Selcuk Guide

According to renowned ancient writers Strabon and Pausanias, Ephesus was originally established by the Amazons on lands predominantly inhabited by Cariean and Lelegean tribes. The city was named after an Amazonian queen.

During the 1040s BC, the western Anatolian coastal regions, including Ephesus, lacked unity among the native population, including language. As a result, Ephesus became a Greek colony in the 10th century BC.

According to early accounts, the foundation of Ephesus is attributed to Androclos, the son of Kodros, the king of Athens. Androclos and his companions sought guidance from the oracle of Delphi on where to establish their new settlement in Anatolia. The oracle’s response indicated that the location would be revealed by a fish and a boar. After a long journey, they arrived at the banks of the river Kaistros (modern-day Kucuk Menderes). While cooking the fish they caught, a frying fish leaped out of the pan, igniting the dry bushes. A boar emerged from the burning bushes, and Androclos chased, caught, and killed it. Convinced that the oracle’s prediction had come true, Androclos and his companions founded their new city at the foot of Mount Coressos (today’s Panayir Dagi). Androclos and the Ionians lived in the city they had built for 44 years.