Harbor, Efes (ancient Ephesus), near Selçuk, Turkey.
The harbor environs of the Roman city of Ephesus, as viewed from the slopes of
Mt. Pion, illustrate the silting up of what was a major Roman port.
The colonnaded avenue, the Arcadiana, ends at the edge of the harbor proper,
but the modern coastline has receded into the distance.
The shifting delta of the river Cayster caused regular silting problems in the
harbor, and major engineering efforts to combat this were documented in 60 A.D.
and 129 A.D.
After a series of major earthquakes in the fourth century A.D., such attempts to
maintain the harbor were finally abandoned.
Further silting of the habor, accompanied by development of malarial marshlands,
was documented in 431, 449, and 716 A.D., and this part of the city of Ephesus
was completely abandoned by the tenth century.
© 1992 Craig R. Bina