The Tomb of the Evangelist Luke

     This is located to the south of the road and east of the parking lot by the upper entrance. J. T. Wood observed the bull reliefs curved on the wall support in the east, as well as the sign of cross, during his first excavation at Ephesus in 1825. He named the structure “The Tomb of Luke the Evangelist” taking into consideration that the fact that the bull is the symbol of Luke the Evangelist. Dating from the 2^nd century A.D. , the tomb was constructed upon the ruins of an older structure, whose function is today unknown. Within the infrastructure of the Roman podium there are some rooms surrounding the massive central supports and the upper side of the podium is surrounded by columns. During the early Byzantium period in the 5^th and 6^th centuries, this Roman structure was converted in to a church and an apse was added and, in recent excavations some traces concerning the Evangelist John were found. The church is accessed via the west and the east stairs and stands upon a Roman period podium without any columns. The central structure on the top in connected to the church through a narrow staircase beneath and the remains of numerous murals indicate that this structure was richly embellished. The southern entrance to the crypt is covered by spolien wall supports on two sides. That on the west side is ornamented with a cross ornament while the east side has a cross and also a bull curved in relief. During excavations several tombs of children were found around this structure.