Ephesus

Fewer than forty-eight hours ago, I returned home from a two-week trip through Turkey and Greece visiting the sites of the seven churches of Revelation and following the journeys of Paul. We went to the seven ancient church sites as well as Istanbul, Aphrodisias, Patmos, Corinth, Troas, Neapolis, Philippi, and Athens. 

In modern cities when a woman goes into labor, relatives squeal, cheer, and celebrate. But in first-century Ephesus, the response would have been much different. Think terror. Childbirth in the ancient world carried legitimate fears of writhing and death—as is still true in much of the developing world today.

Artemis of the Ephesians. Most commentators refer to her as a fertility goddess. Yet that’s probably incorrect. So in this two-part series we’ll explore her identity.
 
In Acts 19 we read that Paul’s evangelization of the Roman Empire threatened the Artemis silver workers’ trade in Ephesus. In Paul’s day Artemis’s temple in Ephesus stood as the most preeminent of the Seven Wonders of the World. People came from all over to see it.