Ephesus has always been crowded with many foreign visitors, in ancient times as now. Cheap travel The roman historian, Pliny, mentions an anchoring place in an unknown loop of the Kucuk Menderes River, which in those days was still deep enough for sailing. The harbour was used by sailors from different corners of the world as a stop-over with readily available fresh water. According to local legends the Amazons took refuge here in flight from Herakles. This must have been the earliest of the settlements subsequently called Ephesus.
Mycenean artifacts excavated on the same hill also point to a very early settlement.
Today the citadel is crowned by a large Byzantine fortress. By 1200 BC the Mycenean tradesmen had left the area and a new wave of sea-farers came to the estuary. The city took its name from the Koressos Hill. The name Ephesus related to the sacred area of Ephesia. In 7th century BC the temple of Artemis, goddess of hunting, was invaded by wild Cimmerian warriors, but they did little more than threaten the locals, perhaps because they feared Ephesia.