The City of Artemis: Timothy's Mission in Ephesus

Ephesus gleams in the afternoon sun.

The marble streets reflect light from temple facades, from the great theater carved into Mount Pion, from the library of Celsus with its towering columns. This is Asia's jewel—a crossroads of commerce, religion, and philosophy where east meets west in a cacophony of languages and gods.

And towering over it all: the Temple of Artemis.

One of the seven wonders of the world, they call it. Four times the size of the Parthenon. A hundred and twenty-seven columns reaching toward heaven, each carved by a different king. Pilgrims pour through its doors. Silversmiths grow rich making shrines. The city's identity, its economy, its very soul is bound to the goddess.