DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45927#0117
115
10. SUMMARY
Introduction
This volume, which aims to present a comprehensive publication of the Bouleuterion at Ephesos, is based on
a manuscript by Lionel Bier, Professor of Art History, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York,
written in the last years before his death in 2004. Maria Aurenhammer, Ursula Quatember and Hilke Thur
edited the manuscript, adding footnotes and recent scholarly literature, and compiled the author’s drawings
and photographs. New chapters were written by Hilke Thur (fallen arches), Ursula Quatember (architectural
decoration), Hans Taeuber (inscriptions) and Maria Aurenhammer and Thorsten Opper (sculptures).
History of Excavations and Research
The aim of this volume is the comprehensive publication of the Bouleuterion at Ephesos. The building has a
long history of research, but a proper analysis of the architecture and a comprehensive documentation, includ-
ing the architectural and sculptural decoration, were lacking. First excavations were already undertaken by J.
T. Wood in the mid-19th century who published the results in his book “Discoveries at Ephesus“ (1877). More
information can be gleaned from the letters he sent to the British Museum. Wood also sent cases with a series
of inscriptions and sculptures to this museum, while one piece was returned by the Trustees to the Imperial
Ottoman Museum in Constantinople. Excavations under the auspices of the Austrian Archaeological Institute
were undertaken in 1908 (R. Heberdey, W. Wilberg) and in the 1960s. The graphic and photographic docu-
mentation of the early Austrian excavations is highly valuable for the research on the building. In the 1960s,
W. Alzinger excavated in the orchestra in search of the Hellenistic Bouleuterion, and E. Fossel determined
the essentially political function of the building. The important series of inscriptions (“Imperial Letters”) and
part of the sculptures found in the building were published in corpora and in other scholarly literature. Finally,
the Ephesian Bouleuterion was introduced into comprehensive publications on Odeia (R. Meinel, 1980) and
the Curia (J. C. Baity, 1991). In the last decade, several authors studied the sculptural program of the scaenae
frons donated by P. Vedius Antoninus and Flavia Papiane in the mid-2nd century A.D. (K. Fittschen, 1990, A.
Kalinowski and H. Taeuber, 2001 and 2002, M. Galli, 2002).
Building Description
The Bouleuterion’s ground plan - as it exists today - is defined by a semicircular retaining wall with a diameter
of 47 m, an ima and a summa cavea, a sunken orchestra, apulpitum and a scene comprising a scene wall and a
later scaenae frons. The retaining wall and the scene wall are reinforced by buttresses and corner piers which
furnish important evidence for the reconstruction of the roof. The inner side of the retaining wall was articu-
lated by pilasters which were later removed. Of these, only traces remain on the back wall and on the floor of
the uppermost diazoma (dowel holes and pry holes). The pilasters end in the area of the large buttresses 1 and
14, bonded with a projecting wall. On the middle axis of the cavea, the retaining wall was removed secondarily
and an apse (a synthronorf!) was erected.
The cavea is located on the southern slope of the Panayirdag, erected on original soil and on earlier depos-
its. In two southern cunei, tiers of the summa cavea vjqxq supported by the barrel vaults of the vomitoria and
the vaulted chambers next to the analemmata. The substructure of the rows of seats is built up of mortared
rubble. The seats were encased by marble slabs which are preserved mainly in the ima cavea. At the six radial
stairways of the ima cavea, the rows of seats ended in upright marble slabs featuring lion paws. The summa
cavea was divided into ten cunei. The two parodoi, originally open, were later vaulted over and supported rows
of seating (not preserved today).
10. SUMMARY
Introduction
This volume, which aims to present a comprehensive publication of the Bouleuterion at Ephesos, is based on
a manuscript by Lionel Bier, Professor of Art History, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York,
written in the last years before his death in 2004. Maria Aurenhammer, Ursula Quatember and Hilke Thur
edited the manuscript, adding footnotes and recent scholarly literature, and compiled the author’s drawings
and photographs. New chapters were written by Hilke Thur (fallen arches), Ursula Quatember (architectural
decoration), Hans Taeuber (inscriptions) and Maria Aurenhammer and Thorsten Opper (sculptures).
History of Excavations and Research
The aim of this volume is the comprehensive publication of the Bouleuterion at Ephesos. The building has a
long history of research, but a proper analysis of the architecture and a comprehensive documentation, includ-
ing the architectural and sculptural decoration, were lacking. First excavations were already undertaken by J.
T. Wood in the mid-19th century who published the results in his book “Discoveries at Ephesus“ (1877). More
information can be gleaned from the letters he sent to the British Museum. Wood also sent cases with a series
of inscriptions and sculptures to this museum, while one piece was returned by the Trustees to the Imperial
Ottoman Museum in Constantinople. Excavations under the auspices of the Austrian Archaeological Institute
were undertaken in 1908 (R. Heberdey, W. Wilberg) and in the 1960s. The graphic and photographic docu-
mentation of the early Austrian excavations is highly valuable for the research on the building. In the 1960s,
W. Alzinger excavated in the orchestra in search of the Hellenistic Bouleuterion, and E. Fossel determined
the essentially political function of the building. The important series of inscriptions (“Imperial Letters”) and
part of the sculptures found in the building were published in corpora and in other scholarly literature. Finally,
the Ephesian Bouleuterion was introduced into comprehensive publications on Odeia (R. Meinel, 1980) and
the Curia (J. C. Baity, 1991). In the last decade, several authors studied the sculptural program of the scaenae
frons donated by P. Vedius Antoninus and Flavia Papiane in the mid-2nd century A.D. (K. Fittschen, 1990, A.
Kalinowski and H. Taeuber, 2001 and 2002, M. Galli, 2002).
Building Description
The Bouleuterion’s ground plan - as it exists today - is defined by a semicircular retaining wall with a diameter
of 47 m, an ima and a summa cavea, a sunken orchestra, apulpitum and a scene comprising a scene wall and a
later scaenae frons. The retaining wall and the scene wall are reinforced by buttresses and corner piers which
furnish important evidence for the reconstruction of the roof. The inner side of the retaining wall was articu-
lated by pilasters which were later removed. Of these, only traces remain on the back wall and on the floor of
the uppermost diazoma (dowel holes and pry holes). The pilasters end in the area of the large buttresses 1 and
14, bonded with a projecting wall. On the middle axis of the cavea, the retaining wall was removed secondarily
and an apse (a synthronorf!) was erected.
The cavea is located on the southern slope of the Panayirdag, erected on original soil and on earlier depos-
its. In two southern cunei, tiers of the summa cavea vjqxq supported by the barrel vaults of the vomitoria and
the vaulted chambers next to the analemmata. The substructure of the rows of seats is built up of mortared
rubble. The seats were encased by marble slabs which are preserved mainly in the ima cavea. At the six radial
stairways of the ima cavea, the rows of seats ended in upright marble slabs featuring lion paws. The summa
cavea was divided into ten cunei. The two parodoi, originally open, were later vaulted over and supported rows
of seating (not preserved today).
