Gustav Adolf Deissmann (1866–1937) and the revival of archaeological excavations at Ephesus after the First World War*

In his lifetime Gustav Adolf Deissmann was celebrated as the reviver of the archaeological excavations of Ephesus and the one man through whose ‘unceasing benefaction’ the city’s historical heritage was able to be preserved for future generations. Yet his unique and long protracted rescuing role for the once-foremost city in Asia has today been almost completely forgotten; and even among archaeologists and historians few would associate his name with archaeology, fewer still with the salvaging of Ephesus’ extraordinary story. Nevertheless, immeasurable historical losses were averted in the nick of time because of Deissmann’s proactive determination to preserve the legacy of Ephesus’s past millennia, at a historical moment when much of it was about to pass into oblivion.