DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47495#0034
10
2. Description of the sites
the system did not work well and the water was pouring into the street and damaging it (Fig. 6: Layer no. 15,
seems to be a repair after such an inundation), the sewer was filled with soil, rubble and litter with masses of
pottery only a short time later (Fig. 6, nos. 16-18), most likely towards the end of the third century B.C.32. After
this, a new Street layer III at a height of roughly 2.20 m above modem sea level was constructed.
The next building phase is again marked by a new Street layer II about 2.40 m above modem sea level. It
may be dated to the last third of the second century B.C. and thus belongs to the period when Rome had already
taken over the Pergamene kingdom as the province of Asia. This street layer forms a break in tradition and
from here onwards, the import of western amphorae can be observed. Technically, Street II is contemporary
with a raising of the level of the Hellenistic halls and perhaps a re-shaping of the halls’ design. At least in front
of the north-eastern corner of hall H—WSS a limestone foundation (Fig. 6, right side with construction pit no.
19a) was placed with its surface matching the slightly younger level of Street II.
Fig. 10 Amphorae between surfaces of street III and street II
The latest Hellenistic-Republican building phase in the western part of the Ephesian Agora is marked by
Street I (2.70 m above modern sea level) along the east front of the halls (Figs. 6 and 7). It belongs most likely to
the decade before the middle of the first century B.C. Before Street I was constructed, it seems that the walking
levels of both halls were raised again and linked together to one long building, but the extensive robbing of
material and other alterations in Augustan times precludes any certainty in the analysis and interpretation of
the preserved evidence. The Street layer la may have served as a temporary walking level during construction.
It does not consist of small, firmly pressed pebbles, as do all the other street surfaces, but of rubble, clay and
soil. An interesting feature of the streets in our excavation area is that before the next layer was constructed,
broken (half) amphorae or other large vessels and pieces of waterpipes were placed on the old pebbled surface
(Fig. 10). We surmise that these measures were taken either to improve drainage, or to quickly raise the new
walking surfaces.
32 Rogl 2003b, 177 f.
2. Description of the sites
the system did not work well and the water was pouring into the street and damaging it (Fig. 6: Layer no. 15,
seems to be a repair after such an inundation), the sewer was filled with soil, rubble and litter with masses of
pottery only a short time later (Fig. 6, nos. 16-18), most likely towards the end of the third century B.C.32. After
this, a new Street layer III at a height of roughly 2.20 m above modem sea level was constructed.
The next building phase is again marked by a new Street layer II about 2.40 m above modem sea level. It
may be dated to the last third of the second century B.C. and thus belongs to the period when Rome had already
taken over the Pergamene kingdom as the province of Asia. This street layer forms a break in tradition and
from here onwards, the import of western amphorae can be observed. Technically, Street II is contemporary
with a raising of the level of the Hellenistic halls and perhaps a re-shaping of the halls’ design. At least in front
of the north-eastern corner of hall H—WSS a limestone foundation (Fig. 6, right side with construction pit no.
19a) was placed with its surface matching the slightly younger level of Street II.
Fig. 10 Amphorae between surfaces of street III and street II
The latest Hellenistic-Republican building phase in the western part of the Ephesian Agora is marked by
Street I (2.70 m above modern sea level) along the east front of the halls (Figs. 6 and 7). It belongs most likely to
the decade before the middle of the first century B.C. Before Street I was constructed, it seems that the walking
levels of both halls were raised again and linked together to one long building, but the extensive robbing of
material and other alterations in Augustan times precludes any certainty in the analysis and interpretation of
the preserved evidence. The Street layer la may have served as a temporary walking level during construction.
It does not consist of small, firmly pressed pebbles, as do all the other street surfaces, but of rubble, clay and
soil. An interesting feature of the streets in our excavation area is that before the next layer was constructed,
broken (half) amphorae or other large vessels and pieces of waterpipes were placed on the old pebbled surface
(Fig. 10). We surmise that these measures were taken either to improve drainage, or to quickly raise the new
walking surfaces.
32 Rogl 2003b, 177 f.
