Bible Lexicons

Ἔφεσος, Ἐφέσου, ἡ, Ephesus, a maritime city of Asia Minor, capital of Ionia and, under the Romans of proconsular Asia (see Ἀσία), situated on the Icarian Sea between Smyrna and Miletus. Its chief splendor and renown came from the temple of Artemis, which was reckoned one of the wonders of the world. It was burned down by Herostratus, rebuilt at the common expense of Greece under the supervision of Deinocrates (Pausanias, 7, 2, 6f; Livy 1, 45; Pliny, h. n. 5, 29 (31); 36, 14 (21)), and in the middle of the third century after Christ utterly destroyed by the Goths. At Ephesus the apostle Paul founded a very flourishing church, to which great praise is awarded in Revelation 2:1ff The name of the city occurs in Acts 18:19, 21, 24; Acts 19:1, 17, 26; Acts 20:16; 1 Corinthians 15:32; 1 Corinthians 16:8; Ephesians 1:1 (where ἐν Ἐφέσῳ is omitted by the Sinaiticus manuscript and other ancient authorities (bracketed by T WH Tr marginal reading; see WHs Appendix at the passage; B. D. American edition under the word Ephesians, The Epistle to the)); 1 Timothy 1:3; 2 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 4:12; Revelation 1:11, and (according to G L T Tr WH) . Cf. Zimmermann, Ephesus im 1. christl. Jahrh., Jena 1874; (Wood, Discoveries at Ephesus (1877)).