the chief city of Ionia, in Asia Minor, on the south side, and near the mouth of the river Caster (now called Kutchec Menderé, or Lesser Maeander), was 320 stadia, or forty miles, to the south of Smyrna, and 540, or three days' journey, from Sardis, the capital of Lydia. It was situated at the extremity of a rich and beautiful plain, called Campus Cilbianus, through which the river flowed, and which still retains its former character, after centuries of Turkish oppression. Ephesus was originally founded by the Leleges and Carianos, who were compelled to make way for an Ionian colony led by Androclus, son of Codrus. The inhabitants continued to be distributed over the neighbouring district until the reign of Croesus (560 to 546 B.C.), when, being attacked by that prince, they are said to have dedicated their city to Diana, by fastening a rope from their walls to the temple of the goddess. They gradually deserted the ancient site, and approached the position of the sacred temple, where they are said to have continued until the time of Alexander the Great (330 B.C.). Lysimachus having obtained possession of the city (302 B.C.), compelled the inhabitants, by inundating the ancient site, to remove higher up to a spot which he surrounded with walls. We find that it was delivered over to the kings of Pergamus by the Romans, after the defeat of Antiochus (190 B.C.); and amidst all the changes of government which subsequently took place, Ephesus continued to increase in riches and prosperity, being in the time of Strabo (24 B.C.) the emporium of Asia. It was considered by the Romans as the first of the three chief cities of Asia, the two others being Smyrna and Pergamus; and in the later divisions of the country under the Christian emperors, we are told by Hierocles that it was the capital of the important provinces of Asia. Ephesus was lost to the empire at an earlier period than the other parts of Western Asia. Some time before the commencement of the Crusades (1095 A.D.), a chief of the Saracens made himself master of Ephesus; but the crusaders restored it to its ancient master. In the fourteenth century it fell into the hands of a prince of Caramania named Sasan; and from this time it ceased to belong to the Greek empire. It still, however, continued to exist down even to the time of Timur or Tamerlane (1370 A.D.), who for a considerable period had a camp under its walls, and who is supposed to have destroyed it, as he did many other cities.

Ephesus was more particularly celebrated on account of the temple of Diana, which, according to Pausanias, existed even before the arrival of the Ionians. Its architect was Chersiphron of Cos, assisted by his son Metagenes; and as the ground on which the temple was erected was marshy, it is said that he obtained a firm foundation by means of heaps of charcoal and wool, packed closely together in sacks. It was the only temple in Asia which escaped the doom pronounced against them by Xerxes on his return from Greece (480 B.C.); but it was burnt to the ground 356 B.C. by a madman named Eratosthenes, who is said to have taken this method of immortalizing his name. This event took place the very night on which Alexander the Great was born; and the temple seems to have remained in ruins till that monarch offered to restore it, on condition that he should be declared the founder. This proposal, however, the Ephesians declined to accept, cunningly soothing the wounded vanity of the hero by saying, "that it was beneath the dignity of one god to erect a temple to another." Having collected sufficient funds amongst themselves and their neighbours, they entrusted its restoration to the architect Diocrates, who is reported to have conceived the extravagant project of forming a statue of Alexander out of Mount Athos. The new edifice was much larger, and constructed with more magnificence, than the original temple. It was 425 feet in length and 220 in breadth, with 227 pillars, each 60 feet in height. It is said to have been of the Ionic order of architecture. The interior was adorned with numerous pieces of sculpture by the celebrated Praxiteles. Thraso and Scopas were also employed in its decoration; and there was a picture in it by the celebrated Apelles. The statue of the goddess was more particularly the object of veneration, having been preserved in safety amidst all the vicissitudes to which the temple and city had been exposed. It was of wood, and, according to Pliny, was covered with some unctuous substance, to guard it from decay. The service of the temple was performed by priests called Megabyzus, who were eunuchs, and to whom were added a number of priestesses. The temple was an asylum for criminals of every description. Alexander extended the privilege to a stadium round the edifice; Mithridates fixed it at a bow-shot; and Antony doubled the distance, so that it included part of the town. It may easily be conceived that such a privilege must have been liable to great abuses; and in fact it became at last so dangerous to the peace of the city, that Augustus caused it to be abolished. It was seven stadia, or about an English mile, from the walls of the city; but no modern traveller seems yet to have discovered its remains. Pococke has indeed given a ground plan of what he considered as the temple; but his description by no means agrees with what is related of the seventh wonder of the world.

The ruins of Ephesus are seen half a mile from the Turkish village of Akiastrak, which seems to have risen about the middle of the fourteenth century. Chandler thus speaks of its present appearance: "Ephesus was situated by the mountains which are the southern boundary of the plain, and comprehended within its walls a portion of Mount Prion and of Corissus. Mount Prion is a circular hill; Corissus a single lofty ridge, extending northward from near Mount Pactyas, and approaching Prion, then making an elbow, and running westerly towards the sea. We entered Ephesus from Akiastrak, with Mount Prion, and the exterior lateral wall of a stadium which fronted the sea, on our left hand. We measured the area, and found it 687 feet long. The vestiges of the theatre alluded to in the Acts of the Apostles, which was very capacious, are farther on in the side of whilst describing their judicial powers, that they decided civil causes, but that the council presided over all capital crimes. It appears therefore that the court of ephori gave judgment respecting civil duties and property. The Periæci and Helots, when they were in Sparta, were also under its jurisdiction. But the ephori gradually extended their authority; and it seems to have been the usual course of events in Greece, that the civil courts should enlarge their influence, whilst the power of the criminal courts was continually on the decline.

The circumstance which seems principally to have extended the jurisdiction of the ephori, was the privilege they enjoyed of instituting an inquiry into the official conduct of all magistrates, excepting that of councillors. We do not mean to say that this scrutiny always took place; but the ephori had it in their power to compel any magistrate to stand his trial, if they had remarked anything suspicious in his administration. The king was not exempted from this power, but bound to yield as implicit obedience as the lowest officer of the state. Thus we find Cleomenes tried for bribery before the Persian war. But it must not be supposed that the ephori could of themselves punish with death: they were only the accusers before a larger court, which consisted of all the councillors, of the ephori themselves, who seem to have acted both as accusers and judges, of the other king, and probably of several other magistrates, who had all equal votes. The ephori had only the power to impose fines, and to demand immediate payment. Thus Agesilaus was fined for endeavouring to make himself popular; whilst Archidamus was reprimanded for having married a wife of too small stature. Sometimes we find them punishing one man for having introduced money into the state, another for indolence, and a third for the most extraordinary reason, namely, that he was generally ill treated and insulted.

The ephori appear from very ancient times to have had a right to transact business with the popular assembly in preference to any other magistrates. They could convene the people and put the vote to them. They had great authority in transacting with foreign nations, admitting ambassadors, and dismissing them from the confines of the kingdom. In time of war they were empowered to send troops on whatever day they thought fit, and seem even to have been able to determine the number of men. The army was then entrusted to the king, or some other general, who received from them instructions how to act, and was even restrained in his proceedings by deputies whom the ephori sent to watch over him. The general could be recalled by the scytala, and their first duty was to visit the office of the ephori. It is impossible, however, to believe that the ephori could act by their own authority on such important occasions as these; they could only have been the agents and plenipotentiaries of the popular assembly. It must in fact have been the decrees of the people which they put in execution.

The office of the ephori was abolished by Cleomenes, but restored under the Roman dominion. (See Müller's Dorier, Breslau, 1824, t. ii. p. 111–129.)