Curetes Street was a major thoroughfare in Ephesus, which was, as the Encyclopedia Britannica notes, "the most important Greek city in Ionian Asia Minor," and was founded around 600 B.C.

Exploring Ancient Ephesus Ruled over the centuries by Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, there is much to see of the city’s former splendor ...

In its heyday, Ephesus, the most visited section of this Aegean Sea peninsula resort, was the New York City of Imperial Rome — Asia Minor’s commercial center.