Ephesus, the chief city of Roman Asia, seat of the great temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders). Under the Republic it was the residence of the Roman governor of Asia and a banking centre; Cicero recalls the affair of M. Aurelius Scaurus's slave at the asylum of Artemis (Verr. 2.1.85), and Ephesus is frequent in the correspondence as a way-station of Roman commanders in the East.