History and life
Greek and Hellenistic Ephesus
Key answer
The Ephesus you walk today is not the first Ephesus. The Greek city grew up around the sanctuary of Artemis, and in the Hellenistic period the settlement was moved and laid out again on the valley between the hills of Panayirdag and Bulbuldag. That Hellenistic plan — the line of the main streets and the position of the civic centre — is the frame the Roman city was later built into.
The Ionian city and the sanctuary of Artemis
Ephesus began as a Greek city of the Ionian coast, and its identity was tied from the start to the sanctuary of Artemis rather than to the hillside site visitors walk today. The sanctuary stood on the plain, near modern Selcuk, and the community that served it and traded through the harbour was the reason the city existed at all.
That is why the excavated city and the Artemision are two separate places. Understanding the split is the single most useful thing to know before a visit: the temple site is not inside the archaeological park, and the ruins you walk are largely later than the sanctuary's greatest period.
The Hellenistic refoundation on the valley
In the Hellenistic period the settlement was re-established on the valley between Panayirdag and Bulbuldag, the ground the excavated city now occupies. A city wall was carried over the ridges, and the new town was laid out on a planned grid rather than growing outwards from the sanctuary.
This is the moment that decided the shape of the site. The upper civic area, the axis that later became Curetes Street, and the descent towards the harbour all follow the Hellenistic plan, even though almost every building standing on them today is Roman or later.
What is Greek and what is later
Very little visible masonry at Ephesus is Hellenistic. The theatre began in the Hellenistic period and was rebuilt and enlarged in Roman times; stretches of the city wall on the hills are Hellenistic; several civic buildings preserve Hellenistic foundations under Roman façades.
Excavation, not appearance, decides these questions. The Austrian Archaeological Institute has worked at Ephesus since 1895, and the phasing of each building comes from that record — which is why a guide describing a monument's date should be able to say where the date comes from.
Common questions
Yes. Ephesus was a Greek city of Ionia long before it became the leading city of the Roman province of Asia, and the sanctuary of Artemis was its focus. The excavated site visitors walk follows a Hellenistic layout with mainly Roman buildings on it.
In places. Sections of the hillside city wall, the earliest phase of the theatre and the foundations under several civic buildings belong to the Hellenistic city, but most standing masonry is Roman or Byzantine.