Magnificent Ephesus

Walk through the excavated ruins in Ephesus, Turkey’s most celebrated archaeological site, and discover how the ruins bring the past vividly to life.

After departing from the pier, you will drive inland to Ephesus, perhaps the best-preserved ancient city in the region. As you meander through the painstakingly excavated ruins of this World Heritage site, you will behold one spectacular building after another.

You can expect to see the Great Theater where St. Paul spent three years in the 1st century preaching the Gospel. The theater can hold 25,000 spectators, so you can imagine the scene when the house was full for momentous events.

According to written history, a large Jewish community lived in Ephesus but no synagogue has yet been excavated. However, a Jewish lamp has been found, confirming the texts that described the Jewish residents.

The Library of Celsus is another architectural highlight. The monument was constructed as a mausoleum with a separate library for scrolls and codexes. It was named for the city’s Roman governor in the 2nd century.

One column of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also remains. The first temple of its size to be built entirely of marble, it was considerably larger the Parthenon. The Roman author, philosopher and military commander Pliny the Elder wrote about the temple in detail, including its measurements and furnishings.