Falkener, Edward: Ephesus and the temple of Diana (London, 1862)

10 INTRODUCTION.

two that were found perfect, (though, alas! not
now so,) are still existing as flourishing and great
cities.

But our remarks, at present, are not with these
cities,—they are confined to the subject of illustra-
tion, the city of Ephesus. This city, the port of
Ionia, situated on the river Cayster, was, during
the whole period of classical antiquity, a place of
the highest importance. Owing to its favoured
situation, it became the mart of commerce of Asia
Minor, and here was exchanged the produce of
Greece and Egypt with that of the Persian empire
and inner Asia. The wealth of the town, arising
from such intercourse, exposed it to the covetous-
ness of the Persian monarchs ; but after a long
period of three hundred years, during which it
struggled, in common with the. other cities of
Asia, to maintain its independence, it was obliged
to call to its assistance the Greeks of Europe,
who, from protectors, became its most cruel op-
pressors. For upwards of a century it was held
by the successors of Alexander, and after the
defeat of Antiochus the Great, it fell into the
hands of the Romans. The city suffered by an
earthquake in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius,