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 EPHESUS |
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Founded
by the early colonists in 11th century B.C., Ephesus
was taken over by the Romans in 133 B.C. that appointed the city as
the capital of the
Province
of
Asia
Minor.
It had well over 170.000 occupants at its heyday who were
accumulating great prosperity through trading activities. St.Paul
had spent two years preaching the word of God in
Ephesus,
and had to leave the city as the result of an uprising that was led
by a silversmith who gathered at its theater thousands of people
shouting for hours "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians"(Acts 19).
Referring to its Biblical History,
Ephesus
is the settlement where St.John had put down his gospel in words,
and where Virgin Mary is considered to have spent the last days of
her life with St.John. Today, as well as visiting the best-preserved
Roman
City
of the antiquity, one can tour the Basilica of St.John and the House
of Virgin Mary that are consecrated by the Pope. The great theater
with a capacity of 24.000 people, the
Temple
of
Hadrian,
and the colossal Library of Celsus are among those buildings in the
site about which you will comment as "Mind boggling".
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