. John was a great church in Ephesus was constructed by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. It stands over the believed burial site of St. John, who is identified as the apostle, evangelist (author of the Fourth Gospel) and prophet (author of Revelation). The basilica is located on the slopes of Ayasoluk Hill near the center of Selçuk, just below the fortress and about 3.5 km (2 miles) from Ephesus.

Artemis was the Greek goddess, the virginal huntress and twin of Apollo, who replaced the Titan Selene as Goddess of the Moon.

At Ephesus a goddess whom the Greeks associated with Artemis was passionately venerated in an archaic icon. The original was carved of wood, with many breast-like protuberances apparently emphasizing fertility over the virginity traditionally associated with the Greek Artemis. Like Near Eastern and Egyptian deities (and unlike Grek ones), her body and legs are enclosed within a tapering pillar-like term, from which her feet protrude.

On the coins minted at Ephesus, the many-breasted Goddess wears a mural crown (like a city’s walls). She rests either arm on a staff formed of entwined serpents or of a stack of ouroboroi the eternal serpent with its tail in its mouth. Like Cybele, the goddess at Ephesus was served by hierodules called megabyzae, and by maidens (korai).

A votive inscription dating from about the 3rd century BC associates Ephesian Artemis with Crete: “To the Healer of diseases, to Apollo, Giver of Light to mortals, Eutyches has set up in votive offering (a statue of) the Cretan Lady of Ephesus, the Light-Bearer.”