Image Details

Sonia Halliday Photographs

When Paul was imprisoned at Ephesus, he was placed, according to local tradition, in the square tower atop the Hill of Astyages, the low knob seen in the distance. In the foreground stand the ruins of a brothel; across the street, the second-century Celsus Library, before it was restored, appears at left, and the colonnaded, Hellenistic agora, or marketplace, stretches from the library to the right side of the photo.

Prisca and Aquila came to Ephesus with Paul, who argued in the synagogue and soon left the city (Acts 18:18–21). Prisca and Aquila stayed behind, however, and established a Christian community in the city (Acts 18:26–27). Then Paul returned and took responsibility for the church (Acts 19:1–10). After a return to Rome of uncertain duration, Prisca and Aquila again lived in Ephesus, where Paul sent them a greeting (2 Timothy 4:19), their last appearance in the historical record.