The Cave of the Seven Sleepers, Ephesus

What is the Cave of the Seven Sleepers?

It is an early Christian cemetery on the hillside next to Ephesus, built around a natural grotto that, by the fifth century, people believed was the cave of the Seven Sleepers. What you see today is a terrace of rock-cut chambers in the gray limestone, the walls of a church built over the grotto, brick vaults, and stone sarcophagi with their lids pushed aside. In Turkish the place is called Yedi Uyurlar, the Seven Sleepers, or Ashab-i Kehf, the Companions of the Cave.

It is a quiet spot. There are no columns or marble streets here, and that is the point: it shows a side of Ephesus that the great monuments do not, the city of the early Christians who wanted to be buried close to a story they held sacred.

Where is it, and how far is it from the Kusadasi cruise port?

It is on the slopes of Panayir Hill, the hill the Great Theater is cut into, just outside the ancient city on the side toward Selcuk. From the cruise terminal it is about 20 to 25 minutes by road, the same drive as Ephesus itself, and on the way you pass the ruins of the ancient stadium.

Because it sits so close to the ruins, it fits easily into a port day. It does not need its own trip; it is a short stop on the way between the ancient city, the Temple of Artemis and Selcuk.

What is the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus?

It is the story of seven young Christians of Ephesus who hid from persecution, fell asleep in a cave and woke about two centuries later. Under the Roman emperor Decius, around AD 250, Christians were ordered to sacrifice to the Roman gods. The seven refused, gave what they owned to the poor and went up the mountain to pray in a cave, where they fell asleep. When the emperor learned where they were, he had the mouth of the cave walled up.

Generations passed and the empire became Christian. In the reign of Theodosius II, usually around AD 447 in the telling, a landowner opened the cave to use it as a pen for his cattle. The seven woke, sure they had slept a single night, and sent one of their number down to Ephesus to buy bread. He found crosses on the buildings, and the baker found a young man paying with coins of Decius, two hundred years out of date. The bishop came up to the cave, heard their story, and the seven died praising God.

The versions do not all agree on the names or on how long the sleep lasted: the Golden Legend of the thirteenth century counts 196 years, other versions more than 370. The heart of the story stays the same in all of them.

Is the story of the Seven Sleepers in the Bible or in the Quran?

It is not in the Bible, and it is in the Quran. In Christianity it is a legend of the late Roman world, and the seven are honored as saints in the Orthodox and Catholic churches. The earliest version that survives is a poem by the Syriac bishop Jacob of Serugh, who lived around 450 to 521 and worked from an older Greek text, now lost. A pilgrim account written between 518 and 531 already mentions a church of the Sleepers at Ephesus, and Gregory of Tours carried the story to the West in the sixth century. Copies survive in at least nine medieval languages and in more than 200 manuscripts.

The Quran tells the story of the Companions of the Cave in Sura 18, Al-Kahf (verses 9 to 26): young believers who took refuge in a cave, with their dog, and slept there for many years. Islamic tradition names the dog Qitmir, and the Quran leaves their exact number to God. Because the story is told so widely, several places in Turkey and beyond are also honored as the cave. Ephesus is the city the early Christian versions name.

What did the excavations find?

A church built over the grotto, several hundred graves and inscriptions naming the Seven Sleepers. The site was excavated in the late 1920s, and the graves date from the fifth and sixth centuries AD, the same years in which the legend was spreading. Inscriptions dedicated to the Sleepers were found both on the walls and in the graves, so the people buried here clearly chose the place because of the story.

The early Christian catacomb that grew up here became a pilgrimage site, and that is what you see now: not a single cave, but a whole hillside of tombs, chambers and vaults, with the church at its center. Many finds from Ephesus are in the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk.

Can you go inside, and how long does a stop take?

You look at it from outside: the ruins are seen from the edge of the site, and there is no ticket to buy. A stop is short, enough to take in the hillside, hear the story and take photographs, which is why it fits so well into a half-day circle. It is seen from a short stand at ground level, so it is one of the easier stops for guests who walk slowly; our wheelchair access page explains how we plan a day around limited mobility.

Bring a hat and water in summer, as you would anywhere around Ephesus, and our what-to-wear post covers the rest.

Which of our tours stops at the Cave of the Seven Sleepers?

Our Open-Air Circle (Panoramic) tour stops outside the grotto, together with the Temple of Artemis, the Isa Bey Mosque, the Byzantine aqueduct in Selcuk and the Ayasuluk Hill viewpoint, in 3 to 4 hours with almost no walking and no entrance tickets to buy. If you would rather walk the ancient city as well, our custom shore excursion lets you add the Seven Sleepers to Ephesus, the House of the Virgin Mary or the Basilica of St. John, shaped around your ship's hours.

Entrance tickets are never included in our prices; the Seven Sleepers has none, and any other site is paid at the official price at the gate. We meet you right outside the cruise terminal exit; the meeting point page shows the spot. Send your ship and date through our inquiry form and we will suggest a day that fits.