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Ephesus Facts & Worksheets

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometers southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey.

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Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometers southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists.

See the fact file below for more information on the Ephesus or alternatively, you can download our 20-page Ephesus worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

DESCRIPTION

  • Ephesus is located near the western shores of modern-day Turkey, where the Aegean Sea meets the former estuary of the River Kaystros, about 80 kilometers south of Izmir, Turkey.
  • According to legend, the Ionian prince Androclos founded Ephesus in the eleventh century BC. The legend says that as Androclos searched for a new Greek settlement, he turned to the Delphi oracles for guidance.
  • The oracles told him a boar and a fish would show him the new location. One day, as Androclos was frying fish over an open fire, a fish flopped out of the frying pan and landed in the nearby bushes.
  • A spark ignited the bushes and a wild boar ran out. Recalling the oracles’ wisdom, Androclos built his new settlement where the bushes stood and called it Ephesus.

HISTORY

  • Ephesus entered history in the mid-7th century BC, when it was attacked by the Cimmerians.
  • Unlike its neighbor, Magnesia, it survived the attacks. For part of the early 6th century, the city was under tyrants.
  • Though allied by marriage to the kings of Lydia, its people could not hold back the Lydian Croesus, who asserted a general suzerainty over the city.
  • He did, however, present many columns and some golden cows for a new and splendid rebuilding of the Artemisium (Temple of Artemis).

TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS

  • Much of Ephesus’ ancient history is unrecorded and sketchy. What is known is that in the seventh century BC, Ephesus fell under the rule of the Lydian Kings and became a thriving city where men and women enjoyed equal opportunities. It was also the birthplace of renowned philosopher Heraclitus.
  • The Lydian King Croesus, who ruled from 560 BC to 547 BC, was most famous for funding the rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, chastity, childbirth, wild animals, and the wilderness.
  • Artemis was also one of the most revered Greek deities. Modern-day excavations have revealed that three smaller Artemis temples preceded the Croesus temple.
  • In 356 BC, a crazed man named Herostratus burned down the Temple of Artemis. The Ephesians rebuilt the temple even bigger. It was estimated to be four times larger than the Parthenon and became known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
  • The temple was later destroyed and never rebuilt. Little remains of it today, although some of its remnants reside in the British Museum, including a column with Croesus’ signature.

LYSIMACHUS

  • In 546 BC, Ephesus fell to the Persian Empire, along with the rest of Anatolia. Ephesus continued to thrive even as other Ionian cities rebelled against Persian rule.
  • In 334 BC, Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and entered Ephesus. Upon his death in 323 BC, one of his generals, Lysimachus, took over the city and renamed it Arsiniega.
  • Lysimachus moved Ephesus two miles away and built a new harbor and new defensive walls. The Ephesian people, however, wouldn’t relocate and remained in their homes until Lysimachus forced them to move.
  • In 281 BC, Lysimachus was killed at the Battle of Corupedium and the city was named Ephesus again.
  • In 263 BC, Ephesus fell under Egyptian rule along with much of the Seleucid Empire. The Seleucid king Antiochus III took back Ephesus in 196 BC; however, after being defeated at the Battle of Magnesia six years later, Ephesus fell under Pergamon rule.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH

  • The history of archaeological research in Ephesus dates back to 1863 when British engineer John Turtle Wood began searching for the remains of the Temple of Artemis. Six years later, he succeeded in identifying its location and then dedicated five years to the excavations in this area.
  • The next round of archaeological work in Ephesus took place from 1895 to 1913 and was conducted by German and Austrian archaeologists under the direction of Otto Benndorf and Carl Humann. In 1898, Benndorf founded the Austrian Archaeological Institute, which has been conducting archaeological studies in Ephesus ever since.
  • The finds from Ephesus are scattered in many museums around the world. The most impressive collections of objects found in Ephesus are in Ephesus Museum in Selçuk, Ephesus Museum in Vienna and the British Museum in London.

Ephesus Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Ephesus Plan across 20 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Ephesus worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Ephesus which was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometers southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Ephesus in Turkey Facts
  • Ephesus Facts
  • Ephesus Timeline
  • Prince Androclos and Lysimachus
  • Good or Trash?
  • Learn More About Ephesus
  • My Ephesus!
  • See, Think, Wonder
  • Ephesus Puzzle
  • Learning About Turkey
  • Latest Info!

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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