THE ROMAN PERIOD

Due to the heavy taxes enforced under the Roman Asian province system established in 129 B.C. and the unfavourable ruling policies, Ephesus joined the other cities in Western Anatolia and revolted in 880 B.C. siding with Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus. Whwn Mithridates came to Ephesus, he ordered every Roman citizen living in the Asian province to be killed. Subsequently, eighty thousand people were massacred in the day. The monuments and the statues of Roman statesmen in Ephesus were also destroyed.

Shortly after the rebellion, Sulla, the commander of the Roman armies came to the Asian province, punished the rebels and again placed Ephesus under the rule of Rome. Famous Cicero, during his campaign against the Parthians in Eastern Anatolia, came to Ephesus on July 22nd 51 B.C. as the Cilician procouncil of rome and planned his campaign here. When Antonius came the Ephesus from Central Anatolia following the War of Philoppoi, the Ephesians, knowing his predilection for Dionysiac festivals, dressed their women as Maenads and their men as satyrs and organized a welcoming ceremony.

Antonius sent his army to Cilicia during a period when his relations with Octavius were tense, and in 33 B.C. returned to Ephesus with Cleopatra. With the two hundred ships Cleopatra gave him, he increased the number of the ships in his fleet to eight hundred. Antonius, who was defeated by Octavius in a battle in Actium, escaped to Egypt in 31 B.C.. In the spring of the following year, Octavius came to Egypt by crossing Syria and seized Alexanderia. Antonius and Cleopatra, in despair, commited suicide. Following the death of Antonius, in 27 B.C., Octavius became Emperor by the decision of the Senate and was renamed Augustus.

The most important change in Ephesus was brought about by Emperor Augustus. He declared Ephesus the capital of the province instead of Pergamum. Hence, Ephesus became the first and the largest metropolis in Asia, the most important trade centre, permanent residence of the governor of Rome, and one of the five largest cities in the Roman Empire. In 27 B.C. the Roman provinces were reorganized, and only those who had served as consuls were sent to Asia as governors. The Asian province in the senate. In the begining, the period between consulship was 5-10 years,but later it became 15 years. Since senators became consuls around the age of forty, the Asians governors who lived in Ephesus were not younger than 50 or 55, and since the governors served only a year, there were many people in Ephesus who had served as governors. Emperors Antonius Pius and Puoienus, had also served as governors in Ephesus.

In the summer of 123 A.D., Emperor Hadrian came to Ephesus on his way to Rhodes and took a trip to the islands in the Aegean on the yatcht of a rich Ephesian. When he returned to Ephesus in 129 A.D., he restored the city, especially the harbour.

A gothic fleet of five hundred ships left Crimea in 262 A.D. and went first to Kyzikos and then to Ephesus. They captured a section of the city and plundered it, including the Temple of Artemis. Following the brief Gothic attack, Ephesus tried to regain its power.

THE PERSIAN PERIOD

In the middle of the 6th century B.C., Anatolia was faced with the attacks of the Persians from the east. Before attacking Western Anatolia, the persians sent ambassadors to the cities in Aeolis and Ionia to persuade them to join in revolt against Croesus, but they failed. Following the defeat of Croesus by the Persians King Cyrus, Aeolis and Inoia declared their accetance of Persian rule instead of Lydian rule, under the same conditions.

According to Herodotus, King Cyrus responded by telling them the following story:

One day, a flautist started playing his flute in order to attract fish to the shore, but he was ignored. Then, he found a fisherman’s net and caught a lot of fish. He looked at the fish jumping in the net and said éWhile I was playing the flute, none of you came to the shore and danced, so don’t dance now either’.

Upon hearing the response of King Cyrus, all the twelve cities in Ionia, expect Miletus, retreated to their states and started preparing to defend themselves. They also asked for help from Sparta. The Milesians did not feel the need to prepare themselves, because they had already signed a treaty with the Persians. The help requested from Sparta never arrived, and in 547 B.C., Harpagos, one of the famous commanders of Cyrus, starting with Phokaia, captured the whole of Western Anatolia. Thus, Ephesus for the second time in its history, came under the rule of another foreign state.

The Persians, as they did with every state they ruled, let the Ephesians rule themselves and practise their own religion. They did not harm the Temple of Artemis either. Ephesus maintained its economic power and contunied its trade and culturel relations. The Persians United Caria, Lycia, Pamphyla and Ionia to form the Ionian Satrapy and began to rulet he area under satrap. During the Persian rule, Ephesus prospered and became an important centre for arts and culture.

Persians forced Ephesus and other cities to pay tribute and provided ships and soldiers when needed. This attitude of the Persians created such friction that the people of the Ionian cities almost wished for a tyrant.

After Cyrus, during the reigns of Cambyses and Darius, the tribute they had to pay was increased so much, that finally the Ionian cities united and started the historic “Ionian Revolt” in 500 B.C.. aristogoras, the tyrant of Miletus, led the revolt in which Ephesus played a key role. The rebels first came to Ephesus and under the guidance of the Ephesians, by following the banks of Kaystros, they reached Sardes (the capital of the Persian Satrapy) in three days. They captured the capital without a fight and red the rule of all the areas under the satrapy of Spithridates to Asandros, son of Philotas. He stayed in Sardes for a while and then went to Ephesus after a four day journey.

When the Greek merceniaries heard the news of the defeat of the Persians and the death of the satrap, they captured two Persian warships anchored in Ephesus harbour and escaped. This is why in 334 B.C., Alexander entered Ephesus without encountering any resistance. First he brought back those who were forced out of the city because of him, and announced an end to oligarchy by declaring the establishment of a people’s democracy. He also ordered that the tribute and duties which were being paid to the Persians, instead be given to the Temple of Artemis. He sacrificed animals at the temple, organised his army and ordered a proccesion.

The architect Kheirocrates (according to Vitruvius, the architect Deinocrates), was restoring the Temple of Artemis which had been burt to night Alexander was born, by a mentally unstable man named Herostratos, who wanted his name etched in history. According to what Strabo wrote based on Artemidoros, Alexander announced to the Ephesians that he wanted to pay for all the previous and the subsequent expenses fort he restoration of the Temple of Artemis. Yet, upon hearing an Ephesian, whose name we do not know and whom Artemidoros praised highly, say, “It is not appropriate for a god to present gifts to another god” Alexander changed his mind. Since he was very pleased with the work of the architect, he entrusted the establishment of the city of Alexandria on the Nile delta to the same architect after he completed his work at the Temple of Artemis. Following the death of Alexander, Ephesus lived through dark days. After changing hands a few times among the generals, finally in 287 B.C. it began to be ruled by Lysimachos.

In 299 B.C, Lysimachos married Arsinoe, daughter of the Egyptian king Ptolemaios I, his old friend, for selfish reasons. He rebuilt the city located between Mt. Pion and Mt. Koressos and surrounded it by a fortification wall. Lysimachos also renamed the city Arsinoe but the name did not gain acceptance. When the people living in the vicinity of the Artemision refused to settle in this new city, the canals of the city were stopped up to cause flooding and thus, the Ephesians were forced the migrate.

Arsinoe, who was an ambitious woman, feared that Agathocles, Lysimachos’ son by his first wife, would become the king instead of her son. So, she convinced Lysimachos that his first son was planning to kill him. Consequently, Lysimachos had his first son Agathocles killed. Fearing for their lives, Agathocles’ widow and a few commanders, sought the protection of Seleukos and prokoved him aganist Lysimachos. Seleukos, taking advantage of the recent developments, attacked the land of Lysimachos and the two armies clashed in the Korou Pedion plain, east of Manisa. Lysimachos who was an old man, died during the flight and his land was captured by Selekos (281 B.C.).

Antiochos II, one of the Seleucid kings fought the Ptolemies in Egypt for years. The egyptian king Plotemly Philadelphos told Antiochos II that, if he divorced his wife Laodike and married his daughter Benerike, he would present him with valuable gifts and sign peace treaty with him. Antiochos II accepted his offer. He divorced his wife and exiled her to Ephesus. Thus, peace was achieved. Yet, after death of Ptolemy Philadelphos in 246 B.C., Antiochos II followed his wife to Ephesus. He stayed in Ephesus for a while, but one day he was poisoned by his wife Laodike and died. His son Seleukos II succeeded him. It is thought that Antiochos II was buried in the Belevi Mausoleum.

Ephesus, during the time of Antiochos Theos, came under the rule of the Ptolemies in Egypt. In 196 B.C. during the rule of Antiochos III, the Seleucids recaptured Ephesus, and later, in 188 B.C. as a result of the Apemaia Peace Treaty, they lost it to the Pergamese Kingdom. In 133 B.C. when the Pergamese Kingdom was bequeathed to Rome, Ephesus came under the rule of Rome.

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THE LYDİAN PERİOD

In the 7th century B.C., Ephesus Tours and the other Ionian cities were attacked by the Cimmerians. It is not known for sure whether the Cimmerians captured Ephesus or not. The relics discovered during excavations indicate that the Temple of Artemis was burnt and demolished. Only a few typically Cimmerian object have been discovered in Ephesus. The ivory figure of aram displayed in the Hall of Artemis is one of these Cimmerian treasures.

Ephesus recovered and rapidly regained its power after the Cimmerian treasures.

The 6th century B.C. was one of the most glorious periods in the history of Ephesus. The minstrel Kallions, Hipponax, and the famous philosopher  Heraclitus lived during this period. Heraclitus especially, who accepted fire as the basic element and suggested that everything evolved, acquired great fame in the Ionian school. Heraclitus dedicated his work called “Nature”, a section of which is still extant, to the Temple of Artemis.

The fame of Ephesus spread everywhere at the time, and this is why King Croesus of Lydia attacked Ephesus first (560 B.C.). During the attack, Ephesians streched a rope believing that the goddness would save them. Unfortunately, their expectations did not come true and Lydian army entered the city.

Contrary to what was expected, Croesus treated the Ephesians as friends, yet, he forced them to leave the city in Koressos and establish another city in the vicinity of the Temple of Artemis. Since this second settlement has been covered by soil deposited by the river Kaystros (Küçük Menderes), today, it is birued 10 metres under the ground. Therefore it is impossible to excavate beyond the area around the Temple of Artemis.

When the Lydians captured Ephesus Tours, the archaic Temple of Artemis (564-546 B.C.) was stil under construction. To please the goddess and the Ephesians, Croesus presented column capitals with reliefs, and gold statues of calves to the temple. One of the column capitals had his name inscribed on it. (All these column capitals and may of the objects discovered in the temple in the course of excavations started in 1869, were taken to the British Museum). During this period, a fortification wall which started at the harbour was built around the city. The Artemission and its vicinity was also included in the area surrounded by this fortification wall.
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About Ephesus Ancient

One day early in the summer of 54 A.D. thousands of ephesians crowded the great theatre, roused by the silver-smith Demetrius. St. Paul’s new teaching that gods made with hands are not gods at all, was threatening the lucrative trade in silver shines of Artemis Ephesia. For two hours they kept shouting “Great is Artemis of the ephesians”. St. Paul, dressed in white and holding a sceptre in one hand, failed to calm the wild crowd. With the help of a few his followers he eventually escaped, barely saving his own life. This day was one of the most important days in the history of ephesus, like the day its founder Androklos came to the city, the times when first the Lydians and later the Persians invaded the city, the days earthquakes struck in the years 17,355,365 and 368 A.D., and the day the Ecumenical Council met in 431. Actually, the screams of “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” were the dying breath of the seven thousand year old mother goddess. www.ephesustoursway.com

The mother goddess whom we know as Artemis Ephesia, acquired her from as an extremely fertile woman, in 7000 B.C., at the hands of the Çatalhöyük people and started her long reign. She was the mother of everything, she was the most powerful being and she ruled everything. Her influence spread to the four corners of Anatolia, then to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Arabia an even to Scandinavia. The mother goddess, after thousands of years of evolition became Artemis Ephesia. The Temple of Artemis built in the honour, was known as the most famous treasure of the past, and Ephesus located in its vicinity, was considered the cradle of civilization from the cultural and social points of view.

Our sources of information on Ephesus are workd of ancient writers thousands of inscriptions unearthed during the excavations, and other archaeological finds. Yet our information on the establishment of the Ephesus is insufficient. Strabo and Pausanias, famous writers of antiquity, indicate that Ephesus was founded by the Amazons, and the majority of the of the population of Ephesus consisted of Carians and Lelegians.

According the historian Herodotus, the Carians considered themselves the oldest inhabitants of Anatolia. They lived in the area called Caria, and Halicarnassus was its most important city. Whereas the Lelegians migrated from Tharece and the Aegean islands into Asia Minor, Amazons occpy an important place in the legends related to the establishment of the city. This may be why Strabo mentions that Ephesus was named after an Amazon.

The Ephesian poet Kallinos who lived during the end of the 7th century and beginnig of the 6th century B.C., wrote that the Amazon who captured Ephesus was named Smyrna (İzmir). According to the poet Hipponax who was from Ephesus, but in 540 B.C. was expelled from the city by Athenagoras, a section of Ephesus was called Smyrna.

Strabo indicates that Smyrna was located between Lepre Akte and Thrakeia and that Lepre Akte was Mt. Koressos (Panayır Dağı). Later Smyrnaians left Ephesus and resettled near today’s İzmir and established the city of İzmir. The interest of Ephesus in the amazons lasted troughout history. That is why in the 5th century B.C., a competition called the Amazon Statue Competition was held among the leading sculptors of the age, to choose the statue to be placed at the Temple of Artemis (see Temple of Artemis). The relics from a Mycenaean grave excavated near the Church of St. John and exhibited at the Ephesus Museum, are the earliest examples of archaeological finds discovered so far in Ephesus. These have been dated to 1400-1300 B.C.. Based on this information we must accept that Ephesus was established about this time. The bowls unearthed, used to be marketed in the colonies Mycenaeans established along the shores of the Mediterranean and Western Anatolia, and they display the most advanced techniques of the day. These bowls were found along the shore stretching from Troy to Halicarnassus. Those found in Miletus near Ephesus have been dated to 1600 B.C. and they are considered the oldest. Professor Akurgal and other archaeologists suggest that the late Kingdom of Ahhiyava which is mentioned in the 13th and 14th century B.C. Hittite sources, was located near the region of Miletus. If this is proven, then, due to its location, Ephesus must have been an important city in the kingdom , in other words, it must have been the city called Apasas in the Hittite tablets. But so far, no Mycenaean settlement in Ephesus has been discovered.

The years between 1300-1100 B.C. were a period of instability in Anatolia, Syria and Egypt. Hittites who ruled in Central Anatolia were faced with uprisings in the states under their rule.

After the fall of Troy and ensuing looting, the Tracian started migrating south. They joined the other Tracian groups who came from the sea and settled in Western Anatolia, forming colonies. The written Egyptian sources of the 12th century, mention the destruction of cities during these migrations with deep sorrow. During the time of these migrations, regions called Aeolis and Ionia appeared on the map. The region of Ionia where Ephesus is located is referred to as “Yavan” in the Bible “Yavnai” in the Assyrian inscriptions and as “Yauna” in the Persia insriptions. To ensure their security, the immigrandts preferred to settle on islands near the coast and peninsulas. The colonization of Ephesus, as in the other Ionian cities, was completed in the 10th century B.C. Strabo and pausanias tell the story of the settlement: Androklos, son of Kodros (the King of Athens), and his friends who were about to migrate to Anatolia, could not decide on the location of the new city they were going to esblish. They consuled the oracle of Apollo, which told them to esblish their new city at the location which would be indicated by afish and boar. Androklos and his friends who came to the region wanted to cook fish, but the fish they were frying jumped off the pan, scattering flames that set the dry bushes on fire. A boar ran out of the burning bushes and Androklos started to chase the boar, caught it and killed it. Convinced that the prophesy of the oracle had come true, Androklos and friends established their new city in this location at the northern foot of Mt. Pion which was like an inner harbour then. To commemorate the occasion, they built the Temple of Athena on the spot where the boar had been killed. The exact location of that temple is stil unknown.

Kondros, the King of Athens and father of Androklos, was famous for his courage. Before a war with his neighbours, he consulted the Delphi oracle, which told him “The armies of the king who dies first will be the victors”. During the fighting, King Kondros had himself killed intentionally by the enemy. The ensuing figth for thethroneof Athens between Androklos and his stepbrothers who were kings in the cities near Athens, triggered his emigration to Anatolia.

Ephesus existed here for 400 years and was ruled by Androklos and descendents. When Androklos died during a war with the Carians he was buried near the Magnesia Gate and heroon (a shine dedicated to a deified person) was built on the site.

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