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.
