Ephesus | Biblical Sites | Walk With Jesus

Ephesus is one of the best-preserved ancient cities anywhere, excavated since the 1860s and still worked by the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Its reconstructed Library of Celsus, its great theater seating roughly 25,000, and the marble streets and terraced houses give a vivid picture of a major Greco-Roman port and provincial capital. Nearby stood the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, of which only fragments and a single reassembled column now remain. The New Testament places the apostle Paul here for about three years, and Acts 19 sets a riot of Artemis silversmiths in this very theater; Ephesus is also the first of the seven churches addressed in Revelation. Archaeology confirms the city, its theater, and the Artemis cult that the biblical account presupposes.

Where it is: Selçuk, İzmir Province, western Turkey (Aegean coast)
Scripture: Acts 19 · 1 Corinthians 15:32 · Ephesians 1:1 · Revelation 2:1-7

What the evidence confirmsThe theater, the Artemis cult, and a wealthy Roman-era Ephesus are all archaeologically attested — the physical setting Acts 19 describes existed as described.

What it does not proveNo excavation confirms the riot itself or Paul's specific activities; those are the New Testament's account. The Artemis temple's Seven-Wonders grandeur is real, but the biblical narrative around it is literary testimony, not an excavated event.

Sources & further reading