The Theater - At an estimated 25,000 seating capacity, it is believed to be one of the largest outdoor theaters in the ancient world. Looking beyond the stage patrons gazed down the wide, column lined boulevard which connected Ephesus to the harbor (seen in the foreground).

This open-air theater was used initially for drama, but during later Roman times gladiatorial combats were also held on its stage, with the first archaeological evidence of a gladiator graveyard found in May 2007.

Its construction was started in the hellenistic age, but the Ephesians made a beginning with its renewal during the reign of the emperor Claudius (41-54). Under Nero (54-68), the stage was constructed. The decorations can be dated to the reign of Trajan (98-117).

In the 1st century AD, the Apostle Paul spent over three years in Ephesus preaching the Gospel. According to tradition, he delivered a sermon condemning pagan worship in this theater.

And according to the Acts of the Apostles (19:23-41), the theater was the site of the "riot of the silversmiths" in which those who made silver figures of Artemis rioted because Paul's preaching was bad for business: "Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there...." (Acts 19:29-31)