The Great Theater of Ephesus is the huge Roman theater cut into the western slope of Mount Pion, at the top of Harbor Street in Ephesus Ancient City. Most sources give it about 24,000 to 25,000 seats. It is also the theater of the Acts 19 riot in Ephesus, where the crowd shouted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for about two hours.
Ephesus Grand Theater is probably the second most famous artifact in Ephesus, Turkey, fallowing the library of Celsus. Grand theater has a capacity of twenty-four thousand people. This capacity is based on the size and sitting style of the Ephesian who lived back in those days.
I have walked groups through the Great Theater thousands of times. With my Christian guests, I watch the same moment every time: they realize that this is the real building of Acts 19, and the Bible text becomes a physical place. Let’s have a look at the history of this magnificent building, the riot of the silversmiths and what you can see there today.
Where Is the Great Theater of Ephesus
The theater is built into western slope of Panayır Dağı, the hill which was called Mount Pion in ancient times. It stands nearby the lower end of the ancient city. Most of the tours in Ephesus start at the Upper Gate, also called the Magnesian Gate, and walk downhill to the Lower Gate, so the theater is one of the last big stops of the visit.
After you walk down Curetes Street and see the Library of Celsus, you follow Marble Street to the north, and the theater rises on your right. It stands at the top of Harbor Street, which is also called the Arcadian Way. In ancient times this street went straight down to the harbor, so the sailors coming off the ships saw the theater first.
Today the sea is several kilometers away, because the Küçük Menderes River, the Cayster of ancient times, slowly filled the harbor with silt. However, from the upper rows of the theater you can still read the old city plan very easily, with Harbor Street running straight toward the lost harbor.
History of the Great Theater of Ephesus
The first theater on this slope was built in the Hellenistic period. The latest study of the Austrian Archaeological Institute dates the start of the work to the 2nd century BC, and it counts eight building phases, from the Hellenistic period to Byzantine times. So the theater grew in different periods, in parallel with the wealth and magnificence of the city rising.
The biggest change came under the Romans in the late 1st century AD. The stage building got its decorated front with three floors in AD 85, in the time of Emperor Domitian, and the seating was enlarged. The north wing of the seats was finished by AD 92, and the south wing between AD 102 and 112, under Emperor Trajan.
By the way, you may read in older books that Emperor Nero built the second floor of the stage and Septimius Severus the third one. The reason is an inscription on the stage building where the emperor’s name had been erased. The first excavator read it as Nero. A few years later another scholar showed that the erased name was Domitian, whose name was removed from many monuments after his death.
This matters for Bible readers. The theater which the crowd of Acts 19 ran into, in the mid-50s AD, was smaller and simpler than the building you see today. The tall stage front and the upper seats were added some thirty to sixty years after Apostle Paul left Ephesus.
The seating area is almost 150 meters across, with 61 rows of seats in three tiers. The seating areas of the Ephesus Antique City Theater are covered with fine marbles. Some of these marble-covered seating areas are paved with rough stones, while some parts are covered with Roman mortar.
Earthquakes damaged the theater badly, especially in AD 262 and again in the 4th century. In Byzantine times it became a part of the city’s fortifications, and it was abandoned at the beginning of the 7th century.
What Happened in the Theater of Ephesus
Today concerts are very common in these kinds of venues but back then the main purpose of this theater was hosting plays. In the Greek period the plays were tragedies and comedies. In Roman times mime and pantomime became the favorite shows, with music, dance and plenty of jokes. The theater was the main entertainment for the people who lived back in ancient Ephesus.
In the Greek plays women did not act, so they only had actors on the stage, and if there is a role requiring a woman a man used to dress like a lady and act. Later, in Roman times, women did perform in mime and dance shows.
However, the theater was much more than a stage. It was also the meeting place of the people’s assembly of Ephesus. The citizens came here to listen to their officials, to vote on decrees and to honor their benefactors. In later Roman times, gladiator fights and animal hunts were held in the theater too.
This is why the crowd in Acts 19 ran into the theater. It was not only a big empty space; it was the place where the city made its decisions. In Acts the gathering is called an assembly, ekklesia in Greek, the same word which the Christians later used for the church.
Artemis of the Ephesians and the Silver Trade
To understand the riot, we must first understand Artemis of the Ephesians. She was not exactly the Greek hunter goddess. She was an old Anatolian mother goddess who was later identified with the Greek Artemis. Her temple outside the city was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and pilgrims came to her from all around the Mediterranean.
The goddess was also big business, pilgrims bought souvenirs and offerings and they gave money to the temple. Acts 19:24 tells us that a silversmith named Demetrius made silver shrines of Artemis, and that this trade brought a lot of work to the craftsmen of the city.
Archaeologists have found small figures of Artemis made of silver and many clay copies, but no silver model of her temple has been found so far. Clay oil lamps with the figure of the goddess were also made too. They show us how much Artemis of Ephesus was part of daily life.
The Riot of Acts 19 in the Great Theater
This is the same theater mentioned in the Holy Bible. Here the companions of Apostle Paul faced the great uproar of Artemis cult (Acts 19:23-41), while Paul himself was kept outside. Let’s have a look at the story step by step, as Acts tells it.
Apostle Paul stayed in Ephesus for about three years in the mid-50s AD (Acts 20:31). He spoke in the synagogue for three months, and then every day for two years in the lecture hall of Tyrannus (Acts 19:8-10). So many people turned to the new faith that those who practiced magic burned their scrolls, worth fifty thousand drachmas (Acts 19:19).
Demetrius the Silversmith
This was bad news for the silver trade. Demetrius called the craftsmen together and gave a clever speech (Acts 19:25-27). He said that Paul was teaching that gods made by hands are no gods at all. Their business was in danger, he said, and also the temple of the great goddess Artemis would lose its honor. Money and religion went hand in hand in his words.
The speech worked. The craftsmen became furious and started to shout “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:28). Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The crowd seized Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who traveled with Paul, and rushed together into the theater (Acts 19:29).
Paul Wanted to Go In
Paul wanted to go into the theater and speak to the crowd, but his disciples did not let him (Acts 19:30). Some officials of the province, the Asiarchs, who were his friends, also sent him a message and begged him not to go into the theater (Acts 19:31). So Paul never stood on this stage during the riot.
Inside, the assembly was in confusion. Some people shouted one thing and some another, and most of them did not even know why they were there (Acts 19:32). The Jews pushed a man called Alexander to the front to speak. But when the crowd realized that he was a Jew, they all shouted together for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:33-34).
Two hours of shouting in a theater of this size! Anyone who has heard the amazing acoustics of this building can imagine how loud it was.
The Town Clerk Calms the Crowd
Finally the town clerk, one of the highest officials of the city, quieted the crowd (Acts 19:35-40). Everybody knows, he said, that Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven. These men have not robbed temples or insulted our goddess.
If Demetrius has a complaint, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Anything more must be settled in the legal assembly. Then he gave the real warning: we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today. After these words he dismissed the assembly (Acts 19:41).
When the uproar ended, Paul called the disciples, encouraged them, said goodbye and left for Macedonia (Acts 20:1). According to Acts, he did not come back to Ephesus. On his way to Jerusalem, he met the elders of the Ephesian church in Miletus instead (Acts 20:17).
Inscriptions That Match Acts 19
My guests often ask me if the story of Acts 19 is really true. Archaeology cannot prove every word, but the stones of Ephesus fit the story very well. The Asiarchs are known from the city, and the title “temple guardian” (neokoros) was so dear to Ephesus that the city held it four times and wrote it on its coins.
The best example is the foundation of Gaius Vibius Salutaris, a rich Roman citizen living in Ephesus. In AD 104, about fifty years after the riot, he gave the city 31 statues and images, most of them silver, including nine images of Artemis. His long inscription, known today as I.Ephesos 27, was carved on the wall of the south entrance of the theater.
On assembly days, festival days and games, the statues were carried in a procession from the Temple of Artemis to the Magnesian Gate, through the city to the theater, and out through the Koressian Gate back to the temple. During the assemblies they were set up in the theater. So half a century after Demetrius, silver Artemis was still at the heart of this building.
By the way, this inscription helped to find the lost Temple of Artemis. The British architect John Turtle Wood found it in the theater in 1866. It described the procession route through the Magnesian Gate, so he followed that road outside the city, and on 31 December 1869 he finally reached the remains of the temple.
The silversmiths left their own stones too. A grave inscription names Marcus Antonius Hermeias, a silversmith and temple warden, and orders that fines be paid to “the silversmiths in Ephesus”, whose association took care of the grave. On two columns of Harbor Street, which starts right below the theater, the words “place of the silversmiths” are carved.
Great Theater of Ephesus Today
Today, Most of the original seating of Ephesus Ancient Theater can be seen and used. Some parts and the first floor of the scene building can be seen. Between 2018 and 2023 the seats and the stairs were restored, a new floor was laid in the orchestra and the stage entrance was strengthened with steel.
In my Bible tours we read Acts 19 aloud in the theater. I recommend my guests to sit in the lower rows and look around while we read, especially at verse 29, where the crowd rushes in, at verse 34, where the two hours of shouting start, and at verse 35, where the town clerk speaks.
The theater is included in the main Ephesus ticket, which costs 40 euros for foreign visitors in 2026, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The Terrace Houses need a separate ticket, but the theater does not. Come early in the morning or late in the afternoon, because at midday in Summertime the seats are hot and there is no shade.
Concerts in the Ephesus Theater
The Ephesus theater has a modern life too. From 1987 on, the İzmir Festival brought world-famous names to its stage. Ray Charles sang here on 7 July 1987, Jethro Tull played on 15 July 1991, Sting came on 2 July 1993 and Elton John gave his concert on 16 July 2001.
However, the big crowds and the loud sound systems were hard on the old stones. After experts warned about the damage, the Ministry limited the events in the theater, and in 2018 it closed the theater to all concerts and shows for restoration. It opened again for art in August 2021 with the International Ephesus Opera and Ballet Festival.
When shows organized today, the theater can hold only two or three thousand people. In 2012 the experts advised a limit of 2,200 people and no sound amplifiers. In 2024 the festival welcomed about 20,500 spectators over seven productions, and in the summer of 2026 about two thousand people watched Carmina Burana in one night.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people did the Great Theater of Ephesus hold?
Ephesus theater capacity is usually given as 24,000 to 25,000 seats. Turkish official sources say 24,000 and Britannica says nearly 25,000. The Austrian Archaeological Institute, which excavates Ephesus, calculates a little less, around 20,000 to 22,000. Today a show in the theater has only two or three thousand spectators.
When was the Great Theater of Ephesus built?
The first theater was built in the Hellenistic period, in the 2nd century BC. The Romans enlarged it in the late 1st century AD: the three-floor stage front dates to AD 85, under Domitian, and the seating was finished under Trajan, between AD 102 and 112.
Did Apostle Paul preach in the theater of Ephesus?
No. Acts 19 says that Paul wanted to go into the theater during the riot, but his disciples and some officials of the province stopped him (Acts 19:30-31). His companions Gaius and Aristarchus were dragged inside. Paul taught in the synagogue and in the lecture hall of Tyrannus (Acts 19:8-9).
Are there still concerts in the Ephesus theater?
Yes, but only a few, and with a limited audience. The main event is the International Ephesus Opera and Ballet Festival of the State Opera and Ballet, held every summer. The ninth festival took place in the theater from 26 June to 8 July 2026.
Hire Ephesus Tour Guide
I am a nationally licensed Turkish tour guide, and Ephesus is my main work area. With Bible groups and families, I like to stop in the Great Theater, read Acts 19 together and show the places of the story from the seats. You can check my guiding rates and guiding areas, or write to me to hire me as your licensed guide for Ephesus.
I hope you will see this magnificent piece of history in Ephesus and feel the breeze coming from Arcadian street while thinking about how it was life back in those days. You can always contact me to ask your questions about the Great Theater and Biblical Ephesus. See you soon, Hasan Gülday.
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