As an archaeological entity, Ephesus provides a stratified record of urban evolution that makes it indispensable to the study of ancient Asia Minor. Excavations expose not a single frozen city but a sequence of urban forms reflecting Anatolian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine layers. The Artemision illustrates both the persistence of local cult and its monumentalization under Hellenic influence, while the Hellenistic re-planning under Lysimachos demonstrates the imposition of Macedonian urban models onto an Anatolian landscape. The Roman phase, marked by the construction of the Library of Celsus, aqueducts, public baths, and the theatre, reflects Ephesus’s role as capital of the province of Asia and as a major hub of commerce and pilgrimage. The Christianization of the city is archaeologically visible in the Church of Mary, where the Council of 431 CE was convened, and in the basilica of Saint John at Ayasoluk, which became a major Byzantine pilgrimage center. Later fortifications, built in response to Arab raids and regional instability, show how the city contracted and reorganized in the early medieval period.

The archaeological site is also central to the history of modern scholarship. Systematic excavations were initiated by the British in the 1860s, when J. T. Wood located the Artemision, and later by David G. Hogarth. Since 1895, the Austrian Archaeological Institute has conducted continuous fieldwork, uncovering the theatre, Curetes Street, the Terrace Houses, and numerous inscriptions that shed light on civic and religious life. This continuity of research has made Ephesus a benchmark for developing excavation methodologies and conservation practices. Its remains are not simply relics of the past but a living archive that continues to shape debates on urbanism, cult, and identity in the ancient Mediterranean.

circa 650 BCE

Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Now lost, it had been built in the areas of Ephesus on a flat area which has over the centuries turned into a swamp. A column and scanty fragments strewn on the ground are all that remains of the seventh wonder of the world. According to Strabo, the Temple of Artemis was destroyed at least seven times and rebuilt just as many times. Archaeological findings instead attest to at least four rebuilding of this temple, starting in the 7th century BCE. Later on, the Hellenistic period temple was built on a podium, to which one ascended by a plinth formed of thirteen steps. A double colonnade encircled the peristyle and the inside space. The temple served as both a marketplace and a religious institution. For years, the sanctuary was visited by merchants, tourists, artisans, and kings who paid homage to the goddess by sharing their profits with her.

circa 400-200 BCE

Street of Curetes
The Curetes Street was a major thoroughfare in the ancient city of Ephesus, connecting the Hercules Gate with the Library of Celsus. Originally named Embolos and likely a processional route in the Hellenistic period, the street's path was shaped by the narrow valley between the Bülbül and Panayir hills, departing from the typical Hippodamian grid plan of the city. In the Roman and early Byzantine periods, the street became a central axis of urban life, distinguished by its marble pavement, which concealed a sophisticated drainage system. Flanked by colonnaded porticoes and impressive structures like the Temple of Hadrian and the Nymphaeum of Trajan, the street served as a bustling commercial and civic hub.

Archaeological investigations reveal a complex stratigraphy, with multiple phases of rebuilding necessitated by frequent earthquakes during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. These seismic events resulted in architectural eclecticism, as materials, including columns repurposed from the city's Prytaneion, were reused in later restorations. Inscriptions and statue pedestals found along its length further testify to the street's role as a space for public display and the commemoration of prominent citizens.

circa 350-275 BCE

Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates
The Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates (also known as the south gate of the square-market) is a majestic triple-arched gate in the ancient city of Ephesus, serving as the monumental entrance to the Commercial Agora right next to the famous Library of Celsus. Built between 4 and 3 BCE by two freed slaves, Mazaeus and Mithridates, it was a profound tribute to Emperor Augustus and his family. The gate's ornate design includes a richly decorated attic and a central archway recessed to add depth, lending it a "crowned" appearance. An inscription in bronze letters, dedicated to the imperial family, proclaimed the freedmen's gratitude and loyalty. Beyond its symbolic role, the gate served a practical function for regulating entry into the marketplace, and the square in front of it acted as an auditorium for public lectures. A testament to Roman grandeur and the social mobility within its empire, the gate remains a well-preserved marvel of ancient architecture.

circa 275 BCE

Commercial Agora
The Commercial Market, also called the tetragonal agora (square market), was already founded in the firt half of the third century BCE. Its visible form goes back to an expansion under Emperor Augustus (27 BCE to 14 CE) into a square ensemble (side lengths 154 meters) with three gates in the north, west and south, a central courtyard (side length 112 meters) enclosed on all sides by two-aisled, two-storey halls with business and administrative offices. To the east, on the "Marble Street", a two-aisled Doric basilica was built in the upper storey of the Agora during Emperor Nero's reign (54-68 CE); this probably functioned as a justice court, After a devastating earthquake at the end of the fourth century CE, a completely new renovation took place of all the main structural elements of the Agora, using architectural pieces from throughout Ephesos. In the sixth century CE, the northern hall received a tremendous retaining wall, instead of its rear rooms, against the artificial hill lying behind it (today the headquarters of the gendarmerie barracks).

circa 250 BCE

Great Theatre
The great theatre of Ephesus was build on the site of an earlier Hellenistic period (circa 3rd to 1st century BCE). In the Roman period there was an extensive rebuilding under the emperors Domitian (81-96 CE) and then Trajan (98-117 CE) with at first a two and later three storeyed impressive facade. In addition to theatre performances, assemblies also took place there; in the later imperial period. Before the 7th century the theatre was incorporated into the Byzantine city walls.

circa 170 BCE

Heroon of Androklos
The heroon of Androklos, a Hellenistic-era structure in Ephesus dating to the 2nd century BCE, is believed to honor the city's mythical Athenian founder. Situated prominently on Curetes Street, this U-shaped monument initially featured a two-story design with a Doric ground floor and an open Ionic upper story. While ancient literary sources, notably the travelogue of Pausanias, associate a tomb and statue of Androklos with this location, conclusive archaeological evidence for an interment has not been found, leading scholars to question its primary function as a traditional funerary site.

However, sculptural reliefs depicting a horseman reminiscent of Androklos and battle scenes support its role as a commemorative heroon, celebrating the legendary foundation myth involving a wild boar. In Late Antiquity, the structure was reconfigured into a functioning fountain, incorporating a water basin and Christian symbols in its parapet, a transformation that led to its later misidentification as the "Byzantine Fountain". The monument's architectural and functional evolution, from a Hellenistic hero-cult site to a Roman fountain, offers significant insight into the changing urban priorities and religious syncretism of Ephesian society.

circa 160 BCE

Harbour
As a transhipment point for goods and wares, the harbour contributed significantly to the prosperity of the city. The harbour bay was first artificially enclosed during the rule of the Pergamene King Attalos II (159-138 BCE); its appearance, still visible in the landscape today, dates back to building activities of the early Roman imperial period. Around the harbour bay lay warehouses, and three monumental gates led from the harbour into the city. After the 37 century CE, the harbour was connected to the sea by means of a canal, which was bordered on both sides by tombs.

circa 150 BCE

Baths of the "State Agora"
The Roman bathing facility was located at the site of earlier, Hellenistic gymnasium. Four bathing rooms at the northern side were partly hewn out of the bedrock. The caldarium (hot room) lying to the west possessed seven niches furnished with bathing pools. Tho the west and south, colonnades with mosaic floors were adjoined; these served as recreation rooms and lobby halls. Presumably a palaestra (exercise area) exists in the unexcavated terrain to the south, which would have served for physical exercise as well as mental activities.

circa 50 BCE

State Agora
Probably in the 1st century BCE, an enclosure was set up in the saddle between the two city mountains; at the beginning of the first century CE, which covered an area of approx. 160 x 58 meters. The area was surrounded by porticoes on three sides. The location was bordered at the west by an ashlar wall, against which numerous individual monuments were erected. At the latest since the time of Emperor Octavian Augustus (27 BCE- 14 CE), the "State Agora" with its surrounding buildings constituted the political centre of the city.

circa 50-30 BCE

Memmius Monument
The Memmius Monument was built between 50-30 BCE at a particularly prominent spot. It is a honorific monument for Gaius Memmius, a grandson of the Roman dictator Sulla. The reconstruction proposes a tower-like structure with a cone-shapped roof, reliefs between the columns o fthe upper story depicted the virtues of the individual honoured. At present there is no reconstruction at the site, but instead a cubistic modern architectural college.

circa 10 BCE

Rhodian Peristyle and the Prytaneum
The courtyard (33 x 28 meters), lying to the west of the Bouleuterion and enclosed on all three sides corresponds to the type of the "Rhodian Peristyle" with its elevated columnar architecture at the east, An altar or two smaller temples were located on a ralsed podium to the west side, The sacred quarter, probably built during the Augustan period (27 BCE- 14 CE), was dedicated to the deified Julius Caesar and Goddess Roma or Artemis and Emperor Augustus himself (imperial cult).

The Prytaneum, erected in the same period, was entered via a courtyard (26 x 22 meters) surrounded by columns; this building was the office of the city’s leading government and its main room was used for public banquets for honoured Individuals. The ashlar foundation in the centre of the room was either used as a sacred altar for Goddess Hestia, or a place for food preparation. In the area of the Prytaneum the four famous Roman coples of the statue of Artemis Ephesia were erected. To the west, a richly decorated bangquet-hall or residential house 19 x 11 meters) seems to have been functionally related to the prytaneum.

circa 11 CE

Basilica Stoa
The two-storey, triple-aisled Basilica Stoa, or the Royal Colonnade, was donated by C. Sextilius Pollio and built in 11 CE. This Ionic building, one of the most significant constructions in the city, could be entered via a flight of four steps: the front facade had 67 columns, the side aisles were 4.72 meters and the middle aisle was 6.85 meters wide. The monumental seated statues of the Imperial couple Augustus (27 BCE- 14 CE) and Livia, today displayed in the Ephesos Museum in Selcuk, were placed on a pedestal to the east.

circa 50 CE

House of Pleasures
The so called house of pleasures (brothel) comprises of the three connected "residential" structures discovered in this area. In the middle stood a two story peristyle house which was mistakenly identified as a brothel. This particular house was in use from first century CE well into the third century CE. At its center, like house 1, was an open courtyard surrounded with columns around which rooms were grouped; shops (tabernae) opened on to the street. The exterior of the southern part (house 3) was characterised by the Curetes Hall which was built in the sixth century CE.

circa 50-250 CE

Terrace Houses
The Terrace Houses of Ephesus, also known as "the houses of the rich", offer a remarkable and intimate glimpse into the daily lives of the city's wealthy Roman elite. Located on the slopes of Bülbül Mountain, these opulent residences were built between the 1st century BCE and the 7th century CE, featuring impressive architectural details and advanced domestic technologies. Each multi-story home was built around an open courtyard (peristyle), which provided natural light and collected rainwater.

Inside, the walls were adorned with intricate frescoes depicting mythological scenes and the floors were decorated with elaborate mosaics, showcasing the owners' status and artistic tastes. Furthermore, these houses were equipped with luxurious comforts considered highly advanced for their time, including private bathrooms with running water and a hypocaust system for underfloor heating. Protected today by a modern, climate-controlled roof, the site allows visitors to walk through the preserved homes and witness the sophisticated and lavish lifestyle of ancient Ephesians.

circa 81-96 CE

Temple of Domitian
The temple and altar served the imperial cult and were dedicated to emperor Domitian (81-96 CE); after his death and condemnation of his memory (demnatio memoriae), however, they were dedicated to the Flavian family. The temple, with its 8 x 13 columns constructed upon a six-stepped substructure (24 x 34 meters), was erected on a terrace supported by mighty buttresses. After the victory of Christianity it was torn down to its foundations and today it has almost completely disappeared.

circa 98-117 CE

Trajan's Nymphaeum
The building of the Nymphaeum Traiani at Ephesus was donated by Tiberius Claudius Aristion and his wife between 102-114 CE and it was dedicated to Artemis of Ephesos and emperor Trajan (98-117 CE). The original height of the building reconstructed as an architectural trial is 9.5 meters. A two story facade surrounded the founded on three sides, while the statue base of Trajan, with a globe under his feet, stood over the water outlet in the middle.

circa 100-150 CE

Bouleuterioun
The bouleuterioun (odeon) housed the meetings of the council (boule) as well as musical performances and contests. The originally roofed semi-circular auditorium is bonded to a stage wall. The building was erected around 100-150 CE. Publius Vedius Antonius sponsored a new stage building which displayed a portait galley of the imperial family and letters of emperor Antoninus Pius (circa 138-161 CE).

circa 114-117 CE

Library of Celsus
The Library of Celsus was built in honor of the Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, completed between 114–117 CE by Celsus’ son, Gaius Julius Aquila. The library was built to house 12,000 scrolls and to serve as a mausoleum for Celsus, who is buried in a crypt beneath the library in a decorated marble sarcophagus. The interior of the library was destroyed, supposedly by an earthquake in 262 CE (though other evidence points to a fire during a Gothic invasion in that same year) and the façade by another earthquake in the tenth or eleventh century CE. It lay in ruins for centuries, until the façade was re-erected by archaeologists between 1970 and 1978.

circa 117-138 CE

Temple of Hadrian
The small temple like monument, which according to a building inscription honoured emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE), was donated by Publius Vedius Antonius Sabinus. The colonnade in front of the cella supports a so-called Syrian gable. The reliefs over the door lintel depicting the Ephesian foundation myth belong to a late antique rebuilding. Around 300 CE statues of the Roman emperors Diocletian, Constantius, Maximianus and later Theodosius I were erected, of which inscribed bases are preserved.

circa 120 CE

Hadrianic Gate
The triple story gateway marked the junction of the so-called Curetes processional walkway in the direction of ancient Ortygia. Two narrow passageways framedthe broad street gateway, of which the upperstory is reminiscent of emperor Hadrian's Gate in Athens. Already begun sometime duirng the 117 CE, the structure was extensively restored after the earthquake of 270 CE; water basins were fitted in to the side bays. The partial restoration of the imperial period Roman structure was carried out in 1986-1990 CE.

circa 125 CE

Baths of Varius
The baths of Varius were situated between the "bath" and the "academy alley" at the northern side of the curetes street. These were built in the first half of the second century CE. The bathrooms were entered througn a sizeable apsidal hall; over the covered "Academy Alley" one could reach a public latrine. In late antiquity a Christian named Schlasticia renovated the bath; here seated statue is still located in a niche in the entrance hall.

circa 200 CE

Hercules Gate
The so-called Heracles Gate bordered the Curetes Street to the east. Its present appearance derives from late antique adaptations, and the appearance of the imperial gateway cannot be reconstructed anymore. Both pillars, decorated with representations of Heracles, severely narrowed the passageway and blocked the street for wagon traffic. Above the pillars there was an arch complemented with a building inscription. Nikai (figures of Victory) with laurel wreaths and palm branches stood in the spandrels of the arch.

circa 275 CE

Cemetery of the Seven Sleepers
The cave-church complex with a cemetary dating back to the 3rd century CE lies on the eastern slope of mount Panayir. According to legend, during the reign of emperor Decius (249-251 CE) seven young men sought refuge in a cave from the persecution, which they avoided by sleeping for centuries. In the mid-5th century CE, above the catacombs with chambers, their cult was established and a church was erected. Until well into the Middle Ages the complex, which was frequently expanded, remained a site of Christian pilgrimage.

circa 400-500 CE

Alytarch's Stoa
The so-called stoa is located on the eastern flank of the commercial agora, and south of the theater. It is a 4.7-5.5 meters wide hall (stoa) dated to the late antiquity period (circa fourth or fifth century CE), according to an inscription, and borders the two terrace houses along the Curates Street. The hall, built over honorary imperial monuments, overcomes a differece in level of 2.5 meters via steps to the east. A polychrome mosaic floor with geometric, floral and figurative designs covers the floor of the hall.

circa 430 CE

Church of Mary
The bishop's church, also known as the "Council Church", dedicated to Mary mother of Jesus, was a three aisled basilica, erected in the southern southern stoa of the so-called "Olympieion Quarter". Measuring some 145x30 meters it was one of the larger structures in the city. The basilica became renowned as the site of the 3rd Ecumenical Council in 431 CE. The church was rebuilt numberous times in the late Byzantine period. At the latest in the seventh century CE, the seat of the bishop was transferred to saint John's Basilica, but as a cemeter church the Church of Mary continued to be used well into the Middle Ages.

circa 550 CE

Basilica of Saint John
The current structural remains of the Saint John's Basilica date back to the sixth century CE. According to the written sources, the basilica with the wooden roof which includes the grave of Saint John was in poor condition in the sixt century CE. Emperor Justinian (527-565 CE) and Queen Theodora constructed the six-domed church whose ruins are visible today. This church, which is cruciform and measures 130x65 meters, was one of the most impressive religious stuctures built after Artemis Temple in Ephesus. Since it played an important role in the Christian pilgrimage of the Middle Ages, it attained the status of a "church of the Cross".

According to literary sources, the structure was in need of repair in the twelfth century. When Ephesus fell into Turkish handsafter 1304 CE, part of the church was consecrated as a mosque. A severe earthquake leveled it in circa 1365-1370 CE. Excavations of the church and its surroundings have continued since 1921/22 CE.

circa 550 CE

Ayasuluk Castle
The Ayasuluk Castle, regionally referred to as Ayasuluk Kalesi or Selçuk Kalesi, lies on a hill within the city of Selcuk, within the province of Izmir in Turkey, near the famous ancient city of Ephesus. Extensive excavations here concluded in 1998 CE after a quarter-century, proved that there were some sort of fortifications or strong-holds on Ayasuluk Hill going back beyond the original Ephesian settlement to the Neolithic age. The fortress’ partially restored remains, about 350 meters north of the Saint John Church, date from Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods.

circa 1310 CE

Isa Bey Mosque
The Isa Bey Mosque is one of the most important works of the Turkish Aydin Emirate (Aydinogullari) who ruled in western Anatolia from 1308 to 1426 CE. It was built in 1374 CE (776 Hijri) by Aydinoglu Isa Bey (1360-1390 CE) in his administrative capital of Selçuk, near the historic city of Ephesus. It is the second example of the twin-minaret mosques in Anatolia from the pre-Ottoman principalities period and is larger than many of the mosques of the time. Its architect was Ali bin Mushimish, from Damascus. The mosque was repaired in 1934 CE and restored later in the second half of twentieth century CE.

Undated

Mile Markers
Milestones, like kilometer signs today, were stones erected on roads in ancient times that showed distances between them. Marble examples are rare, and local stone was generally used. The unit of measurement used in the milestone found in the Ephesus Museum, like the géraldiga, dating to the 3rd century BCE, is the "stadia" (185 meters). The first Roman milestones were created during the Republican period, and the "milia passuum" (one thousand steps) was used as a unit of measurement. During the Roman Imperial Period, milestones also included the name of the emperor who commissioned or maintained the road, alongside the inscriptions indicating distance. The letters were painted red for better visibility. In the later periods of the Roman Empire, to honor the emperor and demonstrate the people's loyalty to the emperor, the names of the emperors who had no roadworks carried out were inscribed on milestones, and these were erected at important intersections near cities, rather than at specific points along the roads. This was because important figures such as the emperor or governor were greeted and bid farewell by the city council at these points upon their arrival and departure. The milestones were reused by city administrators whenever a new emperor ascended to the throne, saving on expense.