After staying in Corinth for a year and a half teaching the people the word of God, Paul left and sailed across the Aegean Sea to Ephesus.
Corinth was a large affluent bustling city, and the capital for the Roman province of Achaia. Ephesus was likewise a large affluent bustling city, and the capital for the Roman territory of Asia Minor.
“Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers [Christians] and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. … They arrived at Ephesus …” – Acts 18:18-19
Although not specifically mentioned, it is likely that Silas and Timothy also traveled with Paul to Ephesus.
Here in this photo below, we are standing on the hillside of Ephesus looking out over what used to be the sea. The reason Ephesus became such an important prominent city is because it was a port city, located on the sea. Ephesus was the western-most end of trade routes coming overland across Türkiye [Asia Minor] from Egypt and Persia. At Ephesus, goods could be loaded onto ships and transported across the Mediterranean to Greece and Rome. And vice-versa.
However, the sea where Ephesus was located had been slowly filling up with silt over hundreds of years, gradually pushing the deep waters further and further out. At the time Paul and his traveling companions arrived in Ephesus, a manmade harbor served the city, connected to the open water by a canal. In the photo below, the highlighted area is where the harbor of Ephesus used to be. The harbor and channel were regularly dredged and cleared of silt, so that sea travel could continue.
In looking at the above photo, we have to imagine everything out in the distance, all the way over to the far hills, was water rather than land. Although the area was silting in when Paul was here, it was still water, and not yet the land that we see today.
Below is a view of the Puget Sound where I live to help us picture in our minds what the view from Ephesus would have looked like. Ephesus was a port city … on the water. And although the water wasn’t deep enough for large ships, Ephesus was still nonetheless on the water, with endless water views stretching far away to the distant hills.
Back to modern day … here is the modern-day view once more. And just like the blue waters in the above photo, we’ve got to imagine water just like that stretching far away to those distant hills. The harbor of Ephesus is on the left (as was highlighted above) and the ruins of the lower city of Ephesus can be seen in the center of the photo.
Just like any modern port city, imagine the sea gulls circling overhead … and calling out with their distinctive calls. Imagine the smell of the sea breeze blowing in off the water. Imagine the creak of ships in the harbor.
Imagine the water lapping against the boats and the pilings. Imagine the creak of rope as boats strain at their moorings.
Imagine the cacophony of languages as ships arrive from far flung places all over the Roman Empire. Instead of huge cargo ships bringing Toyota & Honda vehicles all the way across the Pacific to unload at the port in my city where I live … the port in Ephesus had rare and valuable silk and spices from the far East unloaded. Amphoras of wine, cotton from Egypt, grain and timber from the Black Sea region, ceramics, most-likely even glassware.
Imagine the lorries and semi’s – which would have been carts and horses in that day – pulling up to the docks to be loaded or unloaded. The shouts and calls of the dock workers to each other. The snorting and pawing of the horses. The “THUMP” of heavy loads landing on wooden carts. The creak of wagon wheels rolling over marble paving stones.
This was Ephesus.
This was where Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, and probably Silas and Timothy stepped ashore.
To help us imagine what the harbor of Ephesus might have looked like here is a nice view of the harbor at San Diego. I liked this photo because all the ships floating in the harbor are sailboats … which would match what the ships at Ephesus would have been like during Paul’s day.
Here you can see the Harbor Road of Ephesus stretching far out to the distance where the harbor used to be. Far out there in the distance, Paul arrived in Ephesus. The Harbor Road was wide and paved with marble (as you can see). All along both sides were pillared colonnades with shops.
The Harbor Road stretched 1/3 mile from the city out to the harbor.
To help us imagine what the Harbor Road might have been like as Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, Silas and Timothy walked from the harbor up towards the city, here are a few photos of modern-day bazaars. Notice the crowds! Imagine the noise and cacophony of languages. Imagine the voices of vendors and merchants calling out to sell their products.
While I doubt there were metal pans and metal tea kettles for sale among the shops of Ephesus, we can imagine the pots and pans being pottery.
No doubt there were piles of fragrant spices and piles of dried fruits for sale along the Harbor Road of Ephesus.
As Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, Silas and Timothy walked up the marble-paved Harbor Road towards the city amidst the jumble of carts & horses and crowds of people, what did they see?
The Great Theater of Ephesus. Impressive isn’t it!
The Great Theater of Ephesus could seat 25,000 people. Typically, Roman theaters were built to hold about 10% of a city’s population … therefore it can be estimated that Ephesus might have had around 250,000 people living here.
As you can see in the photo below, the Harbor Road terminates at the Great Theater. From here, travelers arriving to the city would turn right and cross the great open space of the Agora.
But first let’s take a pause, to look one last time back down the Harbor Road from where we just came.
Turning to cross the great open space of the Agora we can now see the hillsides which the city of Ephesus was built into. From our modern-day perspective it just looks like a tranquil green forested hillside. But underneath the ground … houses, homes, buildings of Ephesus lie buried.
Affluent, wealthy homes were built in layered terraces all up the hillsides, giving residents fantastic stunning views of the sea. And no doubt fresh breezes blowing in off the water.
Notice the pile of column pillars lying neatly in the above photo. The Agora of Ephesus was surrounded by covered colonnades, which housed shops and market stalls. A great open area was in the center.
The Agora was the main shopping center / marketplace of Ephesus. To help us imagine what the Agora of Ephesus might have been like, here are a few photos of modern-day markets.
No doubt there were fish stalls in the Agora of Ephesus. (though I don’t think they had ice for their fish back then) And no doubt the fish sellers were skilled at tossing their fish around, just like today.
Being a port city, there must have been a wide variety of seafood available for purchase at the Agora of Ephesus.
Obviously there would have been many fruit/vegetable stalls at the Agora of Ephesus. This would have been where the people of Ephesus purchased their food each day. Paul no doubt purchased his fruits/vegetables at the Agora.
And being a prominent city located on major trade routes, the stalls of the Agora at Ephesus probably had rare fruits from far-away places.
I’m pretty sure the Agora at Ephesus would have had flowers for sale. How could there not have been flower vendors?
Crossing in front of the Great Theater, headed towards the main gate of the city, this would have been the view looking out across the open area of the Agora.
Somewhere on the other side of these pillared colonnades, back behind the shops and stalls of the Agora … somewhere back there in that general area is where the synagogue of Ephesus was once located.
Our tour guide who toured us around Ephesus has spent the past 30 years working as a Classical Archaeologist. He has done much excavation work at Ephesus … and he informed us that the synagogue has just recently been discovered. Starting in Summer 2026 he and a team will begin unearthing and excavating the synagogue. How cool is that!
“Paul left the brothers [Christians in Corinth] and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. … They arrived at Ephesus … He [Paul] went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.” – Acts 18:18-19
Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, and Silas and Timothy probably arrived in Ephesus with not much more than the clothes on their backs. Maybe a rucksack full of a few personal belongings. Considering that Aquila & Priscilla were tentmakers, they might have had their ground loom with them.
As I was searching through my photos for the photos of the bazaars and markets (which I shared above) I came across this photos from one of the many times my family has moved. Here you can see I am trying to get the kitchen unpacked and set up. Plates, bowls, dishes, casserole pans, silverware, drinking glasses, juice glasses, coffee mugs, etc. … That is a lot of stuff!
Paul, Aquila & Priscilla, Silas and Timothy didn’t have anything like that. They didn’t show up in Ephesus with a U-Haul full of personal belongings. They showed up with basically nothing.
And they changed the world!
The city of Ephesus was turned inside out (so to speak) by the message of the Gospel that this small band of travelers came to share.
The same thing is true when it comes to our own lives. It doesn’t matter how much stuff we have. We too can make a radical difference in our sphere of influence by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ just like they did.
Welcome to Ephesus!
