854 E P H 
the tympanum, with a very rich cornice, confided of 
blocks feveral tons weight, with capitals of carved acan¬ 
thus, all of white marble, fupplied by the contiguous 
quarries of mount Prion. The fronting area of an acre at 
lead was inclofed by a periftyle of black granite, of which 
are innumerable veftiges. It was probably the agora or 
forum. Farther on, and clofe upon the brink of the pre- 
fent morafsonce covered by the fea, upon a riling ground, 
are accumulated walls of brick faced with large flabs of 
marble, and of fufficient extent to encourage Tournefort 
and the Engliffi travellers in a conjecture that this ftruc- 
ture was the famed temple-of Diana. One common de¬ 
molition has now, however, overwhelmed the parent city 
and its temporary rival ; and the lapfe of many interme¬ 
diate ages is not difcernible from-any feries of more com¬ 
plete ftruftures. 
On the eaft fide of mount Prion, there is a cavern as ex- 
tenfive as fome of thofe in Derbyfliire, but not fo deep ; 
the length is a hundred yards, and the height about as 
many feet, both apertures being nearly equal. Of thefe 
there are many curious traditions. In the reign of j ulian, 
a noted fop hi ft named Maximus occupied one of them for 
the celebration of midnight orgies and the Eleufinian 
myfteries, when that emperor was initiated, his infolent 
apoftacy openly profelfed, and he became, as lie wiflied 
the world to believe, a follower of Plato. 
The legendary miracle of the feven fleepers, who were 
faid to have been immured in one of thefe grottos in the 
reign of the perfecuting Decius, and to have awakened 
nearly two centuries after in that of the bigot Theodo- 
fius, has afforded matter for the homilies of the fathers 
of the Greek church, and the Koran. When the popu¬ 
larity of this ftory was fpread through many languages 
and nations, Mohammed had patiently liftened to the 
narrative camel driver, who related it amongft other tales 
for the folace or the caravan. He then, perhaps, little 
fufpedted that he fliould ever become the leader of mil¬ 
lions, and that fucli a fable would be of confequence 
enough to be admitted into the volume which engrofles 
the faith of his followers. But fuch was its acceptation 
amongft thofe whom he determined to conquer or con¬ 
ciliate; and the ufe he as made of it, with the latitude it 
offered, is no proof of his original genius. Mohammed 
entitles the eighteenth chapter of the Koran, “ the Chap¬ 
ter of the Cave,” in which he diredts his followers how 
they are to believe this celebrated miracle. “ The infi¬ 
dels fay they were five, and that their dog was the fixth : 
they fpeak by opinion; but the true believers affirm 
them to be feven, and their dog to be the eighth.” Upon 
a gold coin of the Turks called armoodi, the names of 
feven fleepers are thus written, “ Jemlika, Meffielina, 
Miflina, Mernoos, Debernoos, Shazenous, and Kephe- 
ftatjoos.” 
At the foot of mount Prion, under the fingle tower 
known by tradition as the prifon of St. Paul, are the vef- 
tiges of many fumptuous buildings, which muff have 
added fuperior grandeur to the Ionian metropolis. We 
are told that the tombs of St. John and Timothy were 
both in that fpot, decorated with ftately ftrudtures. 
Farther from the town are many fmall vaults, originally 
ferving as catacombs for families of fuperior rank. 
In the time of the apoftle Paul, Ephefus retained a 
great deal of its ancient grandeur. See Adts xviii. 19, 
&c. Towards the end of the nth century, a Turkilh 
pirate, named Tangripermes , fettled there. But the Greek 
admiral, John Ducas, defeated him in a bloody battle, 
and purfued the flying Turks up the Maeander. In 1306, 
it was among the places which buffered from the exac¬ 
tions of the grand-duke Roger; and two years after, it 
furrendered to fultan Sayfan, who, to prevent future in- 
furredtions, removed moft of the inhabitants to Tyriaeum, 
where they were maffacred. Ephefus appears to have 
fubfifted as an inconfiderable place for many centuries. 
Now the Ephefians are only a few Greek peafants, living 
■in extreme wretchednefs, dependence, and infenfibility } 
E P H 
the reprefentative of an illuftrious people, and inhabit"-. 
ing the wreck of their greatnefs ; fome, the fubftrudtions 
of the glorious edifices which they railed ; fome, beneath 
the vaults of the Stadium, once the crowded fcene of 
their diverfions; and fome, by the abrupt precipice, in 
the fepulchres which received their allies. 
EPHE'TiE, a number of magiftrates at Athens firft infti- 
tuted J>y Demophoon, the fon of Thefeus. They were 
reduced to the number of fify-one by Draco, who, accord¬ 
ing tafome, firft eftablifhed them. They were fuperior to 
the Areopaga'ces, and their privileges were great and nu¬ 
merous. Solon, however, leffened their power, and en- 
•trufted them only with the trial of manflaughter and con- 
fpiracy againft the life of a citizen. They were all more 
than fifty years old, and it was required that their man¬ 
ners fhould be pure and innocent, and their behaviour 
auftere and full of gravity. 
EPHIAL'TES, f. [from stpccMopai, Gr. toleapupon.J 
The medical term for the nightmare ; fo called becaufe 
it was thought a daemon leaped upon the breaft. 
EPHL'ELIS, f. [Gr. calyculus ; fo called from the 
nedtary forming a fort of crown to the corolla.] In bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the clafs octandria, order monogynia, 
The generic characters are—Calyx : perianth one-leafed, 
five-parted, fpreading : fegments roundifti, acute. Co¬ 
rolla: petals five, having claws, roundifh, fpreading, 
emarginate with a point, the length of the calyx ; nec¬ 
tary of ten fcales, a pair to each petal faftened to the 
bafe, roundifti, villofe, fmaller than the petals. Sta¬ 
mina : filaments eight, briftle-fliaped, longer than the 
corolla, inferted into a gland; anthers four-cornered, 
roundifh. Piltillum: germ ovate, furrounded by a gland ; 
ftyle none, ftigma blunt. Pericarpium : capfule oblong, 
comprelfed, grooved onboth (ides, one-celled, two-valved. 
Seeds: two, kidney-form, faftened to one-of the valves in 
the middle one above the other.— EJfentialCkarafter. Ca¬ 
lyx five-parted; petals five, with claws; nectary ten 
fcales, two to each petal; capfule oblong, one-celled, 
two-valved, two-feeded. 
Ephielis guianenfis, a fingle fpecies. It is a tree fifty 
or fixty feet high, very much branched at top ; the mid¬ 
dle branches, or thofe in the centre, being the higheft, 
and (landing perpendicular: the lower ones are more in¬ 
clining and horizontal, and fpread out to a great diftance: 
they divide into many branchlets, furnilhed with alter¬ 
nate leaves, each of which is pinnated : the pinnules op- 
pofite, from four to fix in number, entire, oval, pointed, 
of a fmooth furfajpe, and of a bright green : thefe pinnules 
or leaflets are fometimes eight inches in length. The 
flowers grow from the bofoms of the leaves on long 
pedicels, divided at their extremities into feveral fmaller 
ones: thefe flowers are very fmall, and white. This 
tree grows in the forefts of Guiana, and there 'flowers in 
the month of October. 
EPH'OD, [ti2n, Heb.J A fort of veftment worn by the 
Hebrew priefts. That worn by the high prieft was r>chly 
compofed of gold, blue, purple, crimfon, and twifted cot¬ 
ton ; and upon the part which came over his two (bould¬ 
ers were two large precious ftones, upon which were en¬ 
graven the names of the twelve tribes of Ifrael, upon each 
(tone fix names. Where the ephod crofted the high 
prieft’s breaft, was a fquare ornament, called the breaft- 
plate; in which twelve precious ftones were fet, with 
the names of the twelve tribes of Ifrael engraved on them, 
one'on each (tone. The ephods worn by the other priefts 
were of plain linen. Calmet. —He made the ephod of gold, 
blue, and purple, and fcarlet, and fine twined linen. 
Exod. xxxix. 2. 
Aray’d in ephods ; nor fo few 
As are thofe pearls of morning dew. 
Which hang on herbs and flowers. Sandys. 
EPH'ODES,/ [from sot-i and oboe, Gr. a way.] The 
dufts or palfages by which the excrements of the body 
are evacuated. The accefs or attack of any thing hurtful. 
EPH'ORI, 
