EPHESUS SELCUK IZMIR TURKEY

The town located on the western edge of the Aegean Region of Turkey, Iies 73 kilometers south of 3 izmir-Aydin highway, and 9 kilometers east of Pamucak, which is on the seashore and natural sandy beaches and crystal clear waters Selçuk has an area of 295 square The region enjoys a typical Mediterranean climate. The cultivation of cotton, olives, grapes ruits is the driving force in the economy, in addition to the tourism industry. The town can it 1 0,000 visitors. Selçuk can be reached by air either via the Adnan Menderes Airport at Izmir, or by Selcuk -Efes Airfield. The ports at Kusadasi and izmir facilitate sea travel. Because of its locaation on a major highway, the bus connections are frequent and direct. Selçuk also inections to the neighbouring cities and towns.Selcuk, the beginning of whose history date back to 6000 B.C., is an important center for three 11 of which spread throughout the world. it was first center of pagan worship in the world of antiquity.

The Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the world, is a good example of this. Christianity was disseminated from Selçuk by St. John and his disciples. The Church of the Virgin Mary, the Church oi St. John, and the Tomb of St. John are important buildings from this period. The Isa Bey Mosque is a significant example of architecture from the Islamic era. The famous Camel Wrestling Festival takes place on the third weekend of January each year, and the Selçuk-Ephesus Festival of Culture, Art and Tourism is held in the first week oi each September.

APASAS – EPHESUS - SELCUK : Ephesus, one of the most famous cities in antiquity , was founded on the harbour where the Küçük Menderes (Kaistros) River flowsJnto the sea. Selçuk grew to be an important city bec\luse of its fertile fields well-suited to agriculture, because of its Iocation at the center of an important commercial crossroads with connections to the East, and because it was a significant religious center both in the polytheist period and the Christian era. Many famous historical figures Iived in Ephesus, such as Artemidorus, who wrote an important work on the interpretation of dreams; poets such as Kallinos and Hipponax; the physicians Soranus and Rufus; the philosopher Heracleitus, the painter Parrhesius and the grammarian Zenodotos. The artifacts recently found at the huyuks (mounds) at Arvalya and Çukuriçi demonstrate that the history oi Ephesus dates back to 6000 B.C., the Chalcolithic Period. Excavationsat the Ayasuluk Hill brought to Iight a settlement from the Early Bronze Age. Thus ancient Ephesus was first Iocated on the Ayasuluk Hill. it was first settled by the Hittite and Anatolian tribes, for Ephesus is mentioned in Hittite cuneiform tablets under the name of Apassas. The Ancierit geographers Strabo and Pausanias, the poet Kallinos, and the historian Herodotus claim that Ephesus was founded by Amazons, and that the native tribes of the area were the Carians and the Lelegians. Like colonists elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin, Androklos and his men arrived in Anotolia around 1050 B.C and settled Ephesus and its vicinity. Destroying the Temple of Artemis, the Cimmerians attacked this colony in the seventh century B.C. In 560 B.C., under the sovereignty of Lydia, the Ephesians began to inhabit the area around the Temple of Artemis. The ancient city of Ephesus whose ruins are visible today was established by Lysimachos, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, in 300 B.C. The city of Ephesus moved back to the Ayasuluk Hill, where had been its earliest settlement, during the Byzantine period. The Turks conquered the city in 1304 and it became thereafter a part of the Ottoman territories. The city name of Ayasuluk was changed to Selçuk in 1914. For a period after the War 01 Turkish Independence, 1he city was called Akincilar. In 1957, Selçuk became a city within the province of izmir.


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