{"id":5443,"date":"2022-04-25T16:16:41","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T21:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/?p=5443"},"modified":"2025-08-21T11:04:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T16:04:24","slug":"%e4%bb%a5%e5%bc%97%e6%89%80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/bible-faith\/devotional-notes\/2022\/04\/%e4%bb%a5%e5%bc%97%e6%89%80\/","title":{"rendered":"Ephesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ephesus was a major city established by the ancient Greeks in Asia Minor, located on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea near the mouth of the Cayster River (in modern-day Turkey). Originally a natural river port, Ephesus had an extensive road network, controlling the gateway to the interior of Asia Minor. It held immense military and commercial value and was a key hub for cultural and trade exchanges between the East and West. In the Roman era, it served as the capital and one of the most important cities of the province of Asia, with a population of over 300,000, including a large Jewish community. It was also a religious center, home to the Temple of the goddess Artemis (also known as Diana; see Acts 19:35), which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ephesus was one of the early centers of Christianity. Paul stayed there for over two years (Acts 19:8\u201310), strengthening the church and discipling believers, using it as a base for gospel ministry throughout the region of Asia. According to tradition, the Apostle John and the mother of Jesus, Mary, also lived here. After the sixth century, Ephesus declined as its river port silted up, and it now exists only as a ruin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: 3D satellite map of the archaeological site of Ephesus (Map source: Google Maps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ephesus was a religious hub, home to the Temple of Artemis\u2014one of the Seven Wonders of the World\u2014and a great theater. The practice of sorcery was widespread, and the city had a large Jewish population. Paul’s stay in Ephesus during his three missionary journeys was his longest in any city. He used this commercial city as a base to spread the gospel throughout the province of Asia. It is also the location of one of the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: The Last House of the Virgin Mary. Legend has it that the Apostle John, fulfilling his promise to Jesus, brought Mary to this place in Asia Minor to care for her, and she lived out her final years peacefully in Ephesus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: Ruins of the Library of Celsus in Ephesus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: The Tomb of the Apostle John. The Catholic Encyclopedia records that “the Apostle John lived in Asia Minor in the 90s AD, leading the churches in the province from Ephesus… and finally died of old age in Ephesus.” Ephesus is one of the seven churches of Revelation (2:1\u20137).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: Ruins of the Great Theater of Ephesus. Renovated by the Romans in the 1st century AD, it was built into a hillside facing the sea and was majestic in scale. This amphitheater could hold 25,000 people and may have been the largest theater in the ancient world; it is still usable today. With such a magnificent theater and a full range of other entertainment facilities, the city was a place that lured people with “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” The Apostle John, living in Ephesus, could particularly understand the sentiment, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15)
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[Image: Temple of Artemis. Located in modern-day Ephesus, Turkey, it was dedicated to the goddess of fertility and harvest, Artemis, also known as the Roman moon goddess Diana. People from all over Asia came to worship, making it the most widespread popular religion before the rise of Christianity. The temple was 130 meters long and 70 meters wide, with 126 marble columns 18 meters high. Its construction was started by King Croesus of Lydia and took 120 years to complete under the Persian Achaemenid Empire in 550 BCE. It was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
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Image: A 2nd-century AD statue of the Goddess Artemis from Ephesus, now housed in the Ephesus Museum.
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Image: The ruins of the Temple of Artemis, which eventually became just ruins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ephesus was a major city established by the ancient Greeks in Asia Minor, located on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea near the mouth of the Cayster River (in modern-day Turkey). Originally a natural river port, Ephesus had an extensive road network, controlling the gateway to the interior of Asia Minor. It held immense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional-notes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5443"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11545,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443\/revisions\/11545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}