According to the old legends, Ephesus was founded by the female
warriors known as the Amazons. The name of the city is thought to
have been derived from "Apasas", the name of a city in
the "Kingdom of Arzava" meaning the "city of the
Mother Goddess". Ephesus was inhabited from the end of the
Bronze Age onwards, but changed its location several times in the
course of its long history in accordance with habits and requirements.
Carians and Lelegians are to be have been among the city's first
inhabitants. Ionian migrations are said to have begun in around
1200 B.C. According to legend, the city was founded for the second
time by Androclus, the son of Codrus, king of Athens, on the shore
at the point where the CAYSTER (Küçük Menderes) empties into the
sea, a location to which they had been guided by a fish and a wild
boar on the advice of the soothsayers. The Ionian cities that grew
up in the wake of the Ionian migrations joined in a confederacy
under the leadership of Ephesus. The region was devastated during
the Cimmerian invasion at the beginning of the 7th century B.C.
Under the rule of the Lydian kings, Ephesus became one of the wealthiest
cities in the Mediterranean world. The defeat of the Lydian King
Croesus by Cyrus, the King of Persia, prepared the way for the extension
of Persian hegemony over the whole of the Aegean coastal region.
At the beginning of the 5th century, when the Ionian cities rebelled
against Persia, Ephesus quickly dissociated itself from the others,
thus escaping destruction.
Ephesus remained under Persian rule until the arrival of Alexander
the Great in 334 B.C., when it entered upon a fifty year period
of peace and tranquillity. Lysimachus, who had been one of the twelve
generals of Alexander the Great and became ruler of the region on
Alexander's death, decided to embark upon the development of the
city, which he called Arsineia after his wife Arsinoe. He constructed
a new harbour and built defence walls on the slopes of the Panayyr
and Bülbül Mts., moving the whole city 2.5 km to the south-west.
Realising, however, that the Ephesians were unwilling to leave their
old city, he had the whole sewage system blocked up during a great
storm, making the houses uninhabitable and forcing the inhabitants
to move. In 281 B.C. the city was re-founded under the old name
of Ephesus and became one of the most important of the commercial
ports in the Mediterranean.
In 129 B.C. the Romans took advantage of the terms of the will
left by Attalos, King of Pergamon, by which they were bequathed
his kingdom, to incorporate the whole region into the Roman Empire
as the province of Asia. Ancient sources show that at this time
the city had a population of 200,000. In the 1st century B.C. the
heavy taxes imposed by the Roman government led the population to
embrace Mithridates as their savior and to support him in his mutiny
against Roman authority and in 88 B.C. a massacre was carried out
of all the Latin speaking inhabitants of the city, which was then
stormed and sacked by a Roman army under Sulla, It was from the
reign of Augustus onwards that the buildings we admire today were
constructed. According to documentary sources, the city suffered
severe damage in an earthquake in 17 A.D. After that, however, Ephesus
became a very important centre of trade and commerce. The historian
Aristio describes Ephesus as being recognised by all the inhabitants
of the region as the most important trading centre in Asia. It was
also the leading political and intellectual centre, with the second
school of philosophy in the Aegean. From the 1st century onwards,
Ephesus was visited by Christian disciples attempting to spread
the Christian belief in a single God and thus forced to seek refuge
from Roman persecution. Besides enjoying a privileged position between
East and West coupled with an exceptionally fine climate, the city
owed its importance to its being the centre of the cult of Artemis.
For the Christians, the city, with its highly advanced way of life,
its high standard of living, the variety of its demographic composition
and its firmly rooted polytheistic culture, must have presented
itself as an ideal pilot region... From written sources we learn
that St Paul remained in the city for three years from 65 to 68,
and that it was here that he preached his famous sermons calling
upon the hearers to embrace the faith in. one God. He taught that
God had no need of a house made with human hands and that he was
present in all places at all times. This was all greatly resented
by the craftsmen who had amassed great wealth from their production
of statues of Artemis in gold, silver or other materials. A silversmith
by the name of Demetrius stirred up the people and led a crowd of
thousands of Ephesians to the theatre, where they booed and stoned
Paul and his two colleagues, chanting "Great is Artemis of
the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" So turbulent
was the crowd that Paul and his companions escaped only with great
difficulty. From his Epistles to the communities it would appear
that Paul spent some time as a prisoner in Ephesus.
EPHESUS , PAMUKKALE, PMD AND PERGAMUM
TOUR
Day 1 Arrival to İzmir airport
and transfer to your hotel for overnight stay.
Day 2 - Ephesus Visiting Temple of Diana-Artemis
(one of the 7 Wonders of the world), Ancient Ephesus City (Celsus
Library, Marble Road,Big Theater, etc.) Church of St. Jean and St.
Mary's House. Overnight in Kusadasi.
Day 3 Visiting Priene, Temple
of Athena, Hellenistic Theater, Miletus ancient city, Didyma Apollon
Temple.
Overnight in Kusadasi.
Day 4 Visiting Pamukkale- Hierapolis
ancient city with travertens. Swimming in thermal water. Return
to Kusadasi for overnight stay.
Day 5 Visiting Church of Pergamon,
Asklepion ( Health Center )
Transfer to Izmir airport.
