EPHESUS
Very probably the largest archeological site in Turkey, it rises on the north slope of Mount
Pion extending southward to the slope of Mount Koressos. First founded some 2000 years before
Christ, it was rebuilt in the year 1000 B.C..
Lysimachus, left here by Alexander the Great in 334 B.C. fortified the city by walls for the fist time. Third after Alexandria and Antiochia,
during the Roman period it was designated as the capital of Asia Minor. Paul came to Ephesos
for a first short visit in 51 A.D., but was back for three years from 54 to 57 A.D..
Among other things, in Ephesus there are the remains of the first church to be dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, where the Third Ecumenical Council was held in 431 A.D.. Saint John lived here and
wrote his Gospel and the last Book of the New Testament, the Apocalypse or Revelation.
The first letter of this Book is addressed to the community (church) of Ephesus. He died here at a
very old age and was buried on Ayasulug Hill, where the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century
build a famous basilica, now in ruins. |
