History and life
Byzantine Ephesus
Key answer
Ephesus did not stop at the end of the Roman period. In Byzantine centuries the city was a Christian centre with major churches, its defences were rebuilt on a smaller circuit, and settlement gradually shifted towards the Ayasuluk hill at modern Selcuk as the harbour silted up and the coastline moved away.
A Christian city
Byzantine Ephesus is visible mainly in its churches and in the reuse of older buildings. The Basilica of St John on the Ayasuluk hill above Selcuk is a major surviving monument of this period in the area, and the church associated with the Council of Ephesus stands inside the archaeological site near the harbour road.
Reused marble is the other signature of the period: columns, blocks and inscriptions from earlier monuments turn up built into later walls all over the site.
The harbour, the silt and the move inland
The Kucuk Menderes river carried silt into the bay over centuries, and the harbour that made Ephesus wealthy slowly became unusable. The sea today lies several kilometres from Harbour Street, which is why the ancient quays are now inland among fields.
As the port failed, the centre of population moved to the defensible Ayasuluk hill, the settlement that became Selcuk. That move — not a single catastrophe — is the reason the ancient city was left to be excavated.
What to look for on the site
Look for later walls cutting across Roman streets, for churches built into older civic spaces, and for the way the excavated city thins out towards the harbour. From the site you can see the Ayasuluk hill: the Byzantine and later town is in view from the ancient one.
Common questions
The harbour silted up as the river filled the bay, the city lost its role as a port, and settlement shifted to the Ayasuluk hill at what is now Selcuk. It was a gradual move rather than a single event.
The church near the harbour road is inside the archaeological site. The Basilica of St John is a separate site above Selcuk, a short drive away, and is not covered by the same entrance.