Celsus library

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The facade of the Celsus Library, rebuilt in 1978
The Celsus Library after the excavation completed in 1905

The Celsus Library was a public ancient library of the Roman times in Ephesus (near the present-day city of Selçuk in Turkey ). Their remains were discovered during excavations in 1903. It was built between 117 and 125 by the family of the suffect consul Iulius Celsus , who belonged to the knighthood . How long the library was in operation is unknown. In the 3rd or 4th century at the latest, the building was integrated into a residential building.

The Celsus Library was built at a time when there were already numerous public libraries in the Roman Empire. These were often donated by wealthy or influential people, including the Celsus Library, which also served as a memorial and mausoleum for Iulius Celsus. Parts of the building were uncovered between 1903 and 1904. The reconstruction of the collapsed facade took place from 1970 to 1978 and ensured that the library was well known beyond the specialist community.

Information on the equipment, organization and history of the library are only preserved in writing .

Name and tradition

Inscriptions can be seen under the statue, above the statue and at the bottom left

There are no literary sources on the library of Celsus. The written tradition is limited to inscriptions in stone that were attached to the library and later found in its vicinity. One of the inscriptions refers to the building as the Celsus Library.

The building inscription can be read on the architrave of the basement. Also on the facade, above the statue of Sophia, there is a longer inscription about the foundation. Further inscriptions, some of them extensive, in Latin and ancient Greek were found in other places on the facade, on its back and on both sides of the stairs.

Archaeological evidence

Layout

Location and orientation

The library was located in the ancient city center south of the Lower Agora , one of the city's two marketplaces. An old processional path , now known as Kuretenstrasse , ended here , which continued to the north in a marble-covered boulevard. At the beginning there was the library on the western side of the street. Grave and honorary monuments for outstanding personalities of the city had already been erected along Kuretenstrasse, and other monuments followed.

As the Roman architect Vitruvius did in the 1st century BC. B.C. for library buildings, doors and windows opened to the east. The reason he gave was that this way the books could be dried from the morning light and protected from mold.

Part of the facade before the reconstruction

Entrance area and facade

The library facade is 21 meters long and over 16 meters high. A monumental nine-step flight of stairs leads to the entrance, framed by large statue plinths on the left and right . Eight columns of a composite order structure the two-storey facade made of marble and support protruding, cranked beams . This creates a two and a half meter deep “vestibule” between the facade and the library hall. Windows open above the doors on both the lower and upper floors. The wall surfaces of the basement accommodate four statue niches. They correspond to four free-standing statue plinths between three aedicle-like structural elements on the upper floor. These "aedicules" are crowned alternately by round and triangular gables.

The library room today, clearly visible are the niches for the shelves

The library room

After passing through one of the three doors, the visitors entered the library room. With a depth of 10.9 m and a length of 16.7 m, it is around 178 square meters in size. The back wall of the library has been preserved up to a height of 7 meters. Upon entering, the visitor was faced with a 4.5 meter wide, semicircular apse . This was not - as is often the case - a statue, but possibly an altar or something similar. There were two niches on each side of the apse and three more in the two side walls. There were therefore ten of these niches per storey, which held the shelves ( armaria ) for the scrolls. The remains of the niches that are still preserved today occupy at least a second floor for the shelves. Using a beam hole in the apse, a height of the basement of about 4 meters can be determined. The apse itself also had at least two floors.

The shelf niches are 2.6 meters high, over a meter wide and can be detected up to the second floor - there may even have been a third floor. Since the library had no false ceilings, a visitor could see the shelves on the second and possibly third floors from below. Columned corridors ran along the walls and gave access to the scrolls on the upper floors. The walls, built predominantly of bricks - the Celsus library is one of the oldest examples of this Roman wall technique in Asia Minor -, the shelves and the floor were covered with marble. This marble cladding, of which only remnants have survived, was later removed.

There are narrow corridors between the inner wall with the shelves and the outer wall of the library. They served to protect the room with the scrolls from the dampness of the outer wall. It is believed that there were wooden stairs or ladders in these corridors through which the upper floors could be reached.

Ephesos Celsus Library sculptures at Vienna 2.jpg
Sophia, Arete


Statues and inscriptions

The facade is decorated with numerous ornaments and sculptures. The originals of the four statues on the lower floor are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna . According to the inscriptions in four niches of the facade, they represent the ancient virtues Sophia, Arete , Episteme and Ennoia . According to the inscriptions, equestrian statues of Iulius Celsus stood on the statue plinths to the left and right of the outside staircase. The ornaments and figures correspond to the style of the Trajan period, the four statues of the virtues could be allegorical representations of the main virtues of Iulius Celsus. Three of the four statues mentioned in inscriptions for the upper storey of the facade represented the founder Iulius Celsus, the fourth his son Iulius Aquila. According to the inscription, wreaths were to be placed on the statues of Iulius Celsus on his birthday.

Burial chamber and sarcophagus of Celsus

One of the corridors leads diagonally down to a small crypt, the tomb of Celsus with a door. It is located just below the apse and contains the sarcophagus. The chamber is almost eight square meters, its walls were plastered, and the ceiling has two windows facing the apse. Because of the narrowness of the chamber and the access, the sarcophagus must have been lowered through the still open ceiling.

The sarcophagus of Celsus belongs to the genus of the garland sarcophagus . It is made of marble and consists of a box and a lid. The garlands decorating the box are hung on niches , the gable of the lid bears a Medusa head . Researchers consider the artistic design to be common for the time, but it is a comparatively valuable sarcophagus. When it was opened in 1905, archaeologists found the bones of Celsus as well as smaller additions.

Section of the rebuilt facade

Rebuilding

From 1967 the archaeologist Volker Michael Strocka was a guest of the Austrian excavations in Ephesus. He documented the 750 parts of the collapsed facade, some of which were scattered throughout the city and some of which had been brought to Izmir . After a crane had been made available by a German construction company and financial resources had been made available by an Austrian construction company, the reconstruction ( anastilosis ) of the facade began. From 1970 to 1978 Strocka and the Viennese architect Friedmund Hueber directed the reconstruction, which was carried out with the help of restorers, students and Turkish workers. Strocka and Hueber were able to rely on the meticulous reconstruction of the facade using the scattered parts that Wilhelm Wilberg had published in 1908. In addition to the reconstruction of the facade, the other walls that have been preserved were raised with new bricks and the marble floor, which was only preserved in remnants, was supplemented with artificial stone.

organization

Since no remains of the scrolls were found, it can only be speculated how many works the library contained. Based on the size of the niches that once contained the shelves, Bernt Götze presented a calculation proposal in 1937. He accepted 30 shelves with around 13 compartments each and calculated a stock size of around 12,000 scrolls. So it was a large library, but it could not keep up with the largest libraries of antiquity. The latter contained several hundred thousand rolls. Since, in contrast to other ancient libraries, there was no separate, quiet reading room, it has been assumed that the library hall itself must have been the reading room.

The initial inventory and ongoing operations were financed by the heirs of Iulius Celsus. According to an inscription on the front of the building that was put back there today, the constant maintenance of the library was covered by interest from a capital of 25,000 denars donated for this purpose. The heirs withdrew 2,000 denarii at the beginning in order to be able to complete the construction without their own expenses. The heirs and descendants paid for the maintenance of the building, the payment of the librarians and new acquisitions from the interest on the remaining money.

The library visitors were probably not able to access the valuable scrolls themselves. In the basement, between them and the shelves, there was a continuous, marble-clad podium, each one meter high and one meter wide. Presumably, librarians removed the scrolls when needed. With a shelf height of almost three meters, ladders were necessary. Probably only authorized persons had the possibility to get to the shelves on the upper floors.

history

The Foundation

The dates of the completion and opening of the library are unknown. After the researchers' assumptions had previously diverged considerably, Josef Keil dated the completion in 1944 between 117 and 125. He relied on the inscriptions published for the first time.

The death of Iulius Celsus is set before the year 117. After a successful career he became Roman governor of the province of Asia with seat in Ephesus around 106 . It is believed that Iulius Celsus participated in the spiritual life of the city and was perhaps already planning the foundation of a library. However, the construction took place only after his death at the expense of his son Iulius Aquila, who, like his father, became consul. The son had the building erected in honor of his father, it was possibly only completed after his death by further heirs and Tiberius Claudius Aristion . In addition to its function as a library, it was a family memorial, decorated not only with statues of Celsus and Aquila, but also with images of other descendants. The burial of Celsus in a coffin under the library took place atypically within the city walls - which was considered a high and rare honor in ancient times.

The complex construction, located in the city center, required a high investment of capital, while the equipment and the constant maintenance of the library resulted in additional costs. At the time, however, the establishment of a library was not uncommon; In the Roman Empire, numerous high officials had already donated libraries.

End and re-use

How long the library was in operation is not known. What is certain is that the building must have already been used for other purposes in late antiquity (researchers deduce this from the pillars and arches built inside). The interior had been removed as well as the roof, the roofless remains of the building served as the courtyard of an adjoining residential building. Around 400, the remains were converted into a well system . Water ran over the large staircase that once led to the now walled-in library entrance. The magnificent facade that was still standing served the fountain as a display wall, and the basement was filled with rubble. In front of the former library, the excavators found relief panels of the so-called Parthian monument built into the well system . The facade collapsed later, in all probability during an earthquake. It is occasionally assumed that the Goths destroyed the library in a fire and that the facade only collapsed in the high Middle Ages.

Research history and aftermath

An excavation of the ancient market square, which was completed in 1903, unearthed large fragments of a still unknown building. This as yet unknown building was the Celsus Library, which was discovered a little later just west of the market.

The excavation of the library was carried out by Austrian archaeologists in autumn 1903 and 1904, respectively. First they excavated parts of the facade, the great staircase, slabs of the former Parthian monument and the front part of the library itself. It was not until the second campaign in 1904 that they were able to uncover the rest of the library. The head of the excavation was Rudolf Heberdey , and preliminary reports on the results were published in 1904 and 1905. The architect Wilhelm Wilberg , who was involved in the excavation, subsequently dealt with the restoration of the façade, which was important for research into imperial architecture, and presented his result in 1908. The sculptures and reliefs found were only partially published, namely in the excavation reports and one Catalog published in 1905 for an exhibition at the Belvedere in Vienna . A second excavation phase, again by Austrian archaeologists, started in 1926 under the direction of Josef Keil . In 1930 the first report about the found coffin of Celsus followed. After further smaller investigations in the course of further campaigns, the complete publication on the excavation results of the library was finally published in 1944.

20million.JPG
20 YTL arka.jpg
Historical lira banknotes

One of the controversial points in scientific treatment is the function of the narrow corridors that surround the library room. They were mostly seen as protection from the moisture of the outer wall, but there are other opinions. According to this, the corridors are said to have been spaces for water drainage between the library and the neighboring buildings.

Due to the re-erection of the facade, the Celsus Library is considered the most famous preserved library building of antiquity and a significant and magnificent building for the architectural history of the imperial era.

Today the library is one of the main ancient attractions of Turkey and a motif often used in Turkish tourism advertising. It was depicted on the reverse of two Turkish lira banknotes : from 2001 to 2005 it was the 20 million banknote, from 2005 to 2009 the 20 lira note.

literature

Overview representations
  • Volker Michael Strocka : Roman Libraries. In: Gymnasium 88, 1981, pp. 298–329, here: pp. 322–329 ( digitized version ).
  • Peter Scherrer (Ed.): Ephesos. The new leader. Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-900305-19-6 , pp. 132–135.
  • Wolfram Hoepfner : The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Zabern, Mainz 2002, ISBN 3-8053-2846-X , pp. 123-126.
  • Volker Michael Strocka: The Celsus library in Ephesus. In: Ancient libraries in Anatolia . Middle East Technical University, Ankara 2003, ISBN 975-8070-64-9 , pp. 33-43.
Excavation publication
  • Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library (= research in Ephesus vol. 5, 1). Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna 1944, 2nd unchanged edition 1953.
Inscriptions
  • Josef Keil : The inscriptions . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library (= research in Ephesus vol. 5, 1). Vienna 1944, pp. 81–84, here: pp. 61–80.
  • Jenö Platthy: Sources on the Earliest Greek Libraries with the Testimonia. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1968, pp. 154-157.
Investigations on special aspects
  • Wilhelm Wilberg: The facade of the library in Ephesus. In: Annual Issues of the Austrian Archaeological Institute 11, 1908, pp. 118–135 ( digitized version ).
  • Friedmund Hueber , Volker Michael Strocka: The library of Celsus. A splendid facade in Ephesus and the problem of its erection. In: Antike Welt , Volume 6, Issue 4, 1975, pp. 3-14 ( digitized version ).
  • Volker Michael Strocka: On the dating of the Celsus library. In: Proceedings of the Xth International Congress of Classical Archeology . Türk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, Ankara 1978, Vol. 2, pp. 893-899 ( digitized version ).
  • Friedmund Hueber: Report on the re-erection work on the Celsus library and on the previous results of the investigation of the building fabric. In: Proceeding of the Xth International Congress of Classical Archeology . Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara, Vol. 2, pp. 979-985.
  • Burkhard Fehr : archaeologists, technicians, industrialists. Reflections on the restoration of the library of Celsus in Ephesus. In: Hephaistos 3, 1981, pp. 107-125.
  • Friedmund Hueber: Observations on the curvature and sham perspective at the Celsus library and other imperial buildings. In: Building planning and building theory of antiquity. Report on a colloquium in Berlin from November 16 to November 18, 1983 . Wasmuth, Berlin 1984 (= discussions on ancient building research, Vol. 4), pp. 175–200.

Web links

Commons : Celsus Library  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos vol. 5, 1), 1953, p. 81 inscription no. 13, line 3 f.
  2. ↑ The inscriptions are edited by: Josef Keil: The inscriptions . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: pp. 61–80; thereafter Jenö Platthy: Sources on the Earliest Greek Libraries with the Testimonia , Hakkert, Amsterdam 1968, pp. 154–157.
  3. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 81.
  4. ↑ Vitruvius: About Architecture 1, 2 and 6, 7; Josef Keil: Library and Heroon. In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library (= research in Ephesus vol. 5, 1). 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 81.
  5. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 82; Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1–42, here: p. 2.
  6. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 82; Friedmund Hueber, Volker Michael Strocka: The library of Celsus. A splendid facade in Ephesus and the problem of its erection . In: Ancient World , Volume 6, Issue 4, 1975, p. 3.
  7. ↑ Wolfram Hoepfner: The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Mainz 2002, pp. 123–126, here: p. 125.
  8. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1-42, here: pp. 35f.
  9. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1–42, here: pp. 36–38.
  10. ↑ Wolfram Hoepfner: The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Mainz 2002, pp. 123–126, here: p. 123; Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 81.
  11. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 81; Wolfram Hoepfner: The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Mainz 2002, pp. 123–126, here: p. 125.
  12. ↑ The statues are documented by Fritz Eichler: The sculptures . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: pp. 47–60.
  13. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1–42, here: pp. 2f.
  14. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 83.
  15. ^ A b c Volker Michael Strocka: Roman Libraries. In: Gymnasium. 88, 1981, pp. 298-329
  16. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1-42, here: pp. 40 f.
  17. ↑ a b Max Theuer : The sarcophagus of Celsus . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 43-46.
  18. ^ Bernt Götze: Ancient libraries. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute . 52, 1937, pp. 223-247, here: pp. 235 and 242.
  19. ↑ a b Wolfram Hoepfner: The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Mainz 2002, pp. 123–126, here: p. 125.
  20. ↑ Volker Michael Strocka: Roman Libraries . In: Gymnasium 88, 1981, pp. 298–329, here: p. 327; Wolfram Hoepfner: The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Mainz 2002, pp. 123–126, here: p. 123.
  21. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1–42, here: p. 36.
  22. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 83.
  23. ↑ On the question of under whom the construction was completed: Josef Keil: Bibliothek und Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 83; Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1-42, here: p. 41; Volker Michael Strocka: Roman Libraries . In: Gymnasium 88, 1981, pp. 298–329, here: p. 326.
  24. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 81.
  25. ↑ Wolfram Hoepfner: The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Mainz 2002, pp. 123–126, here: p. 123.
  26. ^ Josef Keil: Library and Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 84; Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1–42, here: p. 42.
  27. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg: The building. In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library (= research in Ephesos. Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1–42, here: p. 1.
  28. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg: The building . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library (= research in Ephesos. Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 1–42, here: pp. 1–2.
  29. ↑ Rudolf Heberdey: Preliminary report on the excavations in Ephesus 1902/3 . In: Annual books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Volume 7, 1904, Beiblatt, Col. 37-56; Rudolf Heberdey: Addendum to the Ephesian reports for 1902/3 . In: Annual books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Volume 7, 1904, Beiblatt, Sp. 157-160 ( both online ).
  30. ^ Rudolf Heberdey: Preliminary report on the excavations in Ephesus in 1904 . In: Annual Issues of the Austrian Archaeological Institute , Volume 8, 1905, Beiblatt, Sp. 61–80 ( online ).
  31. ↑ a b Camillo Praschniker : Foreword . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953 (no page number).
  32. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg: The facade of the library in Ephesus . In: Annual Books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute , Volume 11, 1908, pp. 118–135.
  33. ^ Robert von Schneider : Exhibition of finds from Ephesus in the lower Belvedere , Holzhausen, Vienna 1905.
  34. ^ Wilhelm Wilberg et al. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1) Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna 1944, 2nd unchanged edition 1953.
  35. ↑ A summary of the views represented up to 1944 in Josef Keil: Bibliothek und Heroon . In: Wilhelm Wilberg u. a .: The library . (= Research in Ephesos Vol. 5, 1), 1953, pp. 81–84, here: p. 81; Later views from Wolfram Hoepfner: The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Mainz 2002, pp. 123–126, here: p. 124.
  36. ↑ Volker Michael Strocka: Roman Libraries . In: Gymnasium 88, 1981, pp. 298–329, here: p. 323.
  37. ↑ Volker Michael Strocka: Roman Libraries . In: Gymnasium 88, 1981, pp. 298–329, here: p. 328; Wolfram Hoepfner: The Celsus Library in Ephesus. An imperial library with a central reading room. In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries. Mainz 2002, pp. 123–126, here: p. 123.
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Coordinates: 37 ° 56 ′ 20.9 "  N , 27 ° 20 ′ 26.5"  E