Ephesus Museum Selçuk
The Ephesus Museum ( Turkish Efes müzesi ) in Selçuk in the Turkish province of Izmir has been collecting the finds from the nearby excavation in Ephesus and from smaller sites in the area since it was founded in 1929 . The museum also has a folklore department.
Emergence
Archaeologists from the Austrian Archaeological Institute have been digging in Ephesus since 1895, with interruptions during the two world wars. The first finds were brought to Vienna and are exhibited in the Ephesus Museum there . Since British archaeologists were also doing research in Ephesus at the same time, some of the objects found ended up in the British Museum . With the entry into force of the Turkish Antiquities Act ( Asar-ı Atika Nizamnâmesi ) of 1906, the export of archaeological relics from Turkey was prohibited, so that from then on all finds remained on site. When the Austrian excavations continued in the mid-1920s, the Ephesus Museum was founded in Selçuk in 1929 . Due to the abundance of material, a new building had to be built, which was inaugurated in 1964 and expanded several times. Today it is one of the most renowned museums in Turkey.
exhibition
Since almost all the exhibits come from the same place, the museum is not structured according to the usual concept of archaeological museums, which present their exhibits sorted by peoples or epochs. Rather, the pieces have been grouped thematically and according to where they were found.
House Finds Hall
Finds from the hillside houses , but also from other houses in the urban area, are exhibited in this hall . These include statuettes such as the bronze Eros on the dolphin (2nd century AD) and an Egyptian priest (7th century BC), a marble head of Socrates (1st century AD), an attic head made of yellow marble as well as objects of daily use, pieces of jewelry made of glass and metal. Also frescoes and mosaic fragments from earlier excavations into the hillside homes are found here, including a portrait of Socrates and one of Polymneia. It was later decided to leave these objects in situ in the hillside houses .
Well finds hall
Finds from the area of the Pollio Nymphaeum and other fountains can be seen here. This includes the Polyphemus group (1st century AD), who first adorned the gable of the Isis temple. After this collapsed, it was set up on the edge of the pool of the nymphaeum. It shows Odysseus in the middle , around him his companions, who are preparing to blind Polyphemus. A reconstruction can be seen in the museum garden. The resting warrior (1st century AD) and a Zeus head were also found at the Pollio Nymphaeum . The statues of Dionysus , a reclining satyr and the legendary city founder Androklos come from Hadrian's temple . There are also nymph figures from the Laecanius Bassus fountain at the Domitian temple.
New Finds Hall
This room mainly shows small finds such as coins, including numerous with images of bees, the symbol of Ephesus, oil lamps and theater masks. A well-preserved bust of the emperor Marcus Aurelius came to light in a hiding place in a residential building. The most impressive piece of this room is an ivory - Fries , the broken was found in a hillside house, this beautifully reconstructed. It shows the struggle of Emperor Trajan against the Parthians in realistic representations .
Hall of the grave finds
This room contains grave goods from Ephesus and the surrounding area. In addition to finds from the dormouse cave , you can see colored glass objects, e.g. B. vessels for wine, medicine or perfume, but also grave steles. The oldest exhibits in the museum can also be seen here, Mycenaean burial vessels from the 14th-13th centuries. Century BC BC, which were found during road works in front of the Johanneskirche .
Imperial cult hall
Here are statues and busts of Roman emperors and other items that belong to their temples. In addition to busts of Augustus and his wife Livia , a monumental head of Domitian is particularly striking. Together with the forearm standing next to it and a few other fragments, it belonged to a statue that stood at the Domitiantempel and whose size is estimated to be about seven meters. The altar of the temple of Domitiant comes from the same site. A smaller altar with a sacrificial bull can be seen on its narrow side, while the broad side shows reliefs of weapons and armor. In addition, the original parts of the frieze from Hadrian's temple are in this room . They show the founding myth of Ephesus, a ceremonial procession of Dionysus and Theseus fighting with Amazons . Copies are attached to the temple itself.
Artemis' room
In addition to some architectural fragments from Artemision, this room presents three statues of the Ephesian Artemis . In addition to a headless Artemis, two Roman marble copies of the wooden cult image that stood in the Temple of Artemis are shown. The larger one, called Colossal Artemis , is 3.20 m high. She wears a richly decorated belt, on the lower part lions, bulls and griffins are depicted. The breast hanger is interpreted as a fertility symbol, although it is disputed whether it is breasts, eggs or bull testicles. The third statue, the beautiful Artemis , is accompanied by two hinds. These as well as mythical animals and signs of the zodiac on the robe show that Artemis of Ephesus is a successor or transitional form from the former Phrygian mother goddess Cybele to the Greek and then Roman goddess.
Outdoor area
In the museum garden you can see the so-called muse sarcophagus from the necropolis of Ephesus, a sundial from Klaros , various capitals , architectural fragments from the mausoleum in nearby Belevi and various grave steles from different epochs. The reconstruction of the Polyphemus frieze is also built here in the order that was seen on the Temple of Isis.
Ethnological department
A market district has been recreated in the folklore collection. These include a Berber salonu (Turkish hairdresser), a rose water factory and a hammam .
literature
- Anton Bammer , Robert Fleischer , Dieter Knibbe : Guide through the archaeological museum in Selçuk-Ephesus. ÖAI, Vienna 1974
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ephesos Museum Vienna, The History of the Collection ( Memento of the original from November 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Marianne Mehling (Ed.): Knaurs Kulturführer in Farbe Turkey . Droemer-Knaur, 1987, ISBN 3-426-26293-2 , p. 197.
Coordinates: 37 ° 56 ′ 55 ″ N , 27 ° 22 ′ 3 ″ E