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.