Ephesus received most of its marble from nearby sources such as Hierapolis (a.k.a. Pamukkale), Aphrodisias, and Pergamon. The richness and luxury of Ephesus can be understood from the glorious marble streets of the city. Marble is more beautiful than limestone and tougher, and so people like to use it for buildings. Marble was rare and expensive. A lot of marble is white, but marble can come in all different colors. In ancient Ephesus, people used marble, especially white marble, to make statues, and they used colored marble in patterns to make mosaics which are still visible in Terrace Houses today. Sometimes people also used marble in thin sheets on the walls of fancy buildings like Welcoming Hall of the First Terrace House. The artists preferred to use white marble because it better showed the subtleties in the soft molding of areas such as the muscles on a sculpture depicting an athlete.
ephesus hospital 
Brothel of Ephesus 
