7. Modem Remains. — The ruins of Ephesus lie two short daj's' journey from Smyrna, in proceeding from which towards the south-east the traveller passes the pretty village of Sedekuy ; and two hours and a half onwards he comes to the ruined village of Danizzi, on a wide, solitary, uncultivated plain, beyond which sev- eral burial-grounds maj' be observed ; near one of these, on an eminence, are the supposed ruins of Ephe- sus, consisting of shattered walls, in which some pil- lars, architraves, and fragments of marble have been built. The soil of the plain appears rich. It is cov- ered with a rank, burnt-up vegetation, and is every- where deserted and solitary, though bordered by pic- turesque mountains. A few corn-fields are scattered along the site of the ancient city, which is marked In-- some large masses of shapeless ruins and stone walls. Towards the sea extends tlie ancient port, a pestilen- tial marsh. Along the slope of the mountain and over
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the plain are scattered fragments of masonry and de- tached ruins, but nothing can now be fixed upon as the great temple of Diana. There are some broken columns and cai)itals of the Corinthian order of white marhle : there are also ruins of a theatre, consisting of some circular seats and numerous arches, supposed to be the one in which Taul was preaching when in- terrupted hy shouts of "(ireat is Diana of the Ephe- sians." The ruins of this theatre present a wreck of innnense grandeur, and the original must have been of the largest and most imposing dimensions. Its form alone can now he spoken of, for ever}' seat is removed, and the proscenium is a hill of ruins. A splendid cir- cus (Fellows's Reports, p. 275) or stadium remains toler- abh' entire, and there are numerous piles of buildings, seen alike at Pergamus and Troj' as well as here, by some called gymnasia, by others temples; by others again, with more propriet}', palaces. They all came with the Koman conquest. No one but a Roman em- peror could have conceived such structures. In Italy they have parallels in Adrian's villa near Tivoli, and perhaps in the pile upon the Palatine. Manj^ other walls remain to show the extent of the buildings of the city, but no inscription or ornament is to be found, cities having been built out of this quarry of worked marble. The ruins of the adjoining town, which arose about four hundred years ago, are entirely composed of materials from Ephesus. There are a few huts witliin these ruins (about a mile and a half from Ephe- sus), which still retain the name of the parent city, Asuluk — a Turkish word, which is associated with the same idea as Ephesus, meaning the City of the Moon (Fellows). A church dedicated to St. John is thought to have stood near, if not on the site of the present mosque. Arundell (^Discoveries, ii, 253) conjectures that the gate, called the Gate of Persecution, and large matses of brick wall which lie bej^ond it, are parts of this celebrated church, which was fortified during the great Council of Ephesus. The tomb of St. John was in or under his church, and the Greeks have a tradi- tion of a sacred dust arising ever}' year, on his festival, from the tomb, possessed of miraculous virtues : this dust they term manna. Not far from the tomb of St. John was that of Timothj'. The tomb of Mary and the seven Tvaicia {boys, as the Sunaxaria calls the Seven Sleepers) are found in an adjoining hill. At the back of the mosque, on the hill, is the sunk ground- plan of a small church, still much venerated by the Greeks. The sites of two others are shown at Asaluk. There is also a building, called the Prison of St. Paul, constructed of large stones without cement. The sit- uation of the temple is doubtful, but it probably stood where certain large masses remain on the low ground, full in view of the theatre. The disappearance of the temple ma}' easily be accounted for, partly by the rising of the soil, and partly by the incessant use of I its materials for medifeval buildings. Some of its col- : umns are said to be in St. Sophia at Constantinople, and even in the cathedrals of Italy.
Tlmugh Ephesus presents few traces of human life, , and little but scattered and mutilated remains of its ancient grandeur, }et the environs, diversified as they arc with hill and dale, and not scantily supplied with wood and water, present many features of great beau- ! ty. Arundell (ii, 244) enumerates a great variety of j trees, which he saw in the neighborhood, among which I may be specified groves of myrtle near Ephesus. He j also found heath in abundance, of two varieties, and i saw there the connuon fern, which he met with in no other part of Asia IMlnor. Dr. Chandler (p. 150, 4to) gives a striking description of E])hesus, as he found it i on his visit in 1764 : " Its population consisted of a few Greek peasants, living in extreme wretchedness, de- 1 pendence, and insensibility, the representatr\"es of an ] illustrious people, and inhaJiiting the wreck of their greatness — some the substructure of the glorious edi- fices which they raised ; some beneath the vaults of I