The foundation of Ephesus by colonists unquestionably of Hellenic stock took place between

the 16th and 11^th centuries B. C. In the 7th century the city and its greatest symbol, the Artemision, were totally destroyed by the Cimmerian hordes. Rebuilt by Croesus, king of the Lydians, it was subjugated by the Persian king Cyrus in the middle of the 6th century. After varying vicissitudes, Ephesus pacifically and painlessly passed to the Romans. Evidence of the importance Ephesus had in the Roman world are the visits paid by such illustrious figures as Brutus, Cossius, Antony, and Cicero himself.  In the Augustan age it was a real Asian capital. The city grew and soon became an active commercial center, headquarters of the Roman governor and one of the first five cities of the Empire. Subsequently the preaching of the apostle John (buried here in St. John's church) and a tradition according to which the Madonna chose it as her residence after the Crucifixion, turned Ephesus into one of the places that distinguished itself in the history of Christian thought. Its decline began in the second half of the 3^rd century when it was conquered and sacked by the Goths. In 431 the Third Ecumenical Council was held here. During the long dark centuries of the Middle Ages it was little more than a village, subject to continuous raids by the Arabs and pirates. After the early years of Ottoman rule, it fell into complete oblivion.  Abandoned and deserted, all trace of it almost disappeared until 1869 when the first of the archaeological excavations which were to restore to the world the ancient and unforgotten beauty of the city was undertaken.