ntly fitted to become a great mart,
and was the commercial centre for the whole country on the Roman side
of Mount Taurus. The substratum of the population was Asiatic, but the
progress and enterprise of the city belonged to the Greeks. There, as
in the Florence of the Medici, we find commercial astuteness joined
with intense delight in graceful culture. Some of the best work of the
greatest Greek sculptors and painters was treasured at Ephesus. A
splendid but sensuous worship centred round the gross figure of the
goddess Artemis, whose temple was one of the greatest triumphs of
ancient art. In the British Museum are preserved some fragments of the
old temple built by Croesus, King of Lydia, in B.C. 550. The vast
{184} temple which replaced this older structure was built about B.C.
350, with the help of contributions from the whole of Asia. The wealth
of the city was increased by the crowds which attended the festivals,
and many trades were mainly dependent upon the pilgrims, who required
food, victims, images, and shrines. In St. Paul's time the city
contained one temple devoted to the worship of a Roman emperor.
Ephesus was also a home of magical arts, and was famous for the
production of magical formulae known as "Ephesian letters." The actual
foundation of the Christian Church in Ephesus may be ascribed to
Priscilla and Aquila, whom St. Paul left there on his first visit (Acts
xviii. 19), On his return to Ephesus he stayed there for two years
(Acts xix. 1, 10), and the opposition of the tradesmen to a creed which
affected the vested interests of idolatry was the cause of the riot so
vigorously described by St. Luke. Even after the riot the
superstitions of the mob were a serious danger to St. Paul (1 Cor. xv.
32; xvi. 9; 2 Cor. i. 8-10). At a later period Ephesus became the
residence of St. John.

[Sidenote: Where and when written.]

St. Paul wrote this Epistle during his imprisonment at Rome, which
began in A.D. 59 (see iii. 1, 13; iv. 1, vi. 22). Rome is not
mentioned in the Epistle, but the connection between Ephesians,
Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians points to the high probability
that they were all written from the same place. This place is much
more likely to have been Rome than Caesarea, the only other possible
locality. Ephesians was apparently written later than Colossians, for
it shows an emphasis on new points of doctrine--the continuity of the
Church, the work of the Holy Spirit, th