Ancient City of Ephesus to be Nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List

Teresa Neumann : Jun 14, 2010
Staff - Archaeology News

"It was the second largest city of the Roman Empire for many years, ranking only behind Rome, the empire's capital."

(Turkey)—A report in Archaeology News says Turkey's Ministry of Culture is taking steps to nominate the ancient Greek city of Ephesus to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

According to the report: "Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near the present-day town of Selçuk in Turkey's Izmir Province. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era, and later, in the Roman period, it was the second largest city of the Roman Empire for many years, ranking only behind Rome, the empire's capital. The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World."

Amazingly, what the report failed to mention is that over 2 billion Christians (composing the world's largest religion) value the ruins of Ephesus because of its great Biblical history. The apostle Paul ministered there for three years, wrote a letter to the Ephesians which became Scripture, and the early Church's third ecumenical council was held there in 431 A.D.

For that reason alone, Ephesus should be a protected site.