Ephesus (Hittite Apasa; Ancient Greek Ἔφεσος; Turkish Efes) was a city of ancient Anatolia. During the period known as Classical Greece it was located in Ionia, where the Cayster River (Küçük Menderes) flows into the Aegean Sea.

The city has an interesting legend of being established.

In approximately 10 BC, Androclos, who is the son of King of Athens-Kodros, was looking for a location to establish a site. Androclos was running from the Dor invasion in Greece and he was leader of one of the migration convoys. In those times an Apollon oracle predicted that a fish and a boar would show the location of the new settlement. Days later, just like the oracle’s prediction, while frying, a fish fell down from the pan, irritating a hiding boar behind the bushes and this action caused the feared boar escaped. Androclos followed the boar and established the city of Ephesus, where he had killed the boar.

     The first marvelous building of the Ephesus is The Temple of the Artemis. It is the first shrine to the Goddess Artemis. Ephesus’ Artemis was not same with the Greece’s Artemis. Greek Artemis was the goddess of the hunt where as the Ephesus’ Artemis is the goddess of  fertility and was often pictured as draped with eggs, or multiple breasts, symbols of fertility, from her waist to her shoulders. Ephesus was one of the greatest cities in Asia Minor so the temple should have been great like the city.

The most famous architects of its age planned the temple and they did a wonderful job. According to Piny the Elder, a Roman historian, the temple was a "wonderful monument of Grecian magnificence, and one that merits our genuine admiration." Piny recorded the length of this new temple at 425 feet and the width at 225 feet. Some 127 columns, 60 feet in height, supported the roof. In comparison the Parthenon, the remains of which stand on the acropolis in Athens today, was only 230 feet long, 100 feet wide and had 58 columns. According to Piny, construction took 120 years, though some experts suspect it may have only taken half that time. The temple also housed many works of art including four bronze statues of Amazon women. Today a single column is erect to remind visitors that once there was one of the wonders of the ancient world in this place.

     Another marvelous building is the Celsus library. The ancient library of Celsus is one of the largest libraries of the ancient world. The library was built in memory of Celsus Polemeanus, who was a Roman senator and a great lover of books. Between 12,000 and 15,000 scrolls were housed in this grand library. There are three entrances to the building. The one in the middle is a little bit higher than the other two entrances. The statues in the niches of the columns are the copies of the originals, which were taken to Vienna on the excavations in 1910. The four statues symbolize wisdom (Sophia), knowledge (Episteme), intelligence (Ennoia) and virtue (Arete) of Celsus.

     If you need to make a celebration for 25,000 people and you could not find any place, maybe you should try the great theatre of Ephesus. It is the largest theatre in Anatolia and has a magnificent aura.

     Walking all along the Arcadian Street of the Ephesus may take your troubles out of your mind and make you feel better. Once upon a time, the city was a harbor city and this street was the way going to this harbor so another name of the street is Harbor Street. Today, with the smell of the ancient civilizations, a human being, walking on the old stones, has a chance to feel lucky for passing on the same roads with their ancestors. 

     “You can never step into the same river; for new waters are always flowing on to you,” said Heraclitus of Ephesus. You should visit this one of the world’s seven wonders while you have time to do it.