Ephesus

After Pammukale ıt was off to Sleçuk to visit Ephesus and the Artemis temple.

Gate of Augustus, Ephesus

The restored Facade of the Roman Library of Celsus.
Probably the most famous building in Ephesus.

Ephesus was in it's heyday one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean. In fact, in the first century BC it was, with 250,000 inhabitants, the second largest city in the world. Basically you can split Ephesus' history into ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Turkish. During the Ancient Greek era it was part of what was known as the Ionian league, similar to the Lycian league. Again all the cities in the league were in what is now Turkey, but located along the Aegean coast, in an area then known as Anatolia. In the first century BC it came under Roman rule, and continued on more or less how it was, but obviously with a lot of Roman influence. Then with the split of the Roman empire, the Eastern half, the Byzantine empire, took it over. By the time the Turkish empire took over, it was just a little town, having been devastated by a series of natural disasters. Eventually in the 15th century it was completely abandoned.
Just outside the city was also the famous Temple of Artemis - another of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. This really suffered in its time, being subject to earthquakes, fire and wholesale vandalism. As you might guess, the site looks a lot like that of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Worse still, the moment you walk into the site, a horde of peddlars come out of the ground and from the sky and try to sell you guidebooks and useless junk. Still, now I've been to 4 of the 7 sites. That's over half!

Temple of Hadrian

This is what's left of the Temple of Artemis.