In the year of
10 BC, Androclos, the son of King of
Athens-Kodros, was searching a
location for establishing a site. Androclos belonged to
Akhas, was running from the Dor invasion in Greece. He was leading one of the migration convoys. It was predicted by an
Apollon oracle that a fish and a boar would show the location of the new settlement. Days later, parallel to the oracle’s prediction, while frying, a fish fell down from the pan, irritating a hiding boar behind the bushes. The feared boar escaped immediately.
Androclos followed the boar and established the city of
Ephesus, where he had killed the boar. When Androclos died in the wars with
Carians, a mausoleum was built to the memory of the first king of Ephesus. The mausoleum is considered to be placed around "The Gate of
Magnesia".
Ephesus was ruled by the Lydian king, Kreisos, in the mid
6BC. The city reached the "Golden Age" and became a good model to the
Antic World in culture and art, as well. As the detailed excavations have not completed yet, apart from the
Artemis, the remains of that age haven’t been revealed. Later,
Ephesus was dominated by Persians. As
Ephesians did not join the "Ionian
Rebellion" against Persians, the city was saved from destruction. The rebellion resulted in the loss of Persian.
Alexander the Great won
Persians and the Ionian cities got their independence in the year of 334.
Ephesus was in great prosperity during the times of
Alexander the Great Until the arrival of Alexander the Great,
Ephesus was consisted of two governing systems, democratic and oligarchic. But the
oligarchic system was violated with the coming of a new ruler, and a rebellion existed in Ephesus.
The Temple of Artemis was fired and destroyed by the supporters of oligarchy in 356BC.But it is believed that a madman known as
Herostratus set fire to the temple in order to make his name immortal on the same night in Macedonia Alexander the Great was born. As the temple became unusable,
Alexander the Great proposed for repairing. But the
Ephesians delicately refused for the reason that "A God can not built a temple for
another God.".So Alexander who was very proud of himself as a God, gave some special priviledges to the city. An
Ephesian architect, Dinocrates restored the Temple of Artemis. After the death of
Alexander the Great, Ephesus was ruled by the general of him,
Lysimakhos, in 287 BC. Lysimakhos decided to change the prior location of
Ephesus to further west, due to the destruction of the port by the
alluviums, and the inhabitants were forced to settle in the new place named "Arsinoeina", the name of Lysimakhos’ wife. The city was surrounded by wide stone walls in 10 meters height and 9 meters length. And, "Arsinoeina" was changed into "Ephesus" again, to be forgotten eternally. |