Ephesus. Most important city of the Roman province of Asia, located on the western shore of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Ephesus was built on a natural harbor whose waves, according to the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, “used to wash up to the temple of Diana.” Ephesus was described by Strabo, an early Greek geographer, as the largest commercial center west of the Taurus mountains. It was also well known as the “guardian” of the temple of Artemis or, as the Romans called her, Diana (Acts 19:35).
