Ephesus
It can be said that Ephesus is one of the most beautiful ancient cities
in the world. In ancient times its favorable location at the mouth of
the Cayster River made it the foremost commercial
city of a coastal region that also included the cities of Miletus, Smyrna
and Pergamum, but the silting up of its harbor gradually resulted in the
loss of this preeminence. The city has been excavated for more than one
hundred
years; the extensive remains are predominantly from
the later Roman period.
Ephesus
formed a focal point in the ancient world because of its protected harbor
and as a starting point for the Royal Road via Sardis to Susa. It was
also a cult center attracting thousands of pilgrims for traditional worship
of the female, first Cybele, then Artemis and finally the Virgin Mary.
Ephesus was also home for the early philosopher Heraclitus.
