EPHESUS

This important city of West Anatolia that has been known as a significant port city since the ancient ages was once named as Ayasuluk by the Turks and it had retained this name until the beginning of the 20th century and while being known as Efesis or Ufsus in the Islamic world of the middle ages, it is known as Selcuk today. The city was also named as Altouogo, Altologo or Latologo later on. Tournefort, the famous Explorer from the 18th century stated that the name came from Bible and that the Greeks used the name Ayios Skologos  instead of Ayios Theologos (Divine Saint) and from here the name Ayasuluk was derived.
The earliest traces of human settlement around Ephesus reach back into the Chalcolithic period (5th millennium). Latest since the Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium) Ayasoluk, the well defendable freestanding mound with rocky slopes on its three sides, was occupied. At that time the settlement lay directly on the shore instead of the flatland which was flooded by the Kaystros River since antiquity, whereas the sea extended till the foot of the mountain chain to the south, east and north..Since the Late Bronze Age the southeastern foot of the territory of Artemision was also used; there, a sanctuary existed latest since the beginning of the Iron Age (2nd half of the 11th century).Profound changes in the material culture show a change in the population structure in the 11th century: Greek settlers conquered the coast of western Asia Minor during the so-called Ionian colonization The independent city state (polis) of Ephesus was increasingly pressed by the ambitious Lydian Kingdom: Shortly after 560, the Lydian King Kroisos conquered the city and forced the Ephesians to resettle on flatland near the Artemision. This late Archaic-Classical city lies today under the metres deep alluvial deposits of the Kaystros. In 546 or shortly after, Persians conquered the Lydian Kingdom and therewith Ephesus. Their rule lasted until Alexander the Great (334 BC). The next turnabout in urban development was laid down by Lysimachos, one of the successors of Alexander, who resettled the inhabitants in the beginning of the 3rd century BC into the valley.After the first new foundations of cities (Lysimachia) at Chersonnes and Aitolia, a new city in Ephesus with Arsinoea was founded, named after Lysimachos’ wife Arsinoe II. The inhabitants of Arsinoea were recruited from neighbouring communities such as Teos, Lebedos and Kolophon.
Probably already in 294 BC the construction of a fortification wall over 9 km. enclosing the entire city including the northern slopes of Mount Bulbul and parts of Mount Panayir was started. The 2.5 km² big area within the city walls, of which only one-third was suitable for construction, is divided into a Lower City at the harbour area and to an Upper City over an elevated plateau. Both parts of the city are connected by the Curetes Street which follows the course of the former Processional Way.

As the Pergamon(Pergamum) King Attalos III died in 133 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people in his testament. The city of Ephesus that had the tax-exempt status as “civitas libera” thus became a part of the Roman Province of Asia. The Roman rule was not only met with consent by the population: The Pontic King Mithridates VI’s attempt to conquer the province was supported euphorically and all Italics living in the province were sentenced to death where only in Ephesus in 88 BC 80.000 people were murdered violently in a single night. The revolt was suppressed by General Cornelius Sulla and the city’s freedom was withdrawn, thus making it tribute compulsory. In 33 BC Marcus Antonius and his wife, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, spent the winter in Ephesus and organized a war campaign against Octavian, who later became Emperor Augustus. Octavian’s victory at Actium did not only mean the end of the Republic, but also a reorganization of the Province of Asia.

Ephesus reached its heydays during the 2nd century AD. Numerous monuments are the testimony of this glamorous era: Private donations of affluent citizens served the public welfare as well as their personal memento.
After AD 230, clearly an economic decline began, for which a series of earthquakes that peaked with a disaster around AD 270, as well as the Gothic raids can be seen as prime reasons. The Artemision was plundered and the temple itself was burnt down. Clear traces of this destruction were also detected in the city; rebuilding lasted several decades

 

EPHESUS SHORE EXCURSIONS FOR CRUISE PASSENGERS

 

DAILY EPHESUS TOURS FROM ISTANBUL BY PLANE