Cave seven sleepers

Turkey / Izmir / Selcuk /
 cave / caves, pilgrimage, interesting place
The Seven Sleepers, commonly called the "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus", refers to a group of Christian youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus around 250 AD, to escape a persecution of Christians being conducted during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius. Another version is that Decius ordered them imprisoned in a closed cave to die there as punishment for being Christians. Having fallen asleep inside the cave, they purportedly awoke approximately 180 years later during the reign of Theodosius II, following which they were reportedly seen by the people of the now-Christian city before dying.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sleepers
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   37°56'37"N   27°21'13"E
This article was last modified 11 years ago