Ephesus
Scripture first
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Paul reasons in the hall of Tyrannus for two years, and all Asia hears the word.
Ephesus was the first city of Roman Asia, with a great harbour, a theatre seating twenty-five thousand, and of Artemis, one of the wonders of the ancient world. Paul spent nearly three years there; John's Revelation later addresses it as a church that had kept its works and lost its first love.
The great port of Asia Minor: Paul's longest stay, the temple of Artemis, the Ephesian letter, and the first church of Revelation.
- Ephesus
- Ruins near Selçuk · Turkey
Ephesus stood where the Cayster river met the Aegean, the sea end of Asia's trade roads. The riot of Acts 19 was an economic event: the gospel threatened the shrine trade, because the shrine was the city's economy.
- Acts 19:8-10 Paul reasons in the hall of Tyrannus for two years, and all Asia hears the word.
- Acts 19:23-34 The silversmiths' riot in the theatre, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians
- Acts 20:17-38 Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders at Miletus
- Ephesians 1:1 The letter to the saints at Ephesus
- Revelation 2:1-5 You have abandoned the love you had at first
What we know
Certain
- Ephesus's theatre, library and Artemis temple site are excavated and match Luke's account, including inscriptions naming the city as the temple's keeper.