Ephesus

   One of the great coastal cities ofAsia Minor (q.v.) in classical antiquity; capital of the Roman province of Asia. A flourishing seaport, as well as a center of commerce and finance, made it one of the most prosperous of the major cities along the Aegean (q.v.) coast. It was also among the most splendid in terms of its public monuments, including the long, colonnaded street with marble paving slabs that ran from the harbor to the theater. It had two famous churches, the Church of St. John, and the Church of the Virgin, the basilica (q.v.) where the Council of Ephesus (q.v.) met in 431. The so-called "Robber Council" (q.v.) met in Ephesus in 449. Around 614 the city suffered catastrophic destruction, probably by the Persians (q.v.), and/or by earthquake, from which it never fully recovered; entire areas of the city had to be abandoned, and they were never reoccupied. In the eighth century its size was still considerable enough to make it the largest city (and perhaps capital) of the theme of Thrakesion (qq.v.), and later part of the maritime theme of Samos (q.v.), perhaps indicating its role as a naval base. Its continuing commercial importance is seen in the regional fair held there in the eighth century. However, by the ninth century the harbor had silted up, and the city's population had shrunk to a settlement around the harbor, and to a strongly fortified area surrounding the Church of St. John. On this reduced scale it survived, and from about the 10th century onward it revived and prospered. In the mid-13th century it attracted the great teacher and writer Nikephoros Blemmydes (q.v.), whose pupils included George Akropolites and Theodore II Laskaris (qq.v.). In the early 14th century the city was threatened by the Catalan Grand Company, and by the Ottomans (qq.v.), who conquered it in 1304.