Two Forgotten Monuments of Ephesus

In the Ephesus Museum in Vienna, a few items dominate that no longer exist at the ancient site. The Harbor Gymnasium and the Parthian Battle Wall are forgotten monuments that do not appear at the ancient site. Yet, in Vienna, these items dominate the rooms.

The Lost Harbor Gymnasium

When visiting ancient Ephesus, most visitors never see the Harbor Gymnasium. After exploring the Theater, many head directly toward the exit, while Christian visitors often continue to St. Mary’s Basilica. Yet west of the Theater, near the ancient harbor, stands the largely overlooked Harbor Gymnasium. Even after my many visits to Ephesus, I had never walked down to this area. There is little shade, and at first glance, not much appears to remain.

The confusion continues online. TripAdvisor and other sites often display photographs that do not belong to the Harbor Gymnasium. Some show other locations at Ephesus, including the much smaller Theater Gymnasium (which does not appear to include a bath), located north-west of the Theater. The two sites are distinct, yet online photographs can easily blur the difference.

The gymnasiums of ancient Ephesus remain among its greatest mysteries. Three ancient bath gymnasium complexes encircled the site: the East Gymnasium (near the eastern road outside the tourist area), the Verdius Gymnasium (beyond the parking area toward Selçuk), and the Harbor Bath Gymnasium. Today, only one of these gymnasiums stands within the historic site.

The Harbor Bath Gymnasium stands at the end of the Arcadian Way, beyond the area where most tourists venture. Most visitors to Ephesus never reach any of these gymnasiums. Even frequent visitors often miss these sites.

However, when I visited the Ephesus Museum in Vienna, numerous ancient statues were from the Harbor Bath Gymnasium. Emperor Domitian built this complex, which still shows the walls today (around 81 to 96 AD).

The Bath Gymnasium- Educational Complex

The large Gymnasium area covers 360 meters, making it larger than a modern football field. The sports complex featured a bath, lecture hall, indoor sports area, and a large field. The decorative marble courtyards and teaching halls filled this expansive complex. The open palaestra, surrounded by a three-aisled colonnade, served as a place for athletic training, education, and social activity. In AD 131, Verulanus financed marble coverings for the complex, and this area became known as the Hall of Verulanus. People gathered here to exercise, learn, socialize, and interact with others.

At the entrance to this marble-filled gymnasium building sat this lion, which reflected the sun and changed its shadows as the day passed.

Ephesus held its own major athletic competitions, sometimes described as its “Olympic” games, established under Domitian. These athletic activities centered around the Harbor Gymnasium complex. An inscription from Iasos (village of Kıyıkışlacık today) records that an athlete named Metrobius won a long-distance competition at Ephesus around AD 90.^[1]https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org

This large complex hosted athletic games, lectures, and civic activities within its courtyards. At the same time, its baths and sports facilities made it an important center for education, exercise, government, and social life in Ephesus.

The Pomp Display of the Parthian Battle

The peace between Rome and Persian Parthia after the reign of Hadrian did not last. In AD 161, soon after the death of Antoninus Pius, the Parthians invaded Armenia, removed Rome’s client ruler, and defeated the Roman forces under the governor of Syria. This showed that the long period of relative peace had not resolved the underlying struggle for influence over Armenia and Mesopotamia. Both empires continued to view these regions as essential buffer zones protecting their frontiers.^[2]Historia Augusta, Marcus Aurelius 8.6; 9.1.

Rome responded under the joint rule of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Roman armies pushed the Parthians out of Armenia, crossed into Mesopotamia, and captured the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon (located 35 km SE of Baghdad) in AD 165. Although Rome achieved a decisive military victory, it did not attempt to permanently occupy Parthian territory. Instead, the Romans withdrew after demonstrating their military superiority, leaving the frontier much as it had been before the war. However, their victory is depicted on these marble walls.

The conflict revealed that peace between the two empires was temporary rather than permanent. Neither Rome nor Parthia was strong enough to eliminate the other, and both continued to compete for control of the eastern frontier. The war also had unexpected consequences, as returning Roman troops likely carried the Antonine Plague, which spread across the empire and weakened Rome for years. Rather than bringing a lasting settlement, the war simply marked another chapter in the centuries-long rivalry between the two great powers.

For these reasons, the awe of these marble panels likely wore off quickly, and the city later used these slabs of marble as support for a fountain near the Celsus Library. Most scholars assume these marble slabs were displayed near the intersection in front of the Library.

Walls of Ephesus to the Meaning of Marriage

Paul, who lived in Ephesus for at least two years, addressed believers who lived within this environment. In Ephesians 5, he turns directly to the household and marriage, showing believers how their relationships could reflect Christ. Paul does not reduce marriage to a contract defined by rights and obligations. Instead, he connects marriage to Christ and the church. He calls husbands to sacrificial love and points back to the creation pattern that “the two shall become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31). Then he declares that this mystery points to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32).

That connection gives Ephesians another layer of meaning. The ruins show us the world surrounding the early Christians, while Paul’s teaching shows us the identity Christians were called to live within that world. The inner identity of a beloved follower of Christ stood in contrast to the thirst for power and earthly desire that surrounded them. For believers, marriage was not simply another social institution. It carried a deeper meaning of love, sacrifice, faithfulness, and oneness.

This is one reason I wrote Defining Marriage. Before we can understand what marriage should look like, we need to understand what marriage actually is. Marriage gives couples a covenant relationship in which they can face a hostile world together. It also forces us to ask whether marriage is a contract built around rights and obligations, or a covenant in which two people become one.

My book Defining Marriage explores that question by going beneath the surface definitions of marriage and examining the biblical distinction between an Islamic contract and a biblical covenant. Ephesians reminds us that Christianity emerged within a complex ancient world, yet Paul taught believers that following Christ means living from a different identity.