As a field of study, Ephesus occupies a central place in the archaeology and historiography of Asia Minor because its material record allows scholars to trace long arcs of urban, political, and religious transformation. Excavations and surveys have revealed a palimpsest in which prehistoric settlement, Hellenic colonization, Roman urban planning, and Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture are layered in a single landscape. The site thus offers a unique laboratory for examining how local Anatolian traditions were absorbed and reshaped by successive Mediterranean powers.

Researchers focus not only on the monumental remains—the Artemision, the theatre, the Library of Celsus, and the basilicas—but also on the interplay between economy, cult practice, and imperial administration that sustained the city’s prominence for centuries. The study of Ephesus is therefore less about isolating one golden age than about understanding its resilience and capacity for reinvention, a quality that makes the city indispensable for comparative work on cultural exchange, empire, and urban continuity in the ancient world.

circa 7000 BCE- 1500 CE

Early Ephesus
The earliest traces of human settlement found so far in the region of Ephesos were discovered on Cukurigi Héyik and date back into the early Chalcolithic period (late 7 millennium BCE). At the latest since the Early Bronze Age (circa 3rd millennium BCE) Ayasoluk, the easily defensible freestanding mound with rocky slopes on three sides, was occupied. At that time the settlement lay directly on the shore, because instead of the plain which has been flooded by the Kaystros River (Kiigiik Menderes) since antiquity, there was a deep bay which extended until the foot of the mountain chain to the south, east and north. Until the early 8th century BCE Ayasoluk remained the only known settlement in the vicinity of Ephesos.

Since the Late Bronze Age the southwestern foot of the territory of Artemision was also used; there, a sanctuary existed since the beginning of the Iron Age (2 half of the 11 century). The Late Bronze Age settlement at Ayasoluk is most probably to be identified with Apasa, the capital of the Luwian Kingdom of Arzawa (16-13% centuries) representing the most important power in western Anatolia, which was first a rival, then a vassal of the Hittite Empire. Profound changes in the material culture point to a change in the population structure during the course of the 11th century: settlers from the Greek mainland conquered the coast of western Asia Minor during the so-called Ionian colonization.

The foundation myth refers to Androclos, the son of a legendary Attic king, who wrested Ephesos from the indigenous Carians, Lelegians and Lydians. The centre of the city remained at Ayasoluk. After the mid-8th century BCE additional settlements were established on and around Mount Panayir; of these, one on the north-east terrace of Mount Panayir and an additional one located beneath the later Tetragonos Agora (commercial market) have been partially excavated. The independent city state (polis) of Ephesus was increasingly beset by the ambitious Lydian Kingdom: shortly after 560 BCE, the Lydian king Kroisos conquered the city. In 546 BCE or shortly thereafter, the Persoans conquered the Lydian Kingdom and also Ephesos. Their rule lasted until Alexand the Great (circa 334 BCE).

Lysimachos, one of the successors of Alexander, brought about the next break in urban development; at the beginning of the third century BCE, he resettled the inhabitants in the valley between Mount Panayir and Mount Bülbül.

circa 129 BCE- 400 CE

Roman Ephesus
When the Pergamene King Attalos III died in 133 CE, he bequathed his kingdom to the Roman people in his will. The city of Ephesos that possessed the tax-exempt status as civitas libera thus became part of the Roman province of Asia. The fact that Roman rule was not greeted with unanimous consent by the population is indicated by the euphoria with which the Pontic King Mithridates VI's attemp to conquer the province was supported.

All Italians living in the province were sentenced to death, and in 88 BCE in Ephesos alone 80,000 people were violently murdered in a single night. The revolt was suppressed by general Cornelius Sulla and the city's freedom was withdrawn, thus making it liable to pay tribute again. In 33 BCE Mark Antony and his wife, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, spent the winter in Ephesus and organized their campaign against Octavian, who later became emperor Augustus. Octavian's victory at Actium not only meant the end of the Republic, but also a reorganization of the province of Asia.

Ephesus became the permanent headquarters of the Roman provincial administration and capital city (metropolis Asiae). The easy access to the sea made the city an economic center of Asia Minor; the harbour served as a reloading point for all kinds of commodities. On the estates of the Artemision agricultural products were cultivaed and traded; in addition, the sanctuary functioned as a credit bank and a pilgrimage centre. The Roman character of the city was further reinforced by purposefully built construction projects which were used as political instruments.

When the Apostle Paul preaced between 52 and 55 CE at Ephesus, he was confronted not only by an active pagan cult, but also by a livey Jewish community. As a result of a rebellion led by the silversmith Demetrios, Paul left the city in order to resume his missionary activities in ancient Corinth.

Ephesus reached its zenith during the second century CE. Numerous monuments provide witness to this glorious era; private donations by affluent citizens served the public welfare as well as their own personal commemoration. After 230 CE, an obvious economic decline set in, for which a series of earthqakes, culminating in a catastrophic quake around causes. The Artemision was plundered and the temple itself was burnt down. Clear traces of this destruction are also visible in the city; rebuilding lasted several decades. Ephesos experiencd a final recovery only in the fifth century CE.

circa 400-1400 CE

Byzantine Ephesus
Ephesus retained its position as the seat of the provincial governor (proconsul Asiae) and thus also as a political and economic center even after the new organization of the Roman Empire by emperor Diocletian (284-305 CE). However, numerous earthqake disasters around the middle of the fourth century CE resulted in an economic decline from which the city only slowly recovered. With the help of imperial donations and tac exemptions the damage was successfully rapaired and the former prosperity gradually retaurned. This was manifested in the restoration and rebuilding of numerous public and private building. In addition, followng the religious edicts of Theodosius I (most importantly, the declaration of Christianity as the official state religion in 391 CE) a series of splendid churches was erected which changed the cityscape to the great extent.

Theologios His (Ayasoluk/today Selcuk) 2.5 kilometers away, increased the significance and developed into one of the most important pilgrimage cenes of the Byzantine period. During the course of the sevenh century CE, the basilica eventually took over the liturgical function of the Church of Mary and developed into the main church of the Ephesian archbishop. As the erection of the mighty fortification walls around the Byzantine to the newly created administrative unit, the seat of the (Thema) Thrakesion, the former metropolis of Asia did not lose its earlier primacy completely. The stationing of a legion in the city, given the increasing efforts at expansion by the Arabs during this period, was a necessity; in fact in circa 654/655 CE Ephesus was attacked by Mua'wiya, the journeys from an unsuccessful siege of Constantinople.

In the first half of the ninth century Ephesos is still described in the ancient sources as the largest fortified city of the military administrative unit, the (Thema) Thrakesion. In 890 CE it lost its political and military supremacy in favour of Samos and shorlty after of Smyrna/Izmir. This briefly sketched development did not, however mean that evidence suggests that Ephesos remained settled well into the 13th/14th century CE not however as a homogenous ciic entity but rather more as a scattered group of settlements.

Already in 1090 CE the Seljuk Prince Tengribirms was able to conquer Ephesos and Hagia Theologos (Ayasoluk), which however was soon re-conquered in 1096 by the general John Ducas after a battle not far from the Hagios Theologos Hill. First in 1304 CE the entire region was separated from the Byzantine Empire. The new rulers, the Aydinoglu Family, a Seljuk princely dynasty, were succeeded in the first half of the fifteenth century CE by the Ottoman Dynasty.