THE SITE OF ANCIENT EPHESUS.

THE city of Ephesus was built chiefly upon the slopes of two mountains, Prion and Coressus. The city wall, which is attributed to Lysimachus, can even now be traced for nearly its whole length, as it follows the lofty and jagged edge of Mount Prion, which bounds the city on the south side, and thence runs down westward to within a few yards of the mountain stream which falls into the Cayster near the canal, then crossing the extremity of Mount Prion, and turning eastward, it encloses the ancient fort, commonly, but erroneously, called ‘St Paul’s Prison” From this point, dipping down the rocky steep on which the fort stands, it runs to the edge of the canal near the city port, and here was the gate through which the city was entered from the sea. The wall is again to be seen on the north side of the port at its eastern extremity, and is continued northward for some distance, then again turning eastward towards the Coressian gate, and skirting Mount Coressus at some height up its side, till it reaches the Magnesian gate, from which it makes a circuit enclosing the large chalk mound between the gate and Mount Prion. The wall is fortified for its whole length by massive loopholed towers, some of which are not ‘more than a hundred feet apart. Near some of these towers are the remains of the flight of stone steps, six feet wide, which led up to the top of the wall; several sally-ports, four feet wide, still remain. One or two large rock-cut cisterns also exist on a levelled area near the wall-on the highest part of the mountain; these doubtless supplied the garrison with water.

The summit of Mount Prion commands a beautiful panorama. To the south-west is seen the well-cultivated island of Samos and the mainland beyond. Westward is the open sea, bounded by an irregular coast-line made historically interesting by the site of the ancient city of Colophon, and the cave of the famous oracle of Claros. Northward the city of Ephesus with its massive ruins lies at your feet; the plain (T-shaped) is watered by four rivers, three of which have ever-changing beds, and is bounded on all sides, excepting westward, by mountains. In the distance is seen the picturesque Tmolus range, | which carries the eye far away to the extreme distance where often sky and mountain blend.

The true site of the temple has now been proved to be to the north-east of the city, and nearly a mile from the nearest city-gate, as described by Pausanias and other ancient writers; but there was no mound to mark the exact site.

In the city there are many remains of ancient buildings: of these may be mentioned the Great Theatre on the west side, and the Odeum, or Lyric Theatre, on the south side of Mount Coressus. The Great Gymnasium, another large gymnasium near the Magnesian gate. A large building in the forum near the Great Theatre, which was probably the Prytaneum. It was probably in this building that Mark Antony was sitting in the judgmentseat, when he saw Cleopatra passing by, and hastened out to join her. The Stadium was built on the north side of Mount Coressus, and near the Coressian gate. This was 850 feet long, and included a theatre at the east end. On the opposite side of the road which passed in front of the Stadium stood the Serapion on a rocky mound. Its rock-cut altar and quadrangle surrounded by cells remind one forcibly of the Serapion at Pozzuoli near Naples. To the north of the Stadium are extensive ruins of a large building which I partly explored; this was probably the Tyrant’s Palace. The substructure contained apartments similar to those in Caligula’s palace at Rome, which were occupied by the guard and other palace officials.

On the south side of the Agora are the remains of a beautiful Roman hexastyle temple of marble, with monolithic fluted columns nearly forty feet in length. Of the | domestic buildings of the city nothing remains but the vaulted substructures on which they were raised; many of these still exist on the slopes of Mount Prion.