Ephesus
Great Ionian city and site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The Story of Ephesus
Ephesus was dominated by the Temple of Artemis, a structure so magnificent it was counted among the Seven Wonders. The Ephesian Artemis was distinct from the Greek huntress — a many-breasted fertility goddess reflecting the city's Anatolian roots. Heraclitus was born here and deposited his philosophical writings in the temple. The city later became a major centre of early Christianity — Paul's Letter to the Ephesians and the Book of Revelation both address its community.
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Orchomenus
🏛 placecity, Boeotia
An ancient Boeotian city that was one of the wealthiest in Bronze Age Greece, rivalling Thebes and associated with the Minyans.
Corinth
🏛 placeCity of Sisyphus and Medea
Corinth was a wealthy trading city on the narrow isthmus connecting mainland Greece to the Peloponnese, associated with Sisyphus, Medea, Bellerophon, and Pegasus.
Argos
🏛 placecity-state, Peloponnese
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and a major power in the Peloponnese, closely associated with the goddess Hera.
Thespiae
🏛 placeSacred geography
A Boeotian city near Mount Helicon famous for its cult of Eros and the sanctuary of the Muses
Pella
🏛 placeMacedonia, Alexander
Capital of ancient Macedonia and birthplace of Alexander the Great.
Sicyon
🏛 placeGeography
An ancient city near Corinth claiming to be one of the oldest in Greece and site of Prometheus's sacrifice trick
Arges
🏛 placegeography
The Argolid plain dominated by the city of Argos, one of the oldest and most mythologically saturated regions of Greece.
Crisa
🏛 placegeography
A Phocian city below Delphi, sometimes confused with Cirrha, associated with Apollo's arrival in central Greece.
Tegea
🏛 placegeography
An Arcadian city with a great temple of Athena Alea, and possessor of the tusks of the Calydonian Boar and the bones of Orestes.
Thebes
🏛 placeCity of Cadmus and Oedipus
Thebes was the great city of Boeotia, founded by Cadmus who sowed dragon teeth, and the setting for the tragedies of Oedipus, Antigone, and the Seven Against Thebes.
Laodicea
🏛 placegeography
A Phrygian city named after a daughter of a Seleucid king but containing an older sacred tradition of Cybele.
Acrocorinth
🏛 placegeography
The towering citadel rock above Corinth, sacred to Aphrodite and site of her famous temple.