How does a city of 250,000 people—one of the greatest metropolises in the ancient world—end up three miles from the sea it once depended on?

In Part 1 of this two-part deep dive into Ephesus, hosts Anna and John walk the marble streets of one of Christianity's most significant cities. Discover how Ephesus grew from a settlement around a temple to the Anatolian Great Mother into the greatest center of trade, industry, and finance in the western Roman world—and how centuries of neglected harbor maintenance let the sea silt in and slip away, leaving the once-coastal city stranded on dry land.

Stand with them in the 25,000-seat Great Theatre where a riot broke out in Acts 19 after Paul's preaching threatened the silversmith Demetrius's idol-making business. Walk past marble statues deliberately defaced—heads and hands rem ...