EPHESUS' MASTERPIECES

EPHESUS - JULY 2009


"HADRIAN'S TEMPLE - Built before 138 A.D by P. Quintilius and dedicated to one of the Five Good Emperors (Hadrian, who came to visit the city from Athens in 128 A.D), it is one of the best preserved structures on Curettes Street. The façade has four Corinthian columns (two square and two round) supporting a curved arch, with a relief of Tyche, goddess of victory"


"HADRIAN'S TEMPLE - Inside the temple above the door, Medusa stands with ornaments of acanthus leaves. On both sides there are friezes depicting the story of the foundation of Ephesus"


"CURETTES STREET - Full of tourist heading to the most fabulous of the (reconstructed) ruins - Celsus' Library. Built in 117 A.D. by Celsus’ son, Gaius Julius Aquila, to honour his father Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the governor of the province of Asia and a wealthy local citizen, it is one of the most beautiful structures in Ephesus. It served as his tomb, which was an unusual fact, since people were not buried within a library nor even within city limits. The grave of Celsus was beneath the ground floor, across the entrance and there was a statue of Athena, the goddess of the wisdom, over it"


"CELSUS' LIBRARY - The Library, though built on a narrow lot between existing buildings, has an effect of monumental size. That's due to some tricks: at the entrance to the library there is a 21-meter wide courtyard; nine wide marble steps lead up to a two-story gallery; pediments are supported by a double-decker layer of paired columns; centre columns have larger capitals and rafters than those on the end. All this gives the illusion that the columns are farther apart than they really are. Adding to the illusion, the podium beneath the columns slopes slightly down at the edges"


"CELSUS' LIBRARY - The façade of the two storeys library has Corinthian columns on the ground floor and three entrances to the building. There are three windows in the upper storey. The library could stock up 12,000 scrolls of manuscripts, which were kept in cupboards in niches on the walls. There were double walls behind the bookcases to prevent them from the extremes of temperature and humidity. Celsus' Library was the third richest at the time, after the Alexandria and Pergamum"


"FRONT - Detail of relief at the top centre of the façade"

"STATUES - The statues that may be seen in the niches of the columns nowadays are the copies of the originals taken to Vienna. They symbolize wisdom (Sophia), knowledge (Episteme), intelligence (Ennoia) and virtue (Arete)"


"LIBRARY & MAZEUS GATE - The gate with three passage ways at the right of the Celsus Library was built in 40 A.D by the slaves Mazeus and Mythridates for their emperor, Augustus, who gave them their freedom"


"GREAT THEATRE - Located on the slope of Panayir Hill, opposite the Harbour Street, it is the most magnificent structure in Ephesus. First constructed in the third century BC, during the reign of Lysimachus, it was enlarged in the Roman Period. It is the largest in Anatolia and has capacity for 25,000 people"


"GREAT THEATRE - The Theatre has sixty six rows of seats divided in three sections: the lower section, with marble pieces, used for restoration, and the Emperor's Box; the middle section, with seats with backs made of marble, reserved for VIPs; and the upper circle, for the audience. The stage building has three storeys and is 18 meters high. It was used for concerts, plays, religious, political and philosophical discussions and also for gladiator and animal fights"


"HARBOUR STREET"