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* EPHESUS. 138 EPHOD. Western Asia Minor, though we hear ot com- plaints that the right of asylum possessed by the temple of Artemis sed. The account of Saint Paul's labors in Ephi ' ting nearly three years, shows the prosperity of the place and the importance of the temple iu promoting that pro well aa the passionate devo- tion of the people to their great goddess (Acts ix. ). A vigorous Christian Church was estab- lished in the city, and later the Apostle John and other prominent men of the Apostolic age made ir headquarters at Ephesus. The bishop of this church was the first of the seven to whom the Apocalypse was addressed. The destruction oi it- great temple by the Goths in a.d. 263 gave it a blow from which it never recovered. In a.d. 431 it was the scene of the third general council of the Christian Church. Its general history, while a city of the Byzantine Empire, was unim- portant, and before the days of Tamerlane it had almost completely perished. Certain cabalistic words or sayings said to have been inscribed on the base of the statue of Artemis were copied and carried about as charms. Hence to a large num- ber of similar charms hung about the neck and repeated in a low tone to avert danger was given tlie name fcplwsia' littcrw, or 'E0^7ia fpi/ifiara. Before 1SU3 little was known of the topography of Ephesus, though the remains of the stadium, theatre, so-called gymnasium, and a few other buildings and walls could be traced. Wood's excavations in search of the Temple of Artemis isted in clearing up some of the uncertainties in the plan, but it was not till the Austrian Archaeological Institute began its systematic ex- plorations that any very definite information was obtained. Work was begun in 1896, and is not yet (1902) completed. The great harbor is now known to date from the Hellenistic period (it had been thought Roman), and a broad street leading from the harbor past the theatre, which has been fully excavated, and terminating in a triumphal li. furnishes a starting-point for the deter- mination of the topography of the city. Other discoveries include a large market-place, some 200 feet square, surrounded by colonnades and rooms, a large number of inscriptions, and many st;il no- and reliefs, among them a bronze athlete, using the strigil, of remarkable beauty. Consult: ' Guhl, Ephesiaca (Berlin, 1842); Wood, Discov- eries <- philosophisch-kis'torisohen Klasse der haiserlieh kSniglichen ikademie der Wissenschaften in Wien (Vienna, 1897 el seq.), and Jahreshefte des osterreichischen archaologi- In I i I ills I il... ISMS el -oi| |. EPHESUS, Cot •' Q "i. Many councils were held at Ephesus, of which two deserve special mention: (1) The Third Ecumenical Council. which opened on June 22. 431. It. was called by the Emperor Theodosius II. at the request of the oi i hodo ed bi Cyril, Pal riarcb of Alex- andria, and of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constan- f iin o| heresy because he natures in Christ ire not united i rsonalitv; hence Ma rj was not I I Mist. I he' Man with ned. Nestorius requested that upon the disputed doctrine be deferred nnlil the Syrian bishops, whose votes he hoped di itter in his favor, 3l Id rhe opening of tl 16 days, but they did not come. On the very first day the matter was settled against Xestorius, and he was excommunicated and deposed. When the Syrian bishops finally arrived (June 26 or 27) they held a meeting, and protested against the action of the synod, excommunicated Cyril, and appealed to the Emperor. But Nestorianism was doomed. The council was attended by about 200 bishops and closed on July 31. (See Nestokius.) (2) The other famous synod was convened in Au- gust, 449, also by the Emperor Theodosius II. Under the lead of Dioscurus, Patriarch of Alex- andria and successor to Cyril, it proceeded to secure the restoration of Eutyehes, who taught one nature in Christ, viz. the divine, and who had been deposed therefor by the Synod of Constantinople in 448, and the confirmation of this doctrine, which was favored by the Alexandrians. The council was marked by great disorder and even violence. Soldiers were brought in, blood was shed, and Flavian of Constant i" nople was so maltreated that he soon died. But the Alexandrian doctrine was indorsed. The ■ council is called the Robber Synod, and its de- cision was quickly reversed by the Ecumenical Council of Chalcecion (451). See Euttches. EPH'IAL'TES (Lat., from Gk. 'E^dXr^s). (1) A son of Poseidon and Iphimedia. See Alo- ad.s:. (2) The Malian who showed the Persians a mountain path by which they were enabled to come up behind Leonidas and his band of Spar- tans at Thermopylae and destroy them. See LEOXIDAS ; THEB1IOPYX.E. EPH'OD (Heb. ephod, vestment, perhaps from aphah, to clothe). The name of one of the gar- ments worn by the high priest (Ex. xxviii. 6-8), but also worn by temple servants in general. Samuel wears one (I. Sam. ii. 18), and also the eighty-five priests of Nob (I. Sam. xxii. 18). Likewise David wears an epbod when dancing be- fore the ark (II. Sam. vi. 14). It may be as- sumed that the ordinary ephod made of linen was less ornate than the one used by the high priest, which was made of costl}' material and of various colors — blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen, interwoven with gold thread. It was held in place by two shoulder-straps, attached to it behind and passing over the shoulders to the front. On the top of each of the shoulder-pieces was an onyx stone on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved, six on each stone. The ephod was worn over a blue frock, and on its front was the jeweled breastplate containing the oracle pouch for the trim and Thummim. Ephod is also used in tin- Bible for image. Gideon is said to have made himself an ephod of the golden rings taken from the Midianites and to have sit it up in Ophrah. It was evidently an object of worship, and since 1700 shekels were spent on it. il is natural to suppose that the ephod was the chief object in t lie sanctuary. Elsewhere too the ephod is spoken of in a manner to permit of no doubt that a pari of the equipment of a sanctuary is meant. In Judges xvii.-xviii. Mieah provides for an ephod, and here and elsewhere the ephod is placed Bide by side with the teraphim I e.g. Bosea iii. 1), which were small images set up in one'- household and used in divination. The ephod -may therefore have been u-ed in con- nect ion w iih 1 be teraphim. To reconcile two such divergent uses of the term various theories have been put for-