EPH'ESITS, one of the twelve Ionic cities of Asia Minor, was situated in Lydia, near the mouth of the river Caystrus, in the midst of an alluvial plain. It does. not appear to have been as old as the Trojan war, but its primitive history has been confused by myths. It bore a great variety of names at different times, the principal of which, besides E., were Ortygia and Ptelea. According to Strabo, it was founded by Androc lus, son of Codrus, and this is the most probable of the accounts which have come down to us, though others held to the tradition of its Amazonian origin. It was long before E. acquired any political importance, in spite of being a sacred city from an early period. Subdued first by the Lydian, and next by the Persian kings, it was included, after the death of Alexander the great, in the territories of Lysimachus (281 "Lc.), by whom it was greatly strengthened. Ultimately, it came into the possession of the Romans; and in the time of Augustus, when Strabo wrote, it was " the greatest place of trade of all the cities of Asia w. of the Taurus." This was also its condition when visited by St. Paul, who resided here three years; but the destruction of its great temple by the Goths, in 260 A.D., gave it a blow from which it never recovered. In 341, A.D., it was the scene of the third general council of the Christian church. Its general history, while a city of the Byzantine empire, was unimportant, and before the days of Tamerlane it had almost completely perished.—The ruins of E. comprise a stadium 687 ft. long, fragments of a great theater (alluded to in the account of St. Paul's preaching in the city), of an odeum or music-hall, and of various walls and towers, belonging to the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine eras. Near the western extremity of the town are also some massive structures, which have since 1868 been carefully excavated, some times from beneath 18 ft. of soil. It is now certain that these stand on the site of the
famous temple of Diana. This marvelous building, one of the seven wonders of the world, was originally built by Chersiphron; but after its destruction by Herostratus on the night (as is said) when Alexander the great was born (356 n.c.), it was rebuilt by the inhabitants in a style of greater splendor than before, the very women contributing their ornaments to secure the necessary funds; yet, notwithstanding this enthusiasm, more than 200 years elapsed before the new edifice was completely finished. It was the largest Greek temple ever constructed. Its length was 425 ft., its width 220, the num ber of its columns 128, of which 36 were carved, and their height 60 feet. It had an area more than four times that of the Parthenon at Athens, and even the Olympeium was only about two thirds as great. But even more wonderful than the temple itself were the numberless statutes and pictures which it contained, executed by the best masters of Greece. The altar of the goddess was principally adorned with the works of Praxiteles. Plundered of its treasures by Nero, and burned (as has been mentioned) by the Goths, it was most likely finally destroyed by the iconoclasts, in the reign of Theodosius I., who issued his celebrated edict against the ceremonies of the pagan relig ion 381 A.D. The site of E. is now occupied by some wretched villages, the principal of which is Ayasaluk.—Certain cabalistic words or sayings are said to have been inscribed on the figure of Diana, which being copied and carried about as charms, became known as Ephescelitorce (Mason's Anatomic of Sorcerie, 1612).