The Cave of Seven Sleepers in Ephesus
A Nerdy Reflection
Please humor me while I let my nerdy religious studies professor, who lurks within me, come out to play just a bit.
During my camping trip with my son during Eid/Bayram, we explored sacred sites around Ephesus. Camping in the US often means complete immersion in the wilderness, but camping in Turkiye is different; most places usually have towns, villages, and historical sites. So that means we got to spend time in nature by the Aegean Sea and also explore ancient Greek, Christian, and Islamic sacred spaces and sites.
One place I found fascinating was the “Cave of the Seven Sleepers.” I’ve also visited a cave of the Seven Sleepers as well in Syria at the monastery of Deir Mar Musa. My PhD dissertation was about pilgrimage and the significance of sacred space and rituals, bodies of the venerated dead, and relics. I confess that I can’t just explore sacred sites (of any religious tradition) without a bit of my academic self returning and making some observations and analysis. I'm even more intrigued when I find shared sacred sites (more than one religious community).
The sign might say entrance is forbidden, but hey, it's Türkiye, so we could see a bit of the interior of the complex. Some people, unfortunately, were climbing under a fence and into the protected area under excavation.
So, historical legitimacy is not of interest here, but the fact that the Cave of Sleepers was a story told by Christians and also shows up in the Qur’an is pretty significant.
I couldn’t spot the “cave” as the site is a large excavation site, complete with a church complex in ruins and many burial sites. Some of the graves date back to the mid-5th century, but the cave itself was used even before that. They found items like pottery with Christian symbolism and writings about the seven sleepers, and images of Greek and Roman gods.
We went to the site on Bayram/Eid, so it was mainly full of Turkish families enjoying a day out for the holidays. I’d be curious to know how Turkish and foreign Christians view this site. Muslim families didn’t seem to treat it like a sacred site but rather like another historical site.
According to the Syriac narrative: “The seven sleepers were born in Ephesus. And when Decius the emperor came into Ephesus for the persecution of Christian men, he commanded to edify the temples in the middle of the city so that all should come with him to do sacrifice to the idols, and did do seek all the Christian people, and bind them for to make them do sacrifice, or else to put them to death; in such wise that every man was afraid of the pains that he promised, that the friend forsook his friend, and the son denied his father, and the father the son.”
The Qur’an explains: “Those youths took refuge in the cave, and said, “Our Lord! Grant us mercy from Yourself and guide us rightly through our ordeal…Since you have distanced yourselves from them and what they worship besides Allah, take refuge in the cave. Your Lord will extend His mercy to you and accommodate you in your ordeal” Qur’an 18:10, 16.
How long did they “sleep” in the cave? According to the Syriac narrative, “It is in doubt of that which is said that they slept three hundred and sixty-two years, for they were raised the year of our Lord four hundred and seventy-eight, and Decius reigned but one year and three months, and that was in the year of our Lord two hundred and seventy, and so they slept but two hundred and eight years.
”According to the Qur’an, “They stayed in their Cave three hundred years, and (some) add nine (more). Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Allah knows best how long they stayed. With Him ˹alone˺ is ˹the knowledge of˺ the unseen of the heavens and the earth” (18:25-26).
Once the sleepers awoke from their deep slumber, they sent one of them into town with a coin to buy food. In the Syriac version of the story, one of the men named Malchus “took five shillings and left the cave, and when he saw the masons and the stones before the cave, he began to bless him, and was much marveled.”
In the Qur’anic narrative, the narrative is of course sparser “... Now send one of you with this your silver coin unto the city, and let him see what food is purest there and bring you a supply thereof. Let him be courteous and let no man know of you” (18:19).
The Qur’anic narrative briefly gives content for the structures that were later built around the cave: “(Some) said, "Construct a building over them": Their Lord knows best about them: those who prevailed over their affair said, "Let us surely build a place of worship over them." (18:21).
Whereas the Syriac version offers a more detailed explanation of the decorated graves at the site:
“And then he commanded to make precious gold and silver sepulchers and bury their bodies therein. And in the same night, they appeared to the emperor and said to him that he should suffer them to lie on the earth like they had lain to before until our Lord had raised them, unto the time that they should rise again. Then, the emperor commanded that the place be adorned nobly and richly with precious stones, and all the bishops confessing the resurrection should be assoiled.
OK, I will stop here before this becomes anything resembling an academic article. Enough analysis; you can see where I am going with this. Fascinating stuff. Wow, it’s amazing to live where I can visit these sorts of places whenever I find the time.
One more thing, the wildflowers in the area were amazing, and I harvested some wild thyme and another medicinal-looking herb I couldn’t resist. As soon as we walked off the beaten path, we found some caves, a quiet natural area for resting and some peace.
