Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/690

 678 EPHESUS the native place of Parrhasius, Heraclitus, Her- modorus, and Hipponax, the inventor of paro- dy, and claimed to be the birthplace of Homer. But its chief glory was its magnificent temple of Diana, and the city did not fall into decay until the Goths destroyed the temple. The Ionian colonists found the worship of Diana establish- ed and the foundations of the temple laid. It was enlarged and seven times restored at the expense of all Asia. During the night on which Alexander the Great was born, in 356 B. C., this magnificent structure was burned to the ground by the caprice of a certain Eros- tratus, who avowed that he had no other object than to immortalize his name. While it was rebuilding Alexander offered to pay all the expense if he might be allowed to place his name upon it ; but the Ephesians refused, and the temple was built by the people generally, the work extending over 220 years. It was John also lived in Ephesus, and addressed to the church there one of the messages in the Apocalypse. It was the resort of sorcerers and magicians, and the " Ephesian letters " were celebrated magical charms, even to the 6th century. Several Christian councils were held here ; the most important of which were the assembly of the bishops of Asia convoked in 196 to fix the day for the celebration of Easter, the third oecumenical council in 431, and the famous " robber synod " in 449. CYEIL OF ALEXANDBIA, and EUTYCHES.) About A. D. 260 the city was sacked by the Goths, who burnt the temple ; but the final destruc- tion of the latter is supposed to have taken place in the following century.' During the Byzantine period Ephesus was the see of an archbishop, but it dwindled in population, its port became choked, and its plains, from want of drainage and cultivation, unhealthy. In the llth century it was attacked by Turkish pirates, who were, however, driv- en out. In the 13th century it was alter- nately in the hands of the Mussulmans and their foes, but in 1308 fell finally under the Turkish power, and was held by one or another Turkish sultan. The ancient city almost entirely disappeared before the modern era, even the site of the temple being lost, the ruins having been in great part carried away for the con- struction of later buildings, while the Eemains of an ancient Amphitheatre. 425 ft. long and 220 ft. wide, being the largest of the Greek temples, and four times as large as the Parthenon at Athens. It was mag- nificently decorated with sculptures by Praxi- .teles and a great painting by Apelles. The statue of Diana was of ivory, furnished with exquisitely wrought golden ornaments. The temple had the right of asylum, which extend- ed to the land around it, and caused the city to be overrun with criminals until the limits were narrowed by Augustus. The medals of Ephesus under the emperors bore a representa- tion of the temple, which was counted one of the seven wonders of the world. It was still the most notable thing about the city when St. Paul preached there in the year 54. The com- merce of the place attracted many Jews in apostolic times, and this led the apostle Paul to found there a Christian church, and to remain there over two years. The apostle rapid formation of alluvial soil buried many beneath the surface. Several small Turkish villages occupy the ground, the most important of which is Ayasalook, 48 m. S. of Smyrna by the railway to Aidin. In 1864 an Englishman, Mr. J. T. Wood, found in the ruins of the Odeum four letters from Antoninus Pius to the Ephesians (A. D. 145-151), and in the great theatre one from the emperor Hadrian to the Ephesians, dated Sept. 27, 120 ; besides an inscription containing particulars as to the endowment and ritual of the temple of Diana. A clause in this inscription ordered that certain processions should go through the Magnesian gate to the great theatre, and thence through the Coressian gate back to the temple; this gave the first clue to the site of the temple. The great theatre appears to have been large enough to contain 50,000 persons. After clearing this out Mr. Wood discovered a gate which he supposed to be the Magnesian gate ;