DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5179#0178
CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS AND MODERN HISTORY. 149
cipal one — the Cathedral of Ephesus — bears no
relation to the Founder of Christianity at Ephesus,
St. Paul, or to its first bishop, Timothy, who is
considered to have been referred to under the title of
the " Angel of the Church" in the Apocalypse ; and,
therefore, there is no reason for considering that its
foundation was of so early a period. This church
has now entirely disappeared, so as to render even
its very site uncertain. The majority of travellers
suppose it to have stood on the hill of the present
village Aiaslik.
This village, or Aiasalook, as it is now pro-
nounced, is supposed to derive its name from the
worship of Diana ; Ai in Turkish signifying the
moon. Some, however, derive it from Ai-aslilc, a
little crescent;1 and others from ayiog 0eo7^oyog,~ or,
as pronounced by modern Greeks, Aios Scologos.
The particle lilc, being, however, a mere substantive
termination, as besh-lik, a five-piastre-piece, it may
signify, simply, the Sohj (place or city,) Aias-lilc;
and, indeed, Ave find the name thus pronounced,
(Ayazlic,) in the time of Tamerlane. From the
nature and position of the hill, it has been already
considered probable that it was held and fortified
by the Ephesians ; but of this we have no certain
information. The last account we have of the
ancient city is in the reign of Caracalla, (who
1 Arundell, Liscov. ii. 252.
2 Dallaway, Const. 221 ; Herbelot, Bibl Orient.
cipal one — the Cathedral of Ephesus — bears no
relation to the Founder of Christianity at Ephesus,
St. Paul, or to its first bishop, Timothy, who is
considered to have been referred to under the title of
the " Angel of the Church" in the Apocalypse ; and,
therefore, there is no reason for considering that its
foundation was of so early a period. This church
has now entirely disappeared, so as to render even
its very site uncertain. The majority of travellers
suppose it to have stood on the hill of the present
village Aiaslik.
This village, or Aiasalook, as it is now pro-
nounced, is supposed to derive its name from the
worship of Diana ; Ai in Turkish signifying the
moon. Some, however, derive it from Ai-aslilc, a
little crescent;1 and others from ayiog 0eo7^oyog,~ or,
as pronounced by modern Greeks, Aios Scologos.
The particle lilc, being, however, a mere substantive
termination, as besh-lik, a five-piastre-piece, it may
signify, simply, the Sohj (place or city,) Aias-lilc;
and, indeed, Ave find the name thus pronounced,
(Ayazlic,) in the time of Tamerlane. From the
nature and position of the hill, it has been already
considered probable that it was held and fortified
by the Ephesians ; but of this we have no certain
information. The last account we have of the
ancient city is in the reign of Caracalla, (who
1 Arundell, Liscov. ii. 252.
2 Dallaway, Const. 221 ; Herbelot, Bibl Orient.