The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Ephesus

EPHESUS, one of the twelve Ionian cities ofAsia Minor, on the S. side of the Cayster,near its mouth on the W. coast. It was saidto have been founded by the Amazons, whoselegend is connected with Artemis or Diana,the deity of Ephesus. Strabo says that it wassettled by the Carians and Leleges, who weredriven out by the Ionians. It was besieged byCrossus, and passed successively under thepower of Persia, Macedon, and Rome. TheRomans made it the capital of the proconsularprovince of western Asia, and the centre of agreat commerce. — Its rich territory, centralsituation, and the energy of its Greekpopulation gave Ephesus great prosperity. It wasthe native place of Parrhasius, Heraclitus,Hermodorus, and Hipponax, the inventor of parody,and claimed to be the birthplace of Homer.But its chief glory was its magnificent temple ofDiana, and the city did not fall into decay untilthe Goths destroyed the temple. The Ioniancolonists found the worship of Diana establishedand the foundations of the temple laid. Itwas enlarged and seven times restored at theexpense of all Asia. During the night onwhich Alexander the Great was born, in 356B. C., this magnificent structure was burned tothe ground by the caprice of a certainErostratus, who avowed that he had no otherobject than to immortalize his name. While itwas rebuilding Alexander offered to pay allthe expense if he might be allowed to place hisname upon it; but the Ephesians refused, andthe temple was built by the people generally,the work extending over 220 years. It was425 ft. long and 220 ft. wide, being the largestof the Greek temples, and four times as largeas the Parthenon at Athens. It wasmagnificently decorated with sculptures byPraxiteles and a great painting by Apelles. Thestatue of Diana was of ivory, furnished withexquisitely wrought golden ornaments. Thetemple had the right of asylum, which extendedto the land around it, and caused the cityto be overrun with criminals until the limitswere narrowed by Augustus. The medals ofEphesus under the emperors bore a representationof the temple, which was counted one ofthe seven wonders of the world. It was stillthe most notable thing about the city when St.Paul preached there in the year 54. Thecommerce of the place attracted many Jews inapostolic times, and this led the apostle Paulto found there a Christian church, and toremain there over two years. The apostleJohn also lived in Ephesus, and addressed tothe church there one of the messages in theApocalypse. It was the resort of sorcerersand magicians, and the “Ephesian letters”were celebrated magical charms, even to the6th century. Several Christian councils wereheld here; the most important of which werethe assembly of the bishops of Asia convokedin 196 to fix the day for the celebration ofEaster, the third œcumenical council in 431,and the famous “robber synod” in 449. (SeeCyril of Alexandria, and Eutyches.) AboutA. D. 260 the city was sacked by the Goths,who burnt the temple; but the final destructionof the latter is supposed to have takenplace in the following century. During theByzantine period Ephesus was the see of anarchbishop, but it dwindled in population, itsport became choked, and its plains, from wantof drainage and cultivation, unhealthy. Inthe 11th century itwas attacked byTurkish pirates, whowere, however, drivenout. In the 13thcentury it was alternatelyin the handsof the Mussulmansand their foes, butin 1308 fell finallyunder the Turkishpower, and was heldby one or anotherTurkish sultan. Theancient city almostentirely disappearedbefore the modernera, even the site ofthe temple being lost,the ruins having beenin great part carriedaway for theconstruction of laterbuildings, while therapid formation ofalluvial soil buriedmany beneath the surface. Several smallTurkish villages occupy the ground, the mostimportant of which is Ayasalook, 48 m. S. ofSmyrna by the railway to Aidin. — In 1864 anEnglishman, Mr. J. T. Wood, found in the ruinsof the Odeum four letters from Antoninus Piusto the Ephesians (A. D. 145-151), and in thegreat theatre one from the emperor Hadrianto the Ephesians, dated Sept. 27, 120; besidesan inscription containing particulars as to theendowment and ritual of the temple of Diana.A clause in this inscription ordered that certainprocessions should go through the Magnesiangate to the great theatre, and thence throughthe Coressian gate back to the temple; thisgave the first clue to the site of the temple.The great theatre appears to have been largeenough to contain 50,000 persons. Afterclearing this out Mr. Wood discovered a gatewhich he supposed to be the Magnesian gate;and outside of this, at a depth of 11 ft., was aroad leading N. W., and on its side a row ofbases of square piers such as might havesupported a stoa or covered portico. This hesupposed to be the stoa built by Damianus in the2d century from the Magnesian gate to thetemple, to shelter processions in bad weather.He discovered also another similar road fromanother gate, and standing at the point wherethese two roads would converge, he found in1869 the angle of an enclosing wall, with aninscription to the effect that Augustus hadbuilt the wall around the temple of Diana outof the revenues of the goddess. This wall hetraced for 1,200 ft. until it turned westward,and within this enclosure he found by sinkingpits extensive Roman foundations, a mosaicrepresenting a Triton, many inscriptions, apavement of Greek character, and fragmentsof statuary, besides several drums of Ioniccolumns of white marble. In 1871 the wall ofthe cella on the south and remains of pierscame in sight; and on the west were foundthe lower drum of a column nearly entireweighing 7¼ tons, with figures in high relief,portions of other drums, and the sculpturedbase of a column and an Ionic capital, accordingwith Pliny's description of the 36 sculpturedcolumns of the temple. Many of the fragmentsand inscriptions discovered have been sent tothe British museum. S. E. of Mount Prion,near the city, is the grotto of the sevensleepers, who are said to have taken refugehere from the persecutions during the reign ofDiocletian, and falling asleep to have waked200 years after and come into the city. Thetradition was received by Mohammed andembodied in the Koran, and the cave is a placeof pilgrimage with Moslems and Christians.The names of the seven sleepers, and also ofthe dog Ketmehr which slept with them, arereverenced throughout the East as of talismanicpower. Not far from here traditionplaces the grave of St. John the apostle.