Of greatest interest to the student of the Bible is a stone discovered in 1898 on the Lechæum road near the propylæa, or gateway leading to the market-place. This stone once formed the lintel of a door and bore an inscription in Greek letters. Although the beginning and the end of the two words written on it are broken away, it is clear that the inscription was “Synagogue of the Hebrews.”[322] The cutting of the letters was poorly done, and the block was a second-hand one, adapted from some other use. It seems probable, therefore, that the Jewish community at Corinth was not wealthy. The block was of considerable size and so was probably found not far from where the synagogue stood. If so, this synagogue, which is probably identical with the one in which Paul preached (Acts 18:4), stood on the Lechæum road not far from the market-place. Other discoveries in the neighborhood indicate that this was a residence quarter of the city, and we learn from Acts 18:7 that the house of Titus Justus, where apparently Paul organized the first church in Corinth, “joined hard to the synagogue.” The house of Justus must, then, have been here, and the Lechæum road often echoed to the footsteps of Paul. Probably the judgment-seat to which the Jews dragged Paul for the hearing before Gallio (Acts 18:12) was in the market-place, so that the excavations have revealed to us the parts of Corinth of special interest to a reader of the Bible. =3. The Churches of Asia.= (1) _Ephesus_ was situated on the Cayster river in western Asia Minor, about three miles from the sea, but in ancient times the sea was navigable up as far as the city. Cities which form the point of contact between land and sea traffic become in most countries populous and wealthy. In western Asia Minor four cities, situated at the mouths of the four river valleys through which caravans could proceed into the interior, became populous and important. These were Miletus (see Acts 20:15, 17, f.) at the mouth of the Mæander, Ephesus at the mouth of the Cayster, Smyrna at the mouth of the Hermus, and Pergamum on the Caicus. In the earliest times known to us Ephesus was eclipsed in importance by Miletus, but before the beginning of the Christian era Ephesus had outstripped her rival. This was due to several causes, one of which was the partial silting up of the harbor of Miletus. In Roman times Ephesus lay on the great line of communication between Rome and the East in general.[323] In later centuries the harbor of Ephesus was in its turn silted up, and the site is now deserted except for a neighboring wretched Turkish village.