The Riot in the Theater

In the first century AD, Ephesus was one of the biggest cities in the Roman Empire — and almost everything about it ran on one thing: the goddess Artemis. Her temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Pilgrims poured in from across the Mediterranean to worship there. Merchants sold silver shrines, priests collected offerings, and the whole city hummed with the business of belief. Then a man named Paul showed up and started telling people their gods weren't real.