Ephesus Ancient City 4

Definition of Settlement in Ephesus Ancient  City

Epehsus Ancient City remains have been preserved in the Çukuriçi Höyük, located in the southern part of the late Ephesus antique city, from the Prehistoric Period dating back to the 7th millennium BC. This early settlement was abandoned after its destruction. The next use of the settlement as much as it is now is dated to the mid-4th millennium BC about 1,500 years later. The mound should have been uninterruptedly settled for the Early Bronze Age, where it was abandoned, until 2500 BC. Çukuriçi Höyük is one of the oldest settlements in the whole region, not only around Ephesus. Moreover, the position of Anatolian and Aegean cultural regions in the region has enabled Ephesus to have an indispensable comprehensive relationship and contacts for many of the developments that preceded mankind.

In 2008, on the northeastern side of Panayırdağ, there was a residential area surrounded by mounds. Five residential buildings were partially excavated. These constructions are the first Classical Period houses researched in Ephesus. The most striking finding is a partially well-preserved fortification wall covering a 9-hectare habitat. On the rather steep slope to the north is the stone god of the Goddess Meter. There was a port on the north-west where a natural sheep could still be seen on the slope. The Classical-Early Hellenistic settlement in Panayırdağ was destroyed and abandoned around 300 BC, exactly the same as the city founded by Lysimakhos.

Most of the monuments and structures belonging to the Greco-Roman period of the city were preserved in Ephesus. In 300 BC, under the rule of King Lysimakhos, the city is surrounded by the wall of the Hellenistic Period. City walls are continued for 3 km on the Bülbüldağ, where it is particularly well preserved from the sea to the east.

The Hellenistic city has a rectangular grid plan. At the top of the city is the Tetragonos Agora with religious centers, the State Agora containing the main public and administrative monuments, and the major commercial bazaar in the lower part. There are also monumental structures, such as the Great Theater, which dates back to the Hellenistic Revolution but is completely reconstructed during the Roman Imperial period. Natural cove of Ephesus has been converted to bay by Attalos,  King of Pergamum II  before the 2nd century AD.