A carved block from an altar, one of many architectural fragments that lie along the streets and in the squares of ancient Ephesus. Altars were the center of Greek and Roman religious practice, where offerings and sacrifices were made in the open air.
Ephesus, on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, was one of the great cities of the Greek and Roman world. Under Rome it was the capital of the province of Asia, with a population estimated at well over 100,000, and it was famous for the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders.
