Reused Roman Gladiator’s Tomb Uncovered in Ephesus

IZMIR, TURKEY—According to a Türkiye Today report, Sinan Mimaroğlu of Hatay Mustafa Kemal University and his colleagues have discovered a tomb thought to have been constructed for a Roman gladiator named Euphrates in the third century B.C. at the ruins of the Basilica of St. John, a Christian church constructed by the emperor Justinian I (reigned a.d. 527–565) on the site where the apostle was said to have been buried in the ancient city of Ephesus. The gladiator’s tomb was later reused and expanded in the fifth century A.D. to bury the remains of 12 individuals. Christian symbols and inscriptions were added to the inside of the tomb at this time, Mimaroğlu said, with additional crosses added to the lid of the tomb in the seventh and eighth centuries. He explained that there had been a small Christian church associated with the tomb in the fifth century A.D., but it was eventually rebuilt and topped with a dome by Justinian I in the sixth century. “The burials inside the church likely belonged to the upper class or clergy, as it’s unlikely an ordinary person would be buried in such a meticulous manner within a church,” Mimaroğlu concluded. To read about a gladiator's tombstone found in northern Turkey, go to "Artifact: Tombstone for the Gladiator Diodorus."