Ephesus Archaeological Site

Ephesus was the Anatolian capital of the ancient world and a magnificent metropolis. Its monuments, standing for thousands of years, earned the site a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city grew around the cult of Anatolia's mother goddess, and the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders, stood nearby. Ephesus was continuously settled from prehistory through Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, beylik and Ottoman times, always a political and commercial centre and a gateway between the continents. Digs have run for nearly 125 years, and much of the city is still buried.

The most famous ruin is the Library of Celsus, with its imposing columns, built in the second century AD and once among the great libraries of antiquity after Alexandria and Pergamon. Along Curetes Street you pass the Gate of Hadrian and the Temple of Hadrian. The Great Theatre held about 25,000 people, and there are also a stadium, commercial and state agoras, the Prytaneion with the temple of Hestia and its sacred fire, an odeon for around 1,800 people and the ancient harbour.

The site has two gates about three kilometres apart, called the lower and upper gates. The Terrace Houses have their own separate entrance, and the Church of Mary, scene of the Ecumenical Council of 431, is well worth seeing.