A City of Change - Ephesus

1916

Ephesus, Once on the Seacoast, Is Now Located Far Inland

Sir William Ramsay characterizes Ephesus as the "City of Change." And truly it has seen marvelous changes and its inhabitants many removals. In the days of St. Paul and St. John Ephesus was a city of the seacoast; the waters of the Aegean lapped its busy wharves. Now the traveler to Ephesus can scarcely imagine that he is near the sea. To all appearances he is as far away as on one of our inland prairies. The Cayster during all these ages has brought down mud and silt from the mountains until now Ephesus is miles from the seashore. Even in St. John's time the port was kept open only by strenuous effort and constant dredging.

These changes wrought by nature have compelled frequent changes on the part of the inhabitants. The original city was built not far from Ayasolouk and "the whole Ephesian valley was an arm of the sea dotted with rocky islands and bordered by picturesque mountains and wooded promontories," we are told. As the sea receded in the course of the centuries the population moved with it until the Roman city, the city of St. Paul and St. John, was some miles from the original site.

At last this port became impossible and the inhabitants moved farther back, nearer to the site of the more ancient city, where today the few inhabitants that still remain are found.

—Stevens Point Daily Journal, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, July 29, 1916, page 3.