Sights in Ephesus (Efes)
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Ephesus Ancient City
The best-preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean is Ephesus. Note that there are two entry points to the ancient site, roughly 3km apart. You may prefer to be dropped off at the upper entrance (the southern gate or güney kapısı) so that you can walk back downhill through the ruins and out through the lower main entrance.
To avoid the heat of the day, come early in the morning or in the late afternoon, when it's less crowded with tour groups. If you can, avoid public holidays altogether. Note that the terrace houses cost extra (and take about an hour) to visit. If your interest in ruins is slight, half a day may suffice, but real ruins buffs will want to m…
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Library of Celsus
Celsus Polemaeanus was the Roman governor of Asia Minor early in the 2nd century AD. According to an inscription in Latin and Greek on the side of the front staircase his son, Consul Tiberius Julius Aquila, erected the Library of Celsus in his father's honour after the governor's death in 114. Celsus was buried under the western side of the library.
The library held 12,000 scrolls in niches around its walls. A 1m gap between the inner and outer walls protected the valuable books from extremes of temperature and humidity. The library was originally built as part of a complex, and architectural sleight of hand was used to make it look bigger than it actually is: the base of…
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Sacred Way
From the Great Theatre, walk south along the marble-paved Sacred Way, also known as the Marble Way, noting the remains of the elaborate water and sewerage systems beneath the paving stones, and the ruts made by wheeled vehicles (which were not allowed to drive down Harbour St). The large open space on the right was the 110-sq-m agora (marketplace) dating back to 3BC and once the heart of Ephesus' business life. It would have been surrounded by a colonnade and shops selling food and craft items.
Note the fine carvings of gladiators that survive along the Sacred Way.
On the left as you approach the end of the street is an elaborate building, which used to be called a brothe…
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Great Theatre
At the eastern end of Harbour St is the Great Theatre, reconstructed by the Romans between AD 41 and AD 117. The first theatre on the site dated from the Hellenistic city of Lysimachus, and many features of the original building were incorporated into the Roman structure, including the ingenious design of the cavea (seating area), capable of holding 25,000 people.
Each successive range of seating up from the stage is pitched more steeply than the one below, thereby improving the view and acoustics for spectators in the upper seats.Among other modifications, the Romans enlarged the stage, pitched it towards the audience and built a three-storey decorative stage wall behind…
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Upper Ephesus
Up the hill from the Gate of Hercules on the left is Upper Ephesus, including the very ruined remains of the Prytaneum (a municipal hall) and the Temple of Hestia Boulaea, in which a perpetually burning flame was guarded. Finally you reach the odeum, a small theatre dating from AD 150, which was used for musical performances and meetings of the town council. The marble seats at the bottom suggest the magnificence of the original.
To the east of the Odeum are more baths and, further east, the East Gymnasium. There is a second site ticket office across from the slight remains of the Magnesia Gate.
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Church of the Virgin Mary
The Ephesus car park is ringed with çay bahçesis (tea houses), restaurants and souvenir shops, and to the right of the road are the ruins of the Church of the Virgin Mary, also called the Double Church. The original building was a museum, a Hall of the Muses - a place for lectures, teaching and debates. Destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt as a church in the 4th century. Later it served as the site of the third Ecumenical Council (AD 431) which condemned the Nestorian heresy.
Over the centuries several other churches were built here, somewhat obscuring the original layout.
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Harbour Street
Marble-paved Harbour Street was once the grandest street in Ephesus and is a legacy of the Byzantine emperor, Arcadius (r AD 395-408). In its heyday there were harbour baths and triumphal columns at the harbour end, and shops along both its sides. Fifty streetlights lit up its colonnades, and water and sewerage channels ran beneath the marble flagstones. It was and is a grand sight.
Walking into the main site along a path bordered by evergreen trees, a few colossal remains of the harbour gymnasium are off to the right.
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Terraced Houses
Across from the Temple of Hadrian are the magnificent Terraced Houses. It's a shame that the off-putting admission fee will deter most people from visiting a site that offers the next best chance after Pompeii (Italy) to appreciate the luxury in which the elite of the Roman world lived. In places, the Terraced Houses still stand to 2 storeys; their walls are covered in frescoes and their floors in elaborate mosaics. Small finds from the houses are on display in the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk.
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Temple of Hadrian
You can't miss the impressive Corinthian-style Temple of Hadrian, on the left as you head up Curetes Way, with beautiful friezes in the porch and a head of Medusa to keep out evil spirits. It was dedicated to Hadrian, Artemis and the people of Ephesus in AD 118 but greatly reconstructed in the 5th century. Across the street a row of shops from the same period are fronted by an elaborate 5th-century mosaic.
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Stadium
A bit further along from the Gymnasium of Vedius is the Stadium, dating from the 2nd century AD. The Byzantines removed most of its finely cut stones to build the castle on Ayasuluk Hill. This 'quarrying' of pre-cut building stone from older, often earthquake-ruined structures was a constant feature of Ephesian history.
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Gate of Hercules
Curetes Way ends at the two-storey Gate of Hercules, constructed in the 4th century AD, with reliefs of Hercules on both main pillars. To the right a side street leads to a colossal temple dedicated to the Emperor Domitian (r AD 81-96), part of which serves as a rarely accessible Museum of Inscriptions.
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Gymnasium of Vedius
As you walk along the side road from Dr Sabri Yayla Bulvarı, the first ruin you will pass on your left was once the Gymnasium of Vedius, from the 2nd century AD, with exercise fields, baths, toilets, covered exercise rooms, a swimming pool and a ceremonial hall.
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Gate of Augustus
As you leave the Library of Celsus, the Gate of Augustus on the left leads into the agora (marketplace). This monumental gateway was apparently a favourite place for Roman ne'er-do-wells to relieve themselves, as a bit of ancient graffiti curses 'those who piss here'.
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Roman Toilets
As you head up Curetes Way, a passage on the left leads to the famously communal Roman men's toilets. The much-copied statuette of Priapus with the penis of most men's dreams was found in the nearby well. It's now in the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk.
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Fountain of Trajan
Further up Curetes Way on the left is the Fountain of Trajan. Of the huge statue of the emperor (AD 98-117) that used to tower above the pool, only one foot now remains.
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