The date of foundation of Ephesus is back in the bronze age under the Hittite state of Arzawa.

It found that by trekking across the alluvial plain to the southwest it had easy access to the one natural harbor on the long stretch of beach opposite Samos: the port today held by the Turkish city of Kuşadası, a strong candidate for the location of Marathesium.

There is, however, a second theory proposed by H. Lohmann after a study of the toponyms of north Ionia and the archaeological evidence of the 21st century.

In the south angle of the same promontory on which Kuşadası is located, there is another harbor inland from which stood another hill, Ambar Tepe.

The literary sources are too few and too scant to give anything more than a general idea of the location of Marathesion, which is true of many ancient cities.

Ephesus was originally placed on the lower slopes of a 300 m (980 ft) NE-SW mountain, Bülbüldağ, on the south coast of the estuary of the Cayster River, then deep water.

[10] Ephesus had only two paths of approach: the estuary, and overland from the coast of north Ionia, the latter coming through what is now Kuşadası.

As the capability of Ephesus to transfer people and goods with maximum efficiency decreased, the land approach became increasingly important.

Ephesus went on through the later Roman Empire and Byzantine period as an important international city of the Christian faith.

[11] These toponyms of the 13th century introduced a confusion in subsequent scholarship, as Strabo had already apparently used the term Neapolis.

"[12] Neapolis disappears altogether and Anea stands in its place, a known city south of Ambar Tepe on what was then the coast, now inland.

However, that choice leaves downtown Kuşadası without a toponym, if Scala Nuova can be assumed to be a settlement of the population of Ephesus.

In 1717 the botanist, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, published a three-volume account of an expedition he had made in the orient.

His woodcut of the place shows the unmistakable outline of Kese Dağı and Pigeon Island without the causeway.

Pitton de Tournefort calls the hill "Cape Scalanova, which projects greatly into the sea."

He is at a loss to explain the etymology of the name, calling it an "Italian name that the Franks gave to it perhaps after the destruction of Ephesus."

He suggests that Scalanova is a transcription of "the ancient name of Neapolis of the Milesians," but does not elucidate with any literary references.

Before the Meliac War it was part of the vast holdings of Melia on Mount Mycale, which Stephanos also calls Carian.

Even in the Bronze Age the Greeks were settling in the coastal cities of Arzawa, notably Ephesos and Miletus.

It should be no surprise therefore if the coast north of Miletos had actually been in the Carian-speaking territory, or if Carian had already been given up in those cities in favor of Greek.

[14] The fact that the name of this herb occurs in Linear B as ma-ra-tu-wo only strengthens the possibility that the toponyms were devised and assigned in the Bronze Age.

[15] The town belonged to the Samians; but at some time they made an exchange, and, giving it to the Ephesians, receiving in return the Neapolis.