Seven Sleepers, Ephesus

This myth happens to Ancient Ephesus. It takes a long time starts on the 2nd century and ends on the 5th century. This Christian Myth is also stated in the Holly Quran. 

This is the story of 6 young bureaucrats and officers assigned by Rome. Their fathers were powerful in Roman Senate. Ephesus was very important because it was the capital of Roman Empire in that period. The states of the Balkans were governed by Ephesus, which had a population of a quarter million at that time. Even before the Emperor Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he was the governor of Ephesus.

These six Roman young bureaucrats and officers believe in the religion of Jesus Christ and rejected paganism. However, they couldn’t explain this because they were afraid. That was a time when Christians were killed by the Romans in a terrible way.

The Roman Emperor Hadrian went on a trip to Asia and would visit Ephesus for the second time. The city was fascinated by the reception of this important guest because the Roman Emperors were recognized as God at the same time. When Hadrian came to the city, important people bowed before him and greeted him as a god. When it was time for these 6 young bureaucrats to greed Emperor Hadrian, they declared that they did not see him as a God and they believed in the God of Jesus Christ. They were put in prison as a precaution; the punishment would be decided later. But the same evening a soldier freed them and six of them escaped. On the way they ran into a Christian shepherd named Antonius. Even they refused, Antonius joined them with his dog Kermit and he showed them a cave where they could hide. They all stayed together in this cave. The Roman soldiers who followed them ascertained their place and because of what they have seen in the cave, they couldn’t go in. Then they put a big rock at the entrance of the cave to punish them. They wrote an inscription to the entrance of the cave. They had been sleeping for centuries inside until the 5th century. In that period the Roman Empire accepted Christianity as an official religion. They weren’t aware of how long they have slept in the cave. They thought they slept one day and the Roman soldiers were still after them. One of them went to the bazaar to buy food and he had old coins. After long efforts and explanations, he persuaded that it was a miracle. The Christians in the city of Ephesus were so delighted in this miracle that they called them the Saints. The next day in Ephesus they set out to prepare a great festival to meet these 7 people. But none of them came to the city. When the Ephesians went to the cave, they saw that they were died (including the dog). Seven young people woke up only for a day after sleeping a century. They built a church for them on the cave. Today this area is known as Seven Sleeper Cave which is 1 km distance to the lower gate of Ephesus. In the Byzantine period this area of Ephesus was used as a church, a hospital and a cemetery. It is still possible to see the remains today.