The state Agora

The first agora was built in the 6th century B.C. in Hellenistic style which is buried approximately 2m below the present Agora today. The information about this one was obtained from drillings. The present one was also built during the Hellenistic ages (approximately 1st century B.C.) together with the square shaped temple. The temple was demolished totally during the following ages and never being built again.

The place mainly consisted of a large open space (160m x 56m) on the right hand side of the museum entrance. It was located next to a marble road on the mountain side. This large space was surrounded by the Varius Bath, the Basilica, the Odeion, the Prytaneion, Pollio Fountain, Gaius Laecanius Fountain and the Domitian Temple.

The temple in the middle was suggested to be Isis temple but recent findings suggest that it was most likely Augustus temple.

About 3m below the surface a road surrounding the Panayir mountain was found alongside the tombs. One of these tombs are on display in the Ephesus museum today.

The north and eastern stoas remained in good shape till today.

The final renovations were done by Emperor Theodusius between 379-395 A.D.

THE EASTERN GYMNASIUM

You will encounter the ruins of the Eastern Gymnasium on the Pion mountain side of Magnesia Gate.

This is a huge complex made by Damianus in the 2nd century A.D. for the purpose of educating young people of Ephesus on sports, music, astronomy and social skills. There are many young girl statues in the Izmir Archaeology Museum from this Gymnasium. That is why the building is also called "Girl's Gymnasium".

According to inscriptions, boys aged 6-16 were accepted for education in this school. It had baths, a courtyard, class rooms, an Emperor's hall and other facilities. There was an entrance to the structure on the east side with columns and triangular pediments.

The church in between the gymnasium and the car park is a round structure and is not the St.Lucas church as accepted widely.

THE VARIUS BATH

The bath was first built during the Hellenistic age. It has been enlarged and refurbished during the Roman and Byzantine periods. It is located to the north of the State Agora. The structure is still in good shape up to the vaults section.

The final design of the bath suits to classical Roman bath styles. It had three sections; the caldarium (hot section), the tepidarium (warm section) and the frigidarium (cold section). Limestone was used as building material. There were pipes inside the walls of the caldarium and the tepidarium to help the movement of the heated air through these sections.

The mosaic covered room was built in the 5th century A.D. and represents Byzantine era influence on inner decoration technique. A well known sophist, Flavius Damianus built the bath and kept a private room for himself and his wife.

THE ODEION

The small theater known as Odeion was built as a political meeting place (bouleuterion) initially. A wealthy family of Ephesus financed the building. There were seats for 1400 people in the form of 23 tiered rows in a semi-circular shape.

There was a two storey stage facing the seats with a podium in the front and a semi-circular space for the orchestra. The whole structure is believed to be covered with a roof.

During its life time the building was used more often for concerts and art events. That is why it was called Odeion instead of Bouleuterion.

There was a gallery between the stage and the entrance. Most of this gallery has been restored recently.

There are five entrances to the podium. The one on the middle is higher and larger than the others.

There is a marble road in front of the Odeion which continues along the State Agora on the mountain side.

THE PRYTHANEION

An important management center for the religious and ceremonial tasks in the city is named as the Prythaneion. Except the Artemis temple all the other sacred matters are controlled and managed by this authority.

The building was located to the west of the Basilica. It was surrounded by the other buildings and the marble road in the front. It had a courtyard in the front and a big ceremony hall at the back. There were eight large columns in the front, two of which is still standing today. On the corners of the building there existed columns and two of those had heart shaped sections. These sections contained the immortal fire dedicated to the heart of goddess Hestia.

The managers of the building came from the elite families of the city. Their main duty was to keep this fire on forever. Also they had to take care of the daily sacrifices to the names of different gods and goddesses. They usually covered all the expenses for the sacrificial ceremonies.

Until the Roman period Curettes (priests of Artemis temple) maintained a special category involving with only the affairs of the Artemis temple. After Emperor Augustus they took a place in the Prythaneion.

The building collapsed in the 4th century A.D. during a strong earthquake and has never been repaired.

THE DOMITIAN SQUARE

On the road from the Prythaneion to the square there are a number of pedestals with figures of gods and goddesses on them.

The most known ones of these figures belong to god Hermes and Flying Nike. God Hermes holds the horns of a ram with one hand and a caduceus (a symbol of his) with the other on this figure. The purpose of these pedestals and figures along the road is not known yet.

эЬьThe Domitian square is partially excavated and some columns are found. These columns belong to the surrounding buildings. On the Agora side of the road there are some stores and two storey buildings. This road and the square are thought to be a crowded corner of the city leading the way to some important temples, agora and administration buildings as well as to meeting places.

ЭЬьTHE TEMPLE OF DEA ROMA

Dea Roma was a Roman era temple built between 4 -14 A.D. next to Odeion. There were columns on both sides of the building. It was used mainly by Romans citizens of Ephesus.

During the following ages, the temple was destroyed totally and some new buildings were built on top of it.

During the excavations, the marble podium and the remnants of the side walls were revealed compl

THE MEMMIUS MONUMENT

The monument was erected to the memory of soldier Memmius, the son of Caius and grandson of Dictator Sulla of Roma, in the 1st century A.D. It was dedicated to Memmius due to one of his military victories.

The Memmius Monument is located to the north of Curettes Road across the Domitian Square. It is a four sided victory arch. There are three stairs between the columns which hold the arch and the ground. In fact some of the inscriptions were lost or used for repair of the other buildings around, it is still well documented that the monument was built to the memory of Memmius.

THE HADRIANUS TEMPLE

After Domitian temple, the hadrianus temple is the second one dedicated to a Roman emperor. It was built in 138 A.D. by a citizen of Ephesus, P.Quintilius, and dedicated to the emperor of Roma.

It is located in central city, on the Curettes Road. The main section of the temple, nao, which was the main room to keep the cult of the temple was a small room made up of small stones. The nao was entered through a very big entrance door. The beams of this door was decorated with the figures of pearls and eggs in a very rich fashion.

The elegant workmanship of the front wall and the entry to the temple in between the columns were the most spectacular parts of the building. The outer front section of the temple was hold by four columns. Two round ones in the center were supporting the arch with a statue of "Tyche" (the goddess of the city) in the upper middle section. The outer columns were square shaped.

The Hadrianus temple has been renovated recently. The figures representing the foundation of the city by legendary King Androclos and also the other important goddesses and gods as well as some legendary tales on the inner stone walls of the entry section are replicas of the originals which are on exhibition in the Ephesus Museum.

There used to be bronze statues of the four Roman Emperors, Diocletianus, Maximianus, Galerius and Chlorus standing right in front of the temple on the square shaped 1.5 m. high columns with pedestals.

Especially, the front section of the temple is still considered to be one of the most elegant buildings in the city.

ЭЬьTHE SKOLASTIKIA BATH

The first construction of Skolastikia Bath goes to the 1st century A.D. It was originally a Roman structure. The remains that we see today were from the 4th century A.D. The main architectural style of the modified structure is very similar to the original form. The 4th century renovations and modifications were known to be made by a Christian woman named Skolastikia.

There were three different sections in the bath, as in any other Roman bath, frigidarium (cold bath), tepidarium (warm bath) and caldarium (hot bath).

The bath was located on the famous Curettes Road. There were two entrances; one was from the Curettes Road with three columns still standing and the other one was from a side street which was joining to the Curettes Road perpendicularly. There is a statue of Skolastikia on the front wall standing on a pedestal but the head is missing.

The bath which is placed next to the Traian Fountain is the largest building among the similar baths. It was a three storey building. The third floor did not last till today. The bath sections and the pools were in the bottom floor. The hot sections were heated with hot air and water coming through ceramic pipes, a technique used by the other baths as well. The hot water, steam and the cold water to the different sections of the bath were carried mainly under the floor or inside the walls.

We understand from the remaining inscriptions, there was a love house inside the bath. It was a fairly large size love house with separate women's sections and guests' dining sections.

In most of the building the floors were covered with mosaic and marble.

The use of the bath diminished throughout the middle ages. During the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, the bath was renovated again and put into use.

THE HERACLES GATE

The Heracles gate was built in the 4th century A.D. It was located on the Curettes road. This monumental gate was a two storey building with six columns on each floor. Some of the columns with reliefs are exhibited on Domitian square today. There are Heracles statues attached on to two of these columns.

эЬьThe arch of the gate is missing. Some of the materials used in the gate during the construction were taken from the other buildings, which were made in the 2nd century.

THE PERISTYLED HOUSES OF EPHESUS

Although the peristyled houses of the Ephesus, which we found mainly around the central locations of the city, were built in the 1st century A.D., they existed until the 6th and even 7th century. They belonged to the rich people of the city. There are a number of these houses across the Hadrianus Temple which have been renovated recently.

Most of these buildings were connected to the Curettes Road through short and steep side streets. There were stairs leading the way to the entrance of these houses from the street. Usually, they were two or more storey buildings and with approximately 12 rooms. The common feature of all of these houses were a peristyle (a small courtyard) located in the middle of the house to let fresh air circulate and at the same time light come into the rooms from a reasonably protected opening.

эЬьThere were two entrances into the houses. One was the service entry and the other one was the main entry. The main entrance door were leading the way into the peristyle. This place was a small courtyard in the middle, surrounded by columns around with the room doors opening into the courtyard. Some houses had small cisterns in the middle and also a small fountain next to the columns. Any standard peristyled house in Ephesus had an access to the water distribution system. This access was established via ceramic pipes connected to the main distribution pipe of the city. The thickness of this pipe was adjusted according to the need of the house. This system is considered to be an early model of today's water consumption meters.

Another spectacular feature of these houses was the ceramic pipes hidden into the walls. They were used to heat the rooms by circulating hot air inside. The house had also a well established bathroom. The bathrooms were intended to serve a number of people at the same time. The toilets were inside the bathrooms.

Upper floors were generally bedrooms. The bedroom walls were decorated with frescos and marble tiles. Some of these frescos were representing some scenes from the popular plays of the time or some legends believed by the locals.

THE MARBLE ROAD

The road which encircles the Mount Pion (Panayirdag) is known to be the main road of the city. It was also accepted as the holy road of Ephesus. The section of this road between the south of the Celsus Library and the commercial Agora is covered with marble plates during the 5th century A.D. by a person named Eutropios.

The marble road was heavily used throughout the ages and repaired many times. The marble covered section of the road was allocated to the carriages only.

We see the remains of a row of columns to the east of this road. There existed the stoa of the commercial Agora on the other side. The columns of the stoa were standing on a base-wall of 1.7m. high. There were stairs both on the north and the south ends of this pedestrians' walk-way. The people had to climb several stairs to reach the stoa.

THE AGORA

This small commercial Agora was first built during Lysimakhos' time (approximately 280 B.C.) next to the Celsus Library. The original structure lies 2-3 m. below the ground today. It is on Curettes Road. The oldest gate to the Agora was on the west side. This gate shows Hellenistic features.

The whole Agora was occupying a large area of 110 x 110 m. in square shape, with shops surrounding a large courtyard except on the north side. Right in front of the shops, there was a stoa (pedestrian walkway covered with a ceiling and surrounded by columns from the courtyard side). The original Agora had granite columns first, but then during a renovation in the Roman time (approximately 4th century A.D.) they were replaced with marble ones. The last form of the Agora was set during Emperor Caracalla (211-217

The most spectacular section of the Agora was the gate made by two freed slaves of Emperor Augustus. These two men, Mazeus and Mithridates, built this gate with three passages and commemorated to the emperor, his wife, daughter and son-in-law. There are inscriptions written in Latin and Hellenistic languages on the top section of the arched gate-ways indicating the builders and the emperors' family to whom the gate was dedicated. This gate opens to the southeast direction, the Harbour side and the Serapis temple direction.

There used to be a sun and water clock in the middle of the courtyard. The restoration of this Agora has not started yet.

THE CELSUS LIBRARY

The Celsus Library is one of the most spectacular buildings in Ephesus. It was built by the Council Gaius Julius Aquila in 110 A.D. as a memorial for his father Julius Celsus Polemeanus who was council before him and died at the age of 70. The construction was completed by Gaius' successors in 135 A.D. He had donated 25000 dinars for the completion and maintenance of the monumental library before his death. His father's tomb is kept in a specially made room under the ground floor. The body was kept in a lead container inside a marble tomb. This room can be accessed through a corridor connected to a gate behind the north wall.

Mainly the front monumental wall and the gates were renovated by archaeologist W.Strocka and architect/restorer F.Hueber between 1970 and 1978.

The entry to the library was through the 9 step stone stairs from the Curettes Road and reaching to the podium which was base to the four double columns supporting the building. These columns stand on square shaped pedestals. Right behind the columns after a narrow walk-way there were three gates. The middle one is wider and higher than the others. There were large windows just above the doors. Also in the second floor there were three windows on the front side wall to let the light go into the building.

The Celsus Library was two storey from the front face but the main reading area was located inside the building on a large single floor with a very high ceiling. The reading area was surrounded by a three storey storage place over-looking this main saloon. The hand-written books were handed to the readers to read in the main reading room by library officials. At one stage there estimated to be 12000 books in the library. Obviously, it was one of the largest library collections of the antiquity.

The library building was surrounded by second set of walls from outside to keep the humidity and the temperature variations outside. The internal dimensions of the library was 11 x 16.7 m.

The statue of Celsus which was found during the excavations are on display in Istanbul Archaeology Museum today.

The library was burned down totally approximately in the 3rd century. The front wall was not destroyed totally. It was restored after the disaster and a small pool was constructed right in front of the building. These restorations were done roughly in the 4th century. The sculptured monumental walls dedicated to the memory of the victory gained against the Parts by Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verius, standing in this pool are on exhibition in the Museum of Vienna today.

During the late Roman ages there was an Auditorium used by politicians, artists, public speakers built in front of the library next to the road. There are no remains of this structure today.

THE SERAPIS TEMPLE

This temple was built by Egyptian merchants to the name of god Serapis. It was located next to the small Agora. There used to be a 24m. wide and 160m. long stoa (a walk-way surrounded by a wall on one side and columns on the other. It is covered usually by a roof) leading the way to the temple on the western gate direction of the Agora. There is also another entrance into the temple from the south-west corner of the Agora through stairs.

The main structure of the Serapis temple was located to the southern border of a large courtyard surrounded by the columns. The 29m. wide holy square where the cult of the temple was kept had very thick walls to hold the heavy stone roof. The entrance to the temple was supported by giant single-piece, 1.5m. in diameter, 57 tones granite columns. The main door was made up of a very thick metal. This huge door was opened and closed by the help of the wheels located underneath.

There are certain indications that suggest the temple was never finished fully. It is estimated that the construction of the temple was started in the 2nd century A.D.

There is a statue found inside the temple made by using the Egyptian granite. Also some inscriptions found inside the temple indicate that the temple was constructed for those who believe in Serapis.

It is well documented fact that Ephesus had a very strong commercial link with the influential port city of Egypt, Alexandria. During these ancient times Egypt was the biggest producer of wheat. They exchanged wheat with other commercial items from Ephesus and other Ionian cities.

The Serapis temple was converted to a church during the following Christian period. There are remains of a baptisterium in the eastern corner of the temple.

THE THEATER

The biggest and the most spectacular structure of Ephesus. It was also the most important meeting place in the social and cultural life of the city.

The theater is a large semi-circular structure leaning against the Pion Mountain. The audience was facing the stage and then the harbour at the background. The diameter of the theater is 145m. and the height is 30m. It is mainly made up of marble. Its has a seating capacity for 24,000 people.

The original theater was built during the Hellenistic ages. Then it was enlarged in size during Emperor Cladius (41-54 A.D.) and completed during Emperor Traian (98-117 A.D.). Initially one storey, small stage section was modified and made much bigger during the Roman ages. The stage was a three storey elegant part of the theater. There were 8 rooms and a corridor on each floor. The ground floor had an entrance to the podium and a hidden access corridor to the orchestra place under the ground.

The first two floors of the stage were built by Roman Emperor Neron (54-68 A.D.). The third floor was added to the theater during the 2nd century. The final form of the stage was has not been modified since then. The stage is a 25 x 40m. elegant building decorated with columns and statues of gods, goddesses and emperors on the outside. There were a number of gates into the theater. The center one was the biggest one. The outer side of the stage building was the most decorated one.

There was an altar (sacrifice place) in the middle of the stage podium. This altar was used to offer sacrifices to Dionysus and making ceremonies. The audience used to access to the the theater from the marble road through the stairs without interfering the stage building.

эЬьThe players used to perform at the same place with orchestra members during the Hellenistic ages. This has changed during the Roman Age and they started to perform at the extended place in front of the orchestra. The plays would start in the early morning and continue until midnight most of the time. The audience was charged an entrance fee.

The theater was also used as a meeting place for ordinary citizens to discuss important matters involving the city. During the Roman Age it also became a venue for gladiator fights involving wild animals.

The renovated Grand Theater of Ephesus has recently been a spectacular stage to a number of orchestral and theatrical performances during the famous annual Efes (Ephesus) Festival.

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