Introducing Ephesus (Efes)

More than anywhere else, the Greco-Roman world comes alive at Ephesus. After almost 150 years of excavation, the city's recovered and renovated structures have made Ephesus Europe's most complete classical metropolis – and that's with 82% of the city still to be unearthed.

As capital of Roman Asia Minor, Ephesus was a vibrant city of over 250,000 inhabitants. Counting traders, sailors and pilgrims to the Temple of Artemis, these numbers were even higher, meaning that in Ephesus one could encounter the full diversity of the Mediterranean world and its peoples. So important and wealthy was Ephesus that its Temple of Artemis was the biggest on earth, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

In 2011, Ephesus ticket prices jumped when the site was privatised – a Turkish company won a minority share, taking some of the profits too. Hopefully, this will also mean better services in future. On the site, Austrian and German archaeologists still lead summer digging.