Editing Ephesus (section)

=== Hellenistic period ===

[[File:Karte Ephesos MKL1888.png|thumb|left|Historical map of Ephesus, from ''[[Meyers Konversationslexikon]]'', 1888]]

When [[Alexander the Great]] defeated the Persian forces at the [[Battle of Granicus]] in 334&nbsp;BC, the Greek cities of Asia Minor were liberated. The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death, and Alexander was greeted warmly when he entered Ephesus in triumph. When Alexander saw that the temple of Artemis was not yet finished, he proposed to finance it and have his name inscribed on the front. But the inhabitants of Ephesus demurred, claiming that it was not fitting for one god to build a temple to another. After Alexander's death in 323&nbsp;BC, Ephesus in 290&nbsp;BC came under the rule of one of Alexander's generals, [[Lysimachus]].

As the river [[Cayster]] (Grk. name Κάϋστρος) silted up the old harbour, the resulting marshes caused malaria and many deaths among the inhabitants. Lysimachus forced the people to move from the ancient settlement around the temple of Artemis to the present site two kilometres ({{convert|2|km|abbr=off|disp=output only}}) away, when as a last resort the king flooded the old city by blocking the sewers.<ref name="Strabo">{{cite book | title=Geography (volume 1–7)| last=Strabo| date=1923–1932| pages=14.1.21| publisher=Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press| location=Cambridge}}</ref> The new settlement was officially called ''Arsinoea'' ({{langx|grc|Ἀρσινόεια}}<ref>Edwyn Robert Bevan, ''The House of Seleucus'', Vol. 1 (E. Arnold, 1902), p. 119.</ref> or Ἀρσινοΐα<ref>Wilhelm Pape, ''Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen'', Vol. 3 (Braunschweig, 1870), p. 145.</ref>) or '''Arsinoe''' (Ἀρσινόη),<ref>{{Cite DARE|21155}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Barrington|61}}</ref> after the king's second wife, [[Arsinoe II of Egypt]]. After Lysimachus had destroyed the nearby cities of [[Lebedos]] and [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]] in 292&nbsp;BC, he relocated their inhabitants to the new city.

Ephesus revolted after the treacherous death of [[Agathocles (son of Lysimachus)|Agathocles]], giving the Hellenistic king of Syria and Mesopotamia [[Seleucus I Nicator]] an opportunity for removing and killing Lysimachus, his last rival, at the [[Battle of Corupedium]] in 281&nbsp;BC. After the death of Lysimachus the town again was named Ephesus.

Thus Ephesus became part of the [[Seleucid Empire]]. After the murder of king [[Antiochus II Theos]] and his Egyptian wife in 246&nbsp;BC, pharaoh [[Ptolemy III]] invaded the Seleucid Empire and the Egyptian fleet swept the coast of Asia Minor. Ephesus was betrayed by its governor [[Sophron of Ephesus|Sophron]] into the hands of the Ptolemies who ruled the city for half a century until 197&nbsp;BC.

The Seleucid king [[Antiochus III the Great]] tried to regain the Greek cities of Asia Minor and recaptured Ephesus in 196&nbsp;BC but he then came into conflict with Rome. After a series of battles, he was defeated by [[Scipio Asiaticus]] at the [[Battle of Magnesia]] in 190&nbsp;BC. As a result of the subsequent [[Treaty of Apamea]], Ephesus came under the rule of [[Eumenes II]], the Attalid king of [[Pergamon]], (ruled 197–159&nbsp;BC). When his grandson [[Attalus III]] died in 133&nbsp;BC without male children of his own, he left his kingdom to the [[Roman Republic]], on condition that the city of Pergamon be kept free and autonomous.