2-368-558 - Samuel Magal/Sites & Photos/Heritage Images

The theatre at Ephesus, Turkey. Built during the Hellenistic period, the theatre at Ephesus had a stage building 18 metres and three stories high and had seating for 24,500 spectators. It had a semi-circular orchestra pit water channels around it allowing rain water to flow away Ephesus was once the most important commercial centre of the ancient world and also a religious centre for early Christians. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period.