A view of the theatre of Ephesus in present day Turkey. Then and now.
A dramatic confrontation reported in the New Testament occurred inside a Roman theater in Ephesus. That colossal theater is still in service today.
Ephesus, on the west coast of what is now Turkey, was founded by Greek colonists from across the Aegean Sea in the 10th century B.C. By the third century B.C., the city was famous for the nearby temple of Artemis, an important fertility goddess. Featuring 127 ionic columns and covering 1.6 acres, the temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. When the Romans took control of Ephesus in the first century B.C., they made it the capital of the Province of Asia. They reassociated the temple with their goddess Diana and greatly expanded a Greek theater built into a hillside on the north side of the city, creating a seating capacity of 25,000. By the first century A.D., the population of Ephesus was as high as 250,000.
According to the Book of Acts, Paul went to Ephesus in about 54 A.D. Local silversmiths selling miniature representations of the temple complained that Paul’s teachings about Jesus were endangering their livelihoods by suggesting that Artemis/Diana was not a real god. Residents responded by dragging Paul’s traveling companions into the Great Theatre, where a shouting mob menaced them. The melee ended and the men were released when the city clerk demanded that the silversmiths pursue their grievances in court, warning that they could be charged with provoking a riot. By the time Paul left Ephesus in 56 A.D., the city was home to an important early church.
Christian vigilantes destroyed the temple of Artemis/Diana in 401 A.D. after Roman Emperor Theodosius I had outlawed paganism. But the Great Theatre, with its three-story stage house, has survived and is occasionally used for performances, including one by Elton John in 2001.
Related Post
The entire tomb is filled with signs and symbols that mention Queen Nefertiti and after some time passed and linguistic experts managed to decipher the stories told here, the team was baffled.
The mystery of the Solar Temple of Abu Gurab and its “Star Gate” comes to light
Thuya, the mother of Queen Tiye, left a monumental legacy by becoming the grandmother of Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.
The oldest traditions lead us to believe that blacks were the first inhabitants of Mexico.
The REAL face of King Tut: The pharaoh had feminine hips, clubfoot, and protruding teeth according to the ‘virtual autopsy,’ which also revealed that his parents were brother and sister.
The “oldest gold of humanity” was found in the Varna necropolis, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast