A great Ionian city crowned by the Temple of Artemis—one of the Seven Wonders—and home to the enigmatic Heraclitus, who taught that all things flow and that strife is the father of all.
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Ephesus through the eras
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Archaic Age
One of the foremost cities of Ionia, Ephesus came under the rule of the Lydian king Croesus—who helped fund its colossal Temple of Artemis—and then of the Persian Empire after Cyrus the Great's conquest of Lydia around 547 BCE. In this setting Heraclitus, a proud aristocrat who scorned the common crowd, taught that everything is in ceaseless flux—'you cannot step into the same river twice'—that fire is the primal stuff, and that opposites are bound together in a hidden harmony. The same era produced the savage iambic poet Hipponax, remembered for his biting invective.
Hellenistic Age
Refounded on a grander scale by Alexander's general Lysimachus around 294 BCE, Ephesus became one of the largest and richest cities of the Hellenistic east, passing between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms and the kings of Pergamon. Its rebuilt Temple of Artemis—the original having burned in 356 BCE, reputedly the very night Alexander was born—drew pilgrims and offerings from across the world.
Roman Era
Bequeathed to Rome by the last king of Pergamon and made capital of the province of Asia, Ephesus grew into one of the greatest cities of the empire, a teeming metropolis whose grand theater and Library of Celsus still stand. It nurtured the physician Rufus of Ephesus and the dream-interpreter Artemidorus, author of the Oneirocritica, while its Temple of Artemis remained a renowned cult center; by this period the city had also become a major hub of the early Christian movement.