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Our detailed, interactive city map of Ephesus, plus hand-picked links to the best Ephesus map elsewhere.
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The most important commercial center of the western Anatolia in the 1st century BC. and one of the highlights of Turkey. Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city. Ephesus was biblically very important.
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In ancient times it was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but today the Temple of Artemis is represented by a single column standing in a swamp.
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House of Mary discovered in a vision by a bedridden German nun in 1812, this stone building is believed by many Catholics and Muslims to be where the Virgin Mary lived her last years. There is also a healing fountain.
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In ancient times it was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but today the Temple of Artemis is represented by a single column standing in a swamp.
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The Basilica of St. John was built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century over the traditional tomb of John the Evangelist. The site became a major pilgrimage destination in the Early Middle Ages.
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According to legend, seven Christian boys were locked in this cave by the Romans in c.250 AD, fell asleep, and woke up in the 5th century. It became a place of burial and pilgrimage.
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The Isabey Mosque was built in 1375 at the direction of the Emir of Aydin. It incorporates columns and stones recycled from the ruins of Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis.
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The facade of the Library of Celsus is one of the most spectacular sights in Ephesus. Built by a Roman in memory of his father, it faces east so the reading rooms receive the morning light.
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This magnificent classical theater is considered an important biblical site: the probable place where Paul preached to the pagans in Acts. It is still in use and can seat thousands.
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A very important civic building where the sacred fire of Hestia was tended, official visitors were received by civic and religious dignitaries, and where two statues of the Ephesian Artemis were found.
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This attractive Roman imperial temple was constructed in 118 AD and reconstructed in the fifth century. Its tympanum bears an interesting frieze that may depict Medusa.
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Foundations of a basilica-like building that may have been one of several synagogues known to exist in ancient Ephesus. A Jewish lamp was found on the site.
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The brothel and public latrine of ancient Ephesus are located directly across Marble Street from the Library of Celsus. Both date from the 1st century AD.
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Once lined with shops and inns, Curetes Street was a main city street and an important processional route in the cult of Artemis.
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Ephesus terrace houses are located on the hill, opposite the Hadrian Temple, also known as the houses of the rich.
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This was the building located at the beginning of the Harbour Street near the Theatre. The excavation is not completed. Gymnasium had a great number of rooms which were used as classrooms, dormitories and libraries.
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According to an inscription discovered in excavations this gymnasium was built by P. Vedius Antonius from the Vedius who were a well known family of Ephesus and his wife Flavia Papiana.
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The gate faced the Marble Street more than the Curetes Street and provided a passage, besides the Ortygia road, also to another road climbing up towards the Terrace Houses. It had three gateways and three storeys.
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Domitian Square was an important commercial centre. The existence in Ephesus ruins of shops of a density which would not be seen in other old cities is related to the overseas trade of Ephesus
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The gate was named after two reliefs on these lintels which showed Hercules draped in a lion skin. The gate was constructed with two tiers of columns.
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The part of the Sacred road running between the Library of Celsus and the Grand Theatre is called the Marble Street. The street was paved with large blocks of marble and had herring bone slopes.
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The partially repaired fountain on the right side of the Curetes Street was dedicated to the Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the 2nd century AD. The dedicatory inscription is today on the cornice near the structure.
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Basilica of Ephesus is located between the Odeum and the State Agora. It had three naves and a two ridged gable roof. The roof was made of wood and no trace of it has been found.
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The most important places of defense in a city are certainly its walls and gates. Until the period which we call the Roman Peace (Pax Romana) (the 2nd-3rd centuries AD)
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The last monumental tombs found in the district of Ephesus, it belongs to the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries, hence to the period of the Principality of Aydınoğulları. It is not known to whom it belonged.
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In the 6th century a church was built at the corner of the building near the Magnesia Gate so, that corner was already destroyed by then.
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The building following this is a Byzantine fountain conctructed on top of a monumental tomb which lay in the same place. The outer side of the walls of the fountain’s pool have lozenge shaped decorations with crosses in the middle, a most significant element of the Byzantine period.
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On the fragment of the architrave lying today near the building is written “Caius Memmius, the Saviour, son of Caicus, grandson of Cornelius Sulla”. The monument was built in the 1st century AD.
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It is famous for being the first temple built for an emperor in Ephesus. In the Roman period the building of temples for emperors was made a matter of honour among similar cities.
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The Temple of serapis consisting of a naos and a pronaos was in the form of a typical prostyle. It was built of large blocks of marble of which the weight would be 40-50 tons at first sight. This is a most significant particularity of Egyptian religious buildings.
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Harbour of Ephesus which has today turned into a very small lake. In the Hellenistic period and at the beginning of the Roman period the harbour was the best protected mercantile port of the Mediterranean.
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The street constructed in the 1st century BC was repaired and widened by the Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius (395-408) and made into a true ceremonial street.
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It was constructed together with the buildings around it during the reconstruction of that part of the city under the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138). Next to the Verulanus sports ground was the Harbour Gymnasium.
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The building following the Temple of Hadrian is a house with a peristyle known as the House of Love. The statue of Priapus, called the god Bes, on display in the Museum of Ephesus was found in this house.
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There are two agoras in Ephesus, the State Agora and the Trade Agora. The Trade Agora lies to the west of the city near the Celsus Library.
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This structure lies at the entrance of the city in the Kusadası direction. A good example of the stadiums of the period, it is 230 metres long and 30 metres wide. Its entrance is on the west.
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Standing near the library provided entrance to the Mercantile Agora of Ephesus and was known by the name of Mazeus Mithradates and Mithradates who were slaves under the Emperor Augustus were given their liberty
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The Odeum had the aspect of a small theatre. Its difference from a theatre was that it was once covered. The seating section of the building of which restoration is at present going on, was reached by stepped side streets covered by vaults on two sides
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Scholastikia Baths are one of the important buildings of the Curetes Street, located in the city centre, it must have been a bath where the distinguished famillies of the city, rather than ordinary people, washed and cleaned themselves and then talked about daily matters.
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The vestiges to the east of the Odeum belong to the building called the Varius Baths. The excavation of all the parts of the baths except the cold room has been done, however no restoration has yet been undertaken.
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Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.95 million as of 2010,making the city third most populous in Turkey.
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Sirince was settled when Ephesus was abandoned in the 15th century but most of what one sees today dates from the 19th century.
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Selcuk is one of the most visited touristic destinations within Turkey, known for its closeness to the ancient city of Ephesus, House of the Virgin Mary and Seljuk works of art.
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Kusadası is a resort town on Turkey’s Aegean coast, Kuşadası caters to tourists, arriving by land, and as the port for cruise ship passengers heading to Ephesus.
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Ephesus, 100% based on 28099 ratings 
We visited this afternoon, and it was nice to see but the actual church is closed to visitors. You can walk the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus (it was moved from this site to the site of the famous ruins, then moved back to this site after the harbor was silted). It's nice to see..
Really neat place. Some of the colors on the walls are stil present which was neat. It was also soooooo hot it was nice to get into the shade. This was a big place. It does have stairs as you climb up everything. Excavaition underway makes this a really neat place.
This theater is in excellent condition and is included in tours of the City of Ephesus. This is the theater where St Paul spoke to the people and later sent his "letters to the Ephesians". The Cult of Artemis vendors started losing sales after Paul proselytized..
As the 30 tour buses queued up I thought oh no, what have I done. The guide went through the history of why it is supposed to be Mary's house (basically based on word of mouth from what. locals said 500+AD). It has also been totally rebuilt, Since multiple earthquakes. It's a fantastic money sinner for the locals.
The Ephesus stadium’s first building phase dates to the Early Hellenistic period. The Hellenistic stadium was rather austere with a simple flat track and earthen banks. During the Roman period the structure undergoes changes and it is converted into a monumental stadium with luxuriousgradines, a sphendone and monumental entrances. The monument was found in 1911, while systematic excavational research in the site begun in 1993.
1. Location
On the northwest slope of Mt. Pion (Panayır), at the north part of Ephesus, next toVedius’ Gymnasium(no. 106), an artificial cavity was dug into the ground, extending over an area of 3.3 hectares. The surviving traces, the dimensions and the elongated form of this structure allowed early on its identification as a stadium, with an E-W orientation.
However, excavations on the site, which will allowus to clarify the form and the ground plan of the monument, as well as its building history, have only recently begun and are still ongoing. Therefore, to date there is no overall study on the stadium of Ephesus.
2. Architectural Design
The Hellenistic stadium probably had the shape of a simple flat track, designed to hold gymnic games, with earthen gradines for spectators.
One of its narrow sides was U-shaped, the so-called sphendone. Therefore the stadium exhibited a horseshoe shaped ground plan, measuring 229 m. in length and 28 m. In width, like most of the Greek stadia. Already from the Hellenistic period, itswest side featured a mechanism for starting races, the aphesis. During the Roman period, and more specifically in the reign of emperor Nero(54-68 AD), the stadium was expanded with the addition of seats for spectators on its north side. According to an inscription engraved on the south retaining wall, this refurbishment was funded by a wealthy citizen named C. Stertinius Orpex, his spouse Stertinia Marena and their daughter.
The funds also covered the construction of vaulted substructures supporting the marbleseating for spectators at the north side.
Spectators accessed the north side of the stadium via two outer staircases and a vaulted
internal corridor, measuring 85 m. in length and 2.9 m. in width.
Six narrow entrances opened on this corridor, through which thespectators entered the upper seating rows of the north side. The seats were divided into kerkides by narrow stairways.
We should note that in the NE section the seats were interrupted and a vaulted gateway was formed. It is argued that this was theentrance for the higher state officials, the notables, as well as the gladiators and the beasts that were kept in special spaces close tothe stadium.
In the southwest section of the stadium stood a monumental gate, which is still preserved in a rather good state.
The gate’s arched opening is flanked by a wall made up of stone blocks in the pseudo – isodomicmasonry system. Smaller arched gateways wereformed at other points of the stadium’s western façade; these lead to the vaulted corridors through which the spectators could reachtheir seats and move about within the stadium.
The track was made up of compacted earth. Its length measured one stadion , i.e. approximately 184 m.
Vertically fixed orthostatai were placed on its periphery which bore relief decoration. The sphendone, i.e. the U-shaped end situated at the east section of the structure, measured 50 x 42 m. In the Late Roman period it appears that this section acquired the form of a circular field; it wasisolated from the rest of the stadium and was used for staging spectacles popular among the Roman troops of the region, like gladiatorial fights and beast-fights.
This means the area was converted into an arena measuring 48 m. in length and 40 m in width.With the advent of Christianity these gory games were suppressed and were replaced by athletic contests.
Archaeological research has also brought to light a water pipes which were running through the south section of the stadium;apparently these pipes were connected to an aqueduct which supplied the city with water.
A possible explanation is that this space hosted aquacades (water ballets) or mock-naval battles, spectacles very fashionable during the Roman period.
The 262 AD earthquake left many parts of the stadium in ruins. The north façade was never repaired; on the contrary, the southwestgate and parts of the west side were rebuilt using the monument’s architectural members, while the area of the aphesis was alsorepaired.
The conversion of the sphendone into an arena for gladiatorial fights should be dated to this period. A series of earthquakes between 359 and 366 AD caused further damage to the monument. In the 5th century AD a Christian church was erected over the site of the stadium.
More specifically, the 1994 excavations revealed parts of a peristyle, which was recognized as the atrium of a church which during this late period occupied part of the stadium’s northern section and remained in use until 1081.
In this period (5th century AD) the track had also fallen into disuse and was usedas arable land, while a cemetery begun surrounding the wider area of the church, remaining in use until the 12th century.
3. Dating
The Ephesus stadium dates to the 3rd century BC and its construction outside the Hellenistic city is attributed to kingLysimachus. It remained in continuous use during the Hellenistic and Imperial periods. It also remained in use up to Late Antiquity. Throughout its history the stadium was repaired and underwent modifications. A large scale refurbishment project was carried out in the 4th century AD and it was possibly related to the large earthquake that ruined many of the city’s edifices. When Ephesus wasabandoned in the 7th century AD the stadium was allowed to become dilapidated. The locals begun ransacking the monument, andquarried it for architectural members that were used as building material or were melted in the area’s lime-kilns.
A good stop after seeing Ephesus. Very cheap entrance fee.
The mosque has been severely damaged over the centuries by earthquakes, and they are slowly trying to restore it. Its age gives it great historical significance. Be sure to visit the concession stall right at the base of the stairs. You will meet the delightful imam who will provide you with plenty of interesting information..
I'm neither Catholic nor religious, so taking the long trapse up to the Virgin Mary's house (?), which was in a lovely location, and then waiting in a long line to spend two minutes walking through a small stone house was not worth the effort or the time. Too crowded.
This small museum in Selcuk is a must see in conjunction with any trip to ancient Ephesus. It houses many of the artifacts and statuary from the excavation of the Ephesus site itself and helps humanize what you've seen there. It also houses artifacts from the nearby and mostly gone Temple of Artemis.
We had a beautiful day whilst visiting Our Ladys House – she is meant to have spent the last few years of her life there. There is a lovely peaceful feeling, her home is tiny, but feels very spiritual. you can get holy water on sight and light candles, and there is a small shop there to buy souveneirs..