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Seven Sleepers

The legend of a 200-year sleep

The cemetery built inside a natural cave at the foot of Mount Panayır, north of the Ancient City of Ephesus, is known as the Cave of the Seven Sleepers. The legend of Ashab al-Kahf (Companions of the Cave), or the Seven Sleepers, a subject of Christian religious literature, tells of six devout young men, a shepherd and their dog who, fleeing the pressures of paganism under Emperor Decius (AD 249–251), hid in a cave, slept there a deathlike sleep for 200 years and awoke in the reign of Emperor Theodosius II (AD 408–450). The young men were named Yemliha, Meklesine, Mislina, Mernoş, Tebernoş and Şazenoş; the shepherd was Kefesitetoş, and the dog with them was called Kıtmir.

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In Selçuk Ephesus

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Çukuriçi Mound The stone that pushed the history of Ephesus back a thousand years Discover Basilica of St. John Where St. John lived and died Discover Byzantine Aqueducts Arches that carried water to Ayasuluk Discover Pamucak Beach A natural wonder on the deep blue Aegean Discover

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