EPHESUS Izmir TURKEY SELCUK

1975 TRIP Ephesus (Greek: Έφεσος, Turkish: Efes), was one of the great cities of the Ionian Greeks in Anatolia. The city bore the title of "the first and greatest metropolis of Asia." The population of Ephesus has been estimated to be in the range of 400,000 to 500,000 inhabitants in the year 100 CE, making it the largest city in Roman Asia and one of the largest cities of the day. Although sacked by the Goths in 263 CE, Ephesus remained the most important city of the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries. However, other destructions by the Arabs in the year 700 and 716 spurred a quick decline: the city was largely abandoned when the harbor completely filled in with river silt (despite repeated dredges during the city's history), removing its access to the Aegean Sea. When the Seljuk Turks conquered it in 1090, it was a small village. The Byzantines resumed control in 1100 and kept control of the region until the end of the 13th century. After a short period of flourishing under the new rulers, it was definitively abandoned in the 15th century. Ephesus was an important center for early Christianity. Paul used it as a base. He became embroiled in a dispute with artisans, whose livelihood depended on the Temple of Artemis there (Acts 19:23–41), and wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes, "the Apostle and Evangelist John lived in Asia Minor in the last decades of the first century and from Ephesus had guided the Churches of that province...After Domitian's death the Apostle returned to Ephesus during the reign of Trajan, and at Ephesus he died about 100 CE at a great age". There is also a letter written by Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians in the early 2nd century CE, that begins with, "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fulness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory" (Letter to the Ephesians). The house of the Virgin Mary (Turkish: Meryemana, meaning "Mother Mary"), about 7 km from Selçuk, is believed by many to have been the last home of Mary, mother of Jesus and is a popular place of pilgrimage. Also nearby is the town of Meryemana.