Byzantine Ephesus : the slow slide to obscurity of a major city

Ephesus was one of the most significant cities in Asia Minor during antiquity. It was a key commercial crossroad and port, as well as a prominent religious center that hosted one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Artemis. The city may have been home to as many as 100,000 inhabitants, and the impressive remains of the ancient city are still standing today, testifying to its importance.

The challenges of the late Antiquity.

However, Ephesus started facing both political and environmental challenges as early as late Antiquity. In the 3rd century, the city suffered heavy blows. It was not only attacked by the Goths in 263, leading to the destruction of the famous Temple of Artemis, but it also experienced a series of earthquakes that left deep marks on the city and must have contributed to its economic decline. Moreover, the relentless accumulation of silt in the harbor basin and its associated channels was threatening the city’s connection to the sea. The maintenance of these waterways was a constant battle and an economic strain on the city.

The foundation of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire also had consequences for Ephesus. Private and public patronage, under Constantine and subsequent emperors, was now mainly focused on the new capital. Even though Constantine and subsequent emperors still built monuments in Ephesus, the city was no longer the great imperial metropolis of antiquity, but only a regional center.

Prosperity in the early Byzantine times.

Even though the traditional sources of revenue had partly declined, Ephesus continued to be relatively prosperous at the beginning of the Byzantine era. As before, this prosperity was largely due to the importance of its harbor, as well as the city’s commerce and banking. As the capital of Asia, Ephesus was also the residence of the proconsul, maintaining its administrative importance and benefiting from the patronage of this powerful figure.

Nevertheless, a new source of revenue emerged at this time: the development of Ephesus as a major religious center. By the 3rd century, the city was already Christianized, and numerous churches and monumental crosses had been erected. Traditions associating the city with St. Paul, the Apostle John, the Virgin, and the Seven Sleepers made it soon an ecclesiastical capital. Its bishop was the metropolitan of the province of Asia and enjoys influence in relation to the antiquity and prestige of Ephesus. The religious importance of the city made it the natural site of two councils in 431 and 449 and an important goal of pilgrimage, generating important revenues. However, the metropolis’ aspirations to rise to a rank comparable to that of Antioch or Alexandria were disappointed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Some emperors continued to adorn the city, including Constantius II and Arkadios. Among them, Justinian I left the biggest mark by erecting an aqueduct and a large basilica on the site of the grave of Saint John.

The remains preserved from the early Byzantine era indicate that classical public works and services, such as the theater, market, baths, civic center, and marble-paved, colonnaded streets lined with shops, were still maintained. Richly decorated private houses continued to be built until the early 7th century. However, open public spaces were starting to be encroached upon by private buildings, and new construction used spolia and was adorned with frescoes, mosaics, and marble.

Yet, dire times were soon to come.

Ephesus in the dark age.

Prosperity came to a dramatic end in 614 or 615. At that time, large parts of Ephesus were destroyed. An earthquake may have caused dammages, but excavations in 2022 confirmed that some of the destructions resulted of military operations. At that time, the Byzantine Empire was engaged in a survival war against the other superpower of the time, the Sassanides. This terrible conflict resulted in the destruction of most cities in Asia Minor, including Ephesus, and impacted the economical and commercial networks of the whole empire.

Even if the Byzantines finally managed to get the upper end in this conflict, the new Arab threat soon shrinked the empire’s territories. In Ephesus, the parts of the city destroyed during the Persian invasion were never restored.

Instead, the Arabs already started to attack the area in 654. The response to this new threat was likely to build new fortifications, enclosing less than half the ancient city. A new defensive center was created around the Church of St. John, about a mile away from the main part of the ancient city. Nonetheless, the Arabs sacked the city in 654-655, and later again in 700 and 716, hastening the decline of the city.

The mutation of Ephesus in the Middle Byzantine times.

With the resistance and reorganization of the empire, Ephesus became part of the Thrakesion theme. Despite these setbacks, Ephesus remained an important center and was the site of a major regional fair in the 8th century, generating important revenue.

However, the importance of the city as a commercial center was drastically declining as the harbor, connected to the sea by a channel, was getting more and more silted up by the river. Maintaining the waterways was for a long time a challenge for Ephesus, and the harbour and channels had seen repeated dredging during the city’s history. But at that time, neglect or maybe lack of resources made it irreversible and nowadays, the ancient harbor is located 5km inland.

With the progressive loss of its harbor, Ephesus was disconnected from the sea that had once brought it prosperity through trade. People started to leave the lowland of the city to resettle on the fortified hill around the Church of St. John, becoming an inland stronghold. The ruins of the temples were used as building blocks for new homes, and marble sculptures were ground to powder to make lime for plaster. From that time, Ephesus started to be known as “Hagios Theologos” (after St. John) or simply the “Kastron” (castle). Ephesus also experienced the political turmoil of the 9th century, surviving the attack of the Paulicians in 867-868 (or 869-870). In the 10th century, it was the center of a tourma of the theme of Samos. It was still important enough to have Italian concessions after 1082.

However, the invasion of the Seljuks affected the city, which was occupied by the Turks between 1090 and 1096, before being reclaimed by the Byzantines. When the Crusaders passed through the area on their way to Jerusalem during the First Crusade, they were surprised to find a village where they had expected a city of importance.

A Renewed Importance in the 12th and 13th Centuries

In 1147, Ephesus hosted the Second Crusade and recognized the Laskarids in 1206, after the Fourth Crusade stormed Constantinople. During the Laskarid period, Ephesus became a center of learning, with the basilica of St. John and the adjacent bishopric buildings at its heart. Nikephoros Blemmydes, a prominent intellectual of the time, taught in the city, and other intellectuals, such as George Akropolites and Theodore Laskaris, were among his pupils.

It also remained a metropolitan see, and several archbishops of Ephesus were significant figures in the Byzantine history of the time. Among them were Nicephorus, who became patriarch of Constantinople in 1260, and his successor Isaac, who commissioned artworks and played an important role as an ambassador to the pope. Isaac also opposed the Union of Churches.

Fall of the city to the Turks.

The late 13th century brought the Turkish threat once again. The Catalan Grand Company, which made Ephesus its base in 1304, temporarily dispelled the threat. However, the city eventually fell to the Turks of Aydin the same year, marking the end of the Byzantine Ephesus.

Some treasures and relics looted from the church of Saint John were pawned for wheat in Phocaea. In 1308, Tesino Zaccaria, a member of a powerful Genoese family allied with the Palaiologos, captured the city and found the pawned items. Among them was the Zaccaria Cross, a masterpiece from the byzantine goldsmithing of the 9th and 13th centuries, which was later brought back to Genoa and given to the city’s cathedral.

During the Seljuk rule after 1304, the city was known as Ayasuluk, a deformation of Hagio Theologos. The basilica of Saint John was converted into a mosque. However, in 1402, it was destroyed along with the fortress during the Mongol invasion under the command of Timur. The fortress was later restored by both Seljuk and Ottoman rulers, but by that time, the city had been reduced to a mere village without any importance and was probably almost completely Islamized by the 15th century.

Byzantine monuments of Ephesus.

Ephesus preserves the ruins of significant Byzantine buildings, primarily dating back to the early Byzantine period.

Among them, the Basilica of the Virgin was built in the 4th century and twice rebuilt, on a smaller scale, after the 6th century. It hosted two councils. The other major religious building of Ephesus was located on a hill, apart from the city. It is the Basilica of Saint John, with the tomb of the saint who was said to have finished his life in Ephesus. Built under Justinian between 548 and 565, it followed the same plan as the Church of the Holy Apostle in Constantinople, a major church of the capital where the relics of the saint had been translated in the 6th century. The church was flanked by an octagonal baptistery built in the 5th century, and a domed, octagonal sacristy erected in the late 6th or early 7th century.

Ayasoluk retains the remains of part of its Byzantine fortification. The fortress dominating the hill is both from Byzantine and Turkish times.

Several civil buildings, such as the so-called Byzantine Palace – which may have been the residence of the proconsul of Asia or of the strategos of the theme of Thrakesion, and the aqueduct whose remains are still visible in Selcuk, were also erected in the early Byzantine period.

Ephesus in the 20th century.

Ephesus in the 20th century became a significant site for archaeological research. Archaeological excavations occured on the site of saint John tomb during the greek occupation in 1920-22. Numerous excavations and studies have been and are still conducted by scholars from around the world.

The ancient city was also inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, recognizing its outstanding universal value and importance to humanity’s cultural heritage. Today, Ephesus is a major tourist destination, attracting millions of visitors each year who come to see its well-preserved ruins and learn about its rich history. However, the influx of mass tourism also poses challenges to the preservation and management of the site, requiring careful planning and sustainable practices to ensure its continued protection and enjoyment for future generations.

Sources:

Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium

C. Foss, Ephesus after Antiquity. A Late Antique, Byzantine and Turkish City, Cambridge University Press, 1979

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