Temple of Hadrian (Ephesus)

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Efeso, tempio di adriano 06.JPG

The so-called Hadrian's Temple is a partially rebuilt sanctuary in the ancient city of Ephesus in western Turkey today . It is on “ Kuretenstrasse ” in the southwest of the city. According to the inscription on the architrave , the temple was built by Publius Quintilius Valens Varius in the year 117 or 118 AD in honor of Artemis of Ephesus , the Roman emperor Hadrian and the people of Ephesus. Varius had already promised this in the last years of Trajan's reign . Parts of the vestibule ( pronaos ) were destroyed - possibly by an earthquake - in the 4th century, but then rebuilt.

Research history

In the 1950s the temple was excavated by the Austrian Archaeological Institute under the direction of Franz Miltner . In order to make the ruins of Ephesus as vivid as possible for visitors, entire streets were exposed, including the Kuretenstrasse. With the numerous structural elements of the temple found, a partial reconstruction ( Anastilosis ) took place from 1957 to 1958 under the project management of the Viennese architect Karl Heinz Göschl. From 2009 to 2012 the archaeologist Ursula Quatember carried out new research on the architectural history of the temple.

description

Photo by Paolo Monti , 1962.

The building, which is located directly on “Kuretenstrasse”, one of the boulevards of Ephesus, is partially integrated into the Scholastikia thermal baths behind it , a bath complex that was also built by Publius Quintilius Valens Varius. In terms of its floor plan, the temple corresponds to a tetrastyle, i.e. four-column prostyle . In front of the small, rectangular cella , in which there was probably a statue of the emperor, lies a spacious vestibule, the facade of which is structured by two columns and two pillars with Corinthian capitals . These originally had a triangular gable. In front of the columns and pillars are four inscribed bases of statues of the emperors of the 1st Tetrarchy : Diocletian , Constantius Chlorus , Galerius and Maximian . The statue of Maximian was later replaced by a statue of the father of Theodosius I. replaced. A Syrian arch was stretched over the two central columns , the keystone of which is highlighted by a bust of Tyche . The architrave is adorned with a frieze with acanthus leaves and other plant motifs.

The interior of the vestibule is shaped by a surrounding frieze. The original is in the Selçuk Museum . On the left of the frieze the founding myth of Ephesus is depicted with Androclus hunting boars, gods and Amazons , the latter at a Dionysus festival , among other things . The right part of the frieze differs stylistically from the rest. It is believed that this was transferred from another building during the reconstruction after the earthquake in the 4th century.

The lintel of the entrance door to the cella is decorated with pearl and egg rods . Above that, in the arched area, there is a depiction of a vine woman .

The distinctive elements of the facade - arched portal, flanked on the right and left by two rectangular entrances - can also be found in other buildings of this time, for example in the so-called "Canopus" of the Villa Adriana near Tivoli near Rome.

literature

  • Peter Scherrer (Ed.): Ephesos. The new leader. Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-900-30519-6 , p. 120.
  • Ursula Quatember: The “Temple of Hadrian” on Curetes Street in Ephesus: new research into its building history. In: Journal of Roman Archeology. Volume 23, 2010, pp. 376-394 full text .
  • Ursula Quatember: Was Hadrian's Temple Really Hadrian's Temple? Current archaeological and architectural studies on Kuretenstrasse in Ephesus. In: Antike Welt Heft 2, 2013, pp. 59–66.

Web links

Commons : Temple of Hadrian  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ inscriptions of Ephesus 429 : [Ἀρτέμιδι Ἐφεσίᾳ καὶ Αὐτοκράτορι Καίσα] ρι Τραιανῶι Ἁδριανῶι Σεβαστῶ [ι] καὶ τῶι νεωκόρωι Ἐφεσί [ων δήμ] ωι Πόπλιος Κυιντίλιος Ποπλίου υἱὸς Γαλερία / [Οὐάλης Οὐάριος - σὺν - τῇ γυναι] κὶ καὶ Οὐ [α] ρίλλῃ θυγα [τ] ρὶ τὸν ναὸν ἐκ θεμελίων σὺν παντὶ τῶι κόσμωι καὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτ [ῷ ἄγαλμα ἐκ] τῶν ἰδίων ἀνέθηκεν, ἐπὶ ἀνθυπάτου Σερβαίου Ἰννόκεντος, γραμματεύοντος τοῦ δήμου τὸ β'/ Ποπλίου Οὐηδίο [υ Ἀν] τωνείνου ἀσιάρχου, ὑποσχομένου δὲ ἐπὶ Τί. Κλαυδίου Λουκκ [ειανοῦ γραμματέω] ς τοῦ δήμου "the Artemis of Ephesus and the Emperor Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus and the temple-caring people of the Ephesians, Publius Varilla, the wife of Galens and the daughter of his wife Galens, and Publius, the daughter of his wife, Galens Varius, son of his wife, Galens, Publius, the son of his wife, Galens Varius, the son of his daughter, the wife of the Tribes Temple from the ground up with all architectural decorations and the cult image in it consecrated at his own expense, under the proconsul Servaeus Innocens and the secretary of the people's assembly (for the second time) Publius Vedius Antoninus, the Asiarch; He was promised under the secretary of the popular assembly Tiberius Claudius Lucceianus ”.
  2. ↑ The secretary Lucceianus can be dated to the years 114–116, see inscriptions from Ephesus 422 . Servaeus Innocens was proconsul of Asia probably 117/118 or 118/119. Some scholars have also assumed dating to the 130s. See Michael Wörrle : On the dating of Hadrian's temple on ›Kuretenstraße‹ in Ephesus. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger 1973, pp. 470–477.
  3. ↑ Ursula Qatember: The reconstruction of Hadrian's temple on the Kuretenstrasse in Ephesus. In: Fabrica et ratiocinatio in architecture. Building research and preservation of monuments. Festschrift Friedmund Hueber. Vienna 2011, pp. 243-254.
  4. ↑ Inscriptions from Ephesus 500 .
  5. ↑ On the frieze: Robert Fleischer: The frieze of Hadrian's temple in Ephesus. In: Festschrift for Fritz Eichler on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, presented by the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Vienna 1967, pp. 23-71; Beat Brenk: The dating of the reliefs on Hadrian's Temple in Ephesus and the problem of tetrarchic sculpture in the East. In: Istanbuler Mitteilungen 18, 1968, pp. 238-258.
  6. ↑ However, new research suggests that this part also belongs to the original building (cf. [1] ).