I just finished another book about Ephesus, probably the best so far. It’s
St. Paul's Ephesus: Texts and Archaeology (2008) by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, longtime professor of New Testament at École Biblique, Jerusalem. He also authored the outstanding Oxford Press guidebook I used in the Holy Land, as well as other important historical works.
The book I just finished is divided into two major sections. The first lists everything said about Ephesus in antiquity by more than thirty authors—from Pausanias to Seneca to the writer of Luke’s Gospel. Murphy-O'Connor also adds his commentary full of helpful explanatory notes.
The second section takes readers for a walk through Ephesus in A.D. 50 as it would have appeared at the time of Paul, before the harbors silted up, the library (behind us in photo) was built, and Hadrian’s arch was erected. I could envision the malaria-breeding swamps, the magnificent temple of Artemis, the
agora (marketplace), the colonnaded streets, and the terrace houses with indoor plumbing nestled into the side of the hill. I could also taste its fish and mussels and hear the barking of vendors.
Why am I so interested in Ephesus, a city in present-day Turkey that laid in ruins for more than a thousand years? Because it is a key historical site. Cleopatra’s sister was murdered and buried there. Cleopatra and Mark Antony gathered their ships at one of Ephesus’s two harbors before their ill-fated battle at Actium. And it was the capital of Asia at one time.
Yet of even more interest is that Ephesus was a key location in New Testament times. The apostle Paul used it as his home base for more than two years, and from there he wrote a number of his New Testament letters. Also, after John’s (think: Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John; Revelation) exile on Patmos where he received the apocalyptic revelation, tradition says he moved to Ephesus to live out his days caring for the extremely aged Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Other key biblical locations such as Rome and Corinth have received a lot of attention from historians and archaeologists, but Ephesus has remained strangely neglected in comparison.
If you wonder why I didn't mention the New Testament Book of Ephesians, I actually don't think that book was written only to the church at Ephesus. The words "to the Ephesians" don't appear in the most reputable early manuscripts, and one early list of Paul's letters omits the letter to the Ephesians, but does mention a letter to the Laodiceans. (Ancient Laodicea was not far from Ephesus.) I think it was written to both. Considering that Paul lived in Ephesus and had many, many friends there, it's odd that the Book of Ephesians contains no greetings to anyone if he intended it for only that church. Yet the omission makes sense if he intended his letter to be read in more than one location.
In terms of personalities, Paul and John aren’t the only New Testament figures who lived in Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila, Paul’s partners in ministry and in the tent-and-awning business, relocated there sometime after Claudius threw the Jews out of Rome. And Timothy stayed in Ephesus after Paul left.
The city captured our imaginations when my husband and I visited there during our twenty-fifth anniversary cruise, and I still haven't gotten over it.
