A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XY Z

Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

EPHESUS

Most important city of the Roman province of Asia, located on the western shore of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Ephesus was built on a natural harbor whose waves, according to the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, “used to wash up to the temple of Diana.” Ephesus was described by Strabo, an early Greek geographer, as the largest commercial center west of the Taurus Mountains. It was also well known as the “guardian” of the temple of Artemis, or as the Romans called her, Diana (Acts 19:34).

Christianity’s threat to that pagan temple and to the commerce it produced for the makers of idols almost cost the apostle Paul his life (Acts 19:24, 30-31). Priscilla and Aquila were associated with the early preaching in Ephesus (18:18-19), as were Timothy (1 Tm 1:3) and Erastus (Acts 19:22). According to Irenaeus, an early Christian writer, the apostle John, after his exile on the island of Patmos (Rv 1:9), returned to live in Ephesus until the time of the emperor Trajan (AD 98–117). The commendable practices of the Christian community described in the letter to the Ephesians had been largely abandoned by the time John wrote the book of Revelation (Rv 2:4).

Ephesus was founded by Ionian Greeks at a location where the Cayster River emptied into a gulf of the Aegean Sea. It had been a city for about 1,000 years when Paul arrived there on his third missionary journey. The worship of Artemis in Ephesus was as ancient as the city itself. The temple, built in the middle of the sixth century BC, was the largest edifice in the Hellenistic world and the first of monumental size ever to be constructed entirely of marble. Two excavated images of Artemis, magnificently sculpted in marble, date to the period of the emperors Domitian and Hadrian (the lifetime of the apostle John). The temple of Diana, “mother of the gods,” was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Although persistent effort by British archaeologist J. T. Wood resulted in the temple’s discovery in 1869, its great altar was not found until recently. Excavation has shown the altar to be larger than the later altar of Zeus at Pergamum. The original temple was partially destroyed in 356 BC but was later rebuilt on its original plan.

Excavations have also uncovered the theater mentioned in Acts 19:29. Situated next to the main shopping area (Greek agora), it is known to have seated 24,000 people in three tiers. The theater was 495 feet (151 meters) in diameter with two doors opening to the most impressive street in Ephesus. That street, leading to the harbor, was about 35 feet (10.5 meters) wide and was flanked by tall columns. It passed through a magnificent monumental gateway on its western end. In the other direction the road continued around the theater and marketplace, making its way southeast between Mt Koressos and Mt Pion. It became narrower and was bordered by lovely fountains, civic buildings, houses, shops, a library, baths, and a small theater, which probably doubled as a council chamber for city officials.

Ephesus was a wealthy city. The multistoried residences of its upper-middle-class society rested on the north terraces of Mt Koressos. Some homes had mosaic floors and marble walls. Two were found with heated bathrooms. Many had running water. The moral status of the city can be partially ascertained from a centrally located house of prostitution and gambling tables; fertility motifs are evident in the exaggerated sexual features of the Diana statues.

The impact of Christianity was felt in Ephesus for centuries. The third ecumenical council was held there in AD 431 (in the Church of Mary northwest of the theater), a council that established Mary’s place as the “Mother of God” in Western Catholic theology. By that time Diana, whose temple had been burned by the Goths in AD 262, was no longer influential among the Ephesians. The truth of Paul’s message that “gods made with hands are not gods” (Acts 19:26) had to some extent been realized.