Prytaneion of Ephesus
The Prytaneion of Ephesus was a central urban official and cult building of ancient Ephesus in what is now Turkey .
The Prytaneion was discovered in the course of the excavations by Franz Miltner in 1955 and identified as Prytaneion by the excavator after final investigations in 1956 . In addition to this identification of the complex as the official residence of the Prytans and the central urban cult building, which is widely accepted today , Miltner was able to distinguish between several construction phases: the construction of the building in the Augustan period , a reconstruction or redesign of the complex in the Severan period and the destruction of the complex before the end of the 4th century Century AD
With its construction in Augustan times, the Prytaneion forms an integral part of Augustan building policy in the government district of Ephesus. The approximately 1,000 m² building consists of an approximately 26 × 22 m large peristyle in the south, the pillars of which have been restored in a Doric order . The extra-wide northern corridor of the peristyle also forms the vestibule to the main room in the north. The main room, about 15 × 14 m in size, with a centrally positioned sideboard, was architecturally highlighted by heart-shaped inner corner columns and was used for the honorable meals at state expense. The transverse room to the north of it housed the sacred fire of Hestia and thus the state hearth . The passage to this room in the north was walled up in late antiquity, and the transverse room was partitioned off and converted into a water reservoir. The two rooms to the west of the main room, which were heavily modified in late antiquity, housed the college of priests and the city archive.
Considerable renovations were carried out in the Prytaneion in the late Severe period. The complex was destroyed and abandoned in the following century: Since several architectural elements of the Prytaneion were built into the Ephesian Scholastikia baths and the Kuretenstrasse , which is named after the long lists of cult personnel on the pillars, the building must be destroyed before the end of the 4th century AD. In addition to the culturally and historically relevant finds of inscriptions, the three Roman copies of the cult statue of Artemis Ephesia , which were found in the area of the Prytaneion, are of paramount importance. In late antiquity, the area of the Prytaneion was still used for craft businesses and as a simple residential area.
literature
- Franz Miltner : XXI. Preliminary report on the excavations at Ephesus . In: Annual Books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute 43, Vienna 1956–58, Beiblatt 27 ff.
- Franz Miltner: XXII. Preliminary report on the excavations at Ephesus . In: Annual Books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute 44, Vienna 1959, supplement 290 ff.
- Fritz Eichler : The Austrian excavations in Ephesus in 1960 . In: Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Class 98, 1961, 65-69.
- Fritz Eichler: The Austrian excavations in Ephesus in 1961 . In: Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Class 99, 1962, 37-40.
- Fritz Eichler: The Austrian excavations in Ephesus in 1962 . In: Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Class 100, 1963, 45-46.
- Fritz Eichler: The Austrian excavations in Ephesus in 1963 . In: Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Class 101, 1964, 40-41.
- Wilhelm Alzinger : The government district . In: Annual Issues of the Austrian Archaeological Institute 50, Vienna 1972–75, supplement 241 ff.
- Wilhelm Alzinger: Augusteische Architektur in Ephesos , Vienna 1974, p. 51 ff. (Special publications of the Austrian Archaeological Institute 16).
- Stephen G. Miller: The Prytaneion, its Function and Architectural Form . Berkeley 1978, ISBN 0-520033-16-7 , pp. 98-109.
- Dieter Knibbe: The state market. The inscriptions of the Prytaneion . Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-700103-63-8 (Research in Ephesos 9, 1, 1).
- Martin Steskal: The Prytaneion in Ephesus . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-7001-6842-3 (Research in Ephesos 9, 4).
Coordinates: 37 ° 56 ′ 50 ″ N , 27 ° 20 ′ 43 ″ E