This city was established on the mouth of the river Cayster and was one of the most important cities of the world for its being on a strategic trade route in Anatolia.

The city itself and the ruins are all well preserved. The extensive ruins include the theatre, library, gymnasium, temples and create the special atmosphere of Ephesus appealing to every visitor.
Ephesus was also a religious center of the early Christianity and today, a unique tourism center proving all its perfects to the visitors through the world.

The linguists accept that the word "Ephesus" derived from "Apasas". The town of Apasas under the rule of Ahhiyava Kingdom mentioned in the written records of Hittites of the 14th and 13th centuries BC is Ephesus.
The oldest finds are from the Neolithic Age dated 6000 years before Christ, found at the Cukurici Hoyuk. There was a Hittite settlement on top of Ayasuluk Hill from the Old Bronze Age. The name was Apasus, according to Hittite inscriptions found there. Linguists believe the name Ephesus came from this Hittite name.

There are some myths about the settlement of Ephesus:
1- According to the famous historian Herodotes, the city was founded by Androklos, son of Kodros, the King of Athens. According to legend in the year of 10 BC, Androklos was searching for a location to establish a city. It was predicted by an Apollon oracle that a fish and a boar would show the location of the new settlement. Days later, parallel to the oracle's prediction, while frying, a fish fell down from the pan, irritating a hiding a boar behind the bushes. The feared boar escaped immediately. Androklos followed the boar and established the city of Ephesus, where he had killed the boar. When Androklos died in the wars with Carians, a mausoleum was built to memory of the first king of Ephesus. The mausoleum is considered to be placed around "The Door of Magnesia".

2- According to the second myth Amazons, the mythical female warriors founded Ephesus. In mythology, The Amazons were a race of woman warriors who lived in Anatolia and fought with the Trajans against the Achaeans in the Trajan wars. At that time, their queen was killed by the Achaean hero Achilles. According to legend the Amazons dealt with men for only two reasons, procreation and battle, and they reared only their female young. The Amazons were frequently depicted by artists as being in battle with men.
According to Herodotus, colonists came from the west and settled here about 1000 BC while the Karyali and Leleg people of Anatolia were settled in the area. The colonists gave the name Artemis to the mother goddess Kybele and the temple to Artemis from that period became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The city was attacked successively by the Kimmer people in the 7th century, the Lydians in 560 BC, and later the Persians. It regained its freedom under Alexander the Great, after whom his general, Lysimachus, established his kingdom. Based upon finds from this latest time, he set up his city based upon the "Gridiron Plan" found in the Miletus Hippodrome. The streets thus intersected one another in a regular pattern.
Under Roman rule the city became the largest and richest in the province of Asia thanks to both land and sea trade. There were marble monuments everywhere in the city. It was the first city built entirely out of marble. In the 4th century AD trade had declined because the harbor was silting in. The Emperor Hadrian had the harbor dredged several times. The harbor was finned in by silt from the Marnas River and the Lesser Menderes coming from the north. In time the city was increasingly distant from the sea. In the 7th century Arabs attacked the coastal areas. The city moved to Ayasuluk Hill for better defense. When the Turks came in the 13th century The city was just a small village. They built mosques, caravanserais, and baths typical of Turkish civilization.


Ephesus has been located at different places in different times:
Ephesus 1 was located on Ayasuluk or Selcuk Hill and inhabited by ancient Anatolians, Carians and Lelegians. At that time there was a cult of the Great Earth Mother which acted like a magnet attracting pilgrims and settlers even before the Ionian migration.

Ephesus 2 was on the north slope of Mount Pion. Like other cities of the Aegean coast of Anatolia, Ephesus was ruled by Croesus of Lydia in the mid 6th century BC, before passing to the Persians after 546 BC. It joined the Delian League after the Persian wars and finally in 334 BC. it fell to Alexander the Great and his successors: Lysimachus and Seleucid rulers.
In the 4th century BC the harbour threatened to silt up the settlement and it was moved to a new location between Mount Pion and Bulbul Dagi by Lysimachus to form.

Ephesus 3. The remains of city walls from this period can still be seen at the foothill of Mount Coressos.
Later it was controlled by Pergamun, later passing in to Roman hands in 133 BC. During this period Ephesus became the capital of province of Asia Minor and the population reached a quarter of a million. After the 6th century AD due to the persistent silting up of the harbour and repeated raids by Arabs, the city changed it's location back to Ayasuluk Hill forming.

Ephesus 4.
Originally Ephesus was a harbour city but due to the Menderes alluviums, the site is now remoted from sea for about 5-6 kms.
Ephesus has played significant roles during the date, in the early Christianity, as well. The prestige of Ephesus increased with the arrival of Saint Paul, for spreading the Christianity to the Ephesians worshipping to Artemission. St. Paul and the disciplines of Christianity were strictly refused by Ephesians, elderly. With the long tiring struggles of St. Paul, Christianity was accepted by the most of the population around Ephesus. St. Paul had also sent one of his most famous letters to the church in Ephesus. Additionally, St. Jean and Virgin Mary visited Ephesus and Virgin Mary settled down the Mount Coressos, located close to Ephesus, around the years of 431 AD.
Ephesus became a state of Seljukian in the year of 1090, for a time was held by Byzantine. In 1307 Seljukians controlled the city again. However, years later, the River Caystros was silted up, leaving the site far inland. Therefore, the city of Ephesus has lost it's significance, due to the development of the ports of Izmir and Kusadasi in sea-trade.
Excavation works in Ephesus started about 129 years ago and these will go on for many years together with restoration Works.

There are two entrances to the city today. For an easy tour, you may begin at the Magnesia Gate (Upper Gate) located on the road going to the House of Mary. Immediately to one side is the East Gymnasium at the foot of Panayir Mountain. The first monumental work one comes to is the Odeon with the Varius Baths beside it. Then you can see Bouleuterion, the first being the Congress of Councilors, which met here. In front of the Odeion was business council called the "Basilica." Beside this was the Municipal Building, the "Prytaneion" with its massive columns. The Prytan functioned as the mayor of the city. His most important function was to keep alive the flame that had been burning in the building for centuries. This was done in the name of the local deity Hestia. The Artemis statues on display in the Ephesus Museum were found in the vault of the Prytaneion.

The area in front of the Odeion was the State Agora (Upper Agora). In the middle was a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis. In 80 Laecanus Bassus erected AD a fountain in the southwest corner of the agora. From the agora one proceeds to the Square to Domitian where things like the Pollio and Domitian fountains, the Memmius Monument and the Heracles Gate are clustered together.

The famous Avenue of the Curates leads west from the Upper Agora. Things along this avenue include the
Trajan Fountain, the facade of the Temple to Hadrian and the Scholastic Baths. Immediately beside the Temple to Hadrian are the Bordello and the Latrines. On the left side of the avenue are the "Terrace Houses." These houses are the most beautiful examples of peristyle houses and were as comfortable as houses are today. They all had frescoed walls and mosaic floors. Each had a heating system and bath. These houses are eminent in archeological literature and well worth seeing. At the end of the avenue is that most beautiful structure of Roman times, the Celsus Library. When City governor Celsus died in 106 AD, his son had the library built as his monument and grave. The sarcophagus is under the west wall of the library. One of the most interesting structures in the site is the Temple to Serapis, immediately behind the Library. Beside the Library is the Mazeus Mythridates Gate that leads in the Market Agora called also Lower Agora.
Agora is the starting point for the Marble Avenue. This is where St. Paul preached. At the end of the avenue is the world's largest theater, the Grand Theater, with a seating capacity of 24,000. Presently the theater is the site of months of various cultural and musical activities. At the corner of the theater is the Hellenistic Fountain, the smallest structure in Ephesus. The Theater Gymnasium across from it were built in the 2nd century AD.

The longest street in Ephesus is the Harbour Avenue (Arcadian Avenue) once lined with statues, and stretching from the theater to the presently silted-in harbor. The Four Apostles Monument was in the middle of the avenue. At the end of the avenue was the Harbor Gymnasium and Baths next to the ancient harbor. In the complex there stands the Church of Mary, site of the General Church Council of 431 AD.
At the city's northernmost point is the Vedius Gymnasium with Byzantine walls beside it. There is also a stadium built in the time of the Emperor Nero.