Approximately two kilometers down a dirt trail from the Ephesus ruins is this cave system with an interesting local legend attached to it. Supposedly, in AD 250, the Emperor Decius persecuted seven early Christians who then were sealed up by the emperor in this cave.
Two hundred years later, the Christians awoke to find the Roman world had become Christian and lived peacefully in Ephesus for the rest of their days. When they died, they were buried back here in the cave, and it became a pilgrimage center. Today, you can see some tombs in the cave.
