Selçuk is the town next to Ephesus, and around its hill, Ayasuluk, are two sites that many tours leave out: the Basilica of St John, built by Justinian over the tomb of the evangelist, and, at the foot of the hill, the lone column of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. With the İsa Bey Mosque between them, they are the other half of a visit to Ephesus, and they take about an hour.
On a faith-based trip they are essential stops; for everyone else, they are where you see that the story of Ephesus did not end with Rome.
A little history
According to tradition, John, the beloved disciple, spent his last years in Ephesus, wrote his Gospel here and was buried on Ayasuluk Hill. A chapel and later a church stood over his tomb. In the 6th century Justinian replaced them with an enormous six-domed basilica, one of the largest churches of the Byzantine world, which remained the great pilgrimage centre of Asia Minor until earthquakes and invasions left it in ruins.
The Temple of Artemis was far older. The sanctuary of the Anatolian mother goddess was rebuilt in marble in the 6th century BC as a temple four times the size of the Parthenon, with 127 columns almost 20 metres high, and rebuilt again after a fire in 356 BC. The Goths sacked it in the 3rd century AD, and its stones ended up in the basilica, in the mosque and, so the story goes, in Hagia Sophia. The İsa Bey Mosque, built in 1375, reused columns from Ephesus and from the temple.
What to see in Selçuk
The Gate of Persecution and the walls
You enter the basilica through a Byzantine gateway decorated with reused reliefs, set in the wall that rings the hill, with the Seljuk fortress at the top.
The Basilica of St John
What survives are the columns, walls standing to the height of the capitals and the complete cross-shaped plan, partly restored. In the centre, framed by four columns, is the tomb of John, marked by a slab. To one side are the baptistery, with its sunken pool, and the treasury, which still has traces of frescoes.
The view from the hill
From the basilica you look across the plain towards the sea, with the İsa Bey Mosque below you, the Temple of Artemis in its pond and, in the distance, the hill of Ephesus. It is the best place to understand the lie of the land, and how silt pushed the sea away from the city.
The İsa Bey Mosque
Walk down the slope and you reach a mosque from 1375 with a courtyard of Roman columns, a marble portal and a design that already points towards Ottoman architecture. Entry is free, and the usual mosque dress code applies: shoulders and knees covered, and a scarf over the hair for women.
The Temple of Artemis
In a field beside the road stands a single column, reassembled from drums found during the excavations, often with a stork’s nest on top and, in spring, surrounded by water and croaking frogs. There is nothing else, and that is exactly why it is so striking: one of the Seven Wonders once stood here.
Tips for your visit
Allow 45 minutes for the basilica and ten minutes for the temple. The walk up to the basilica is a short slope, and the ruins have uneven steps.
- Bring a hat and water: there is no shade on the hill.
- The temple is a ten-minute walk from the basilica, or you can see it from the road on the way to Ephesus.
- Combine all three with the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in the centre of town, and have lunch in Selçuk.
Tickets and prices
Entry to the Basilica of St John costs €7 under the official 2027 tariff published at the time of writing. The Temple of Artemis and the İsa Bey Mosque are free. Prices for foreign visitors are revised every year, so check the official Turkish museums website (muze.gov.tr) before you go. On my tours, entrance tickets are either included or handled by your guide.
Where it is and how to get there
Ayasuluk Hill is in the centre of Selçuk, a five-minute walk from the train station and the museum. The Temple of Artemis is a kilometre away, on the road to Ephesus. From Kuşadası it is a 20-minute drive.
How I include them in my tours
They are stops on the Ephesus day of my Biblical and Spiritual Türkiye tour, together with the House of the Virgin Mary, and on my private full-day tours of Ephesus. For the ancient city itself, read Ephesus: history, ruins and a complete visitor’s guide.
If St John, St Paul or the Seven Churches are the reason for your trip, tell me about it and I will plan the whole route for you.