The goal of this project, supported from 2003-2005 by the Austrian Science Fund (P 16591-G02, project director, M. Aurenhammer) was the comprehensive study of this ostentatious yet practical structure, located at the intersection of the Domitian Street and the South Street and dated by an inscription honouring the governor C. Laecanius Bassus to the year A.D. 79.

The edifice was excavated in the 1960s by G. Langmann, E. Fossel proposed the first attempt at a reconstruction, and R. Fleischer presented the most important sculptural finds. In the 1980s, M. Aurenhammer (sculpture) and K. Jung (architecture) continued the study. The new project served the preparation for the definitive publication, based on the earlier work and the numerous references to the structure and its decoration in the secondary literature. Focussed excavations were aimed at clarifying the chronology and the hydraulic technology. The research was carried out by an interdisciplinary team of architectural historians (K. Jung), archaeologists (M. Hofbauer and M. Koller [†] [secondary excavations] as well as M. Gessl [pottery]; E. Rathmayr [sculpture]; G. Plattner [architectural ornament, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna]), numismatists (M. Pfisterer [Numismatic Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences]) and epigraphists (H. Taeuber [Instiute for Ancient History and Archaeology, Papyrology and Epigraphy of the University of Vienna]). The teamwork yielded important results concerning the planning and realization of the building, its chronology and period of use, as well as its hydraulic technology.
The fountain, with regard to its chronology and form, is a pioneer building of the "façade nymphaeum" type which is innovative in all of its aspects. The preserved architectural elements (30%) and sculpture (80%) enabled a well-founded reconstruction of the three façades, arranged around a large water basin, and their ornamentation.
The sculptural decoration belongs almost exclusively to the fountain's period of construction, and was visible up until the early Christian period (as indicated by the chiselled-off genitalia of the male statues). It has been possible to reconstruct the sculptural programme of the main façade: six statues served as water spouts. At the north-west end of the water basin, a tall socle once supported a statue of Bassus.
The analysis of the multiform, experimentally set-up architectural ornament, which covered the entire structure, also promises significant progress for this branch of scholarship.

Picture Captions
Fig. 1: Ruins of the Fountain of C. Laecanius Bassus from the west (condition in 2004) (© OEAI, Photo N. Gail)
Fig. 2: Torso of a triton from the Fountain of C. Laecanius Bassus (© OEAI, Photo N. Gail)

Bibliography (selected):
E. Fossel - G. Langmann, Nymphaeum des C. Laekanius Bassus, ÖJh 50, 1972-75, Grabungen 301 ff.
R. Fleischer, Skulpturen aus dem Nymphaeum des C. Laecanius Bassus, ÖJh 50, 1972-75, Grabungen 421 ff.
C. Dorl-Klingenschmid, Prunkbrunnen in kleinasiatischen Städten. Studien zur antiken Stadt 7 (2001) 186 f. Nr. 24 und S. 19. 51. 53 f. 80. 94. 102. 104 mit weiterer Lit.
K. Jung, Das Hydrekdochion des C. Laecanius Bassus in Ephesos, in: G. Wiplinger (ed.), Cura Aquarum in Ephesos. Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, Suppl. 12. BABesch = SoSchrÖAI 42 (2006) 79-86.
E. Rathmayr, Die Skulpturenausstattung des C. Laecanius Bassus Nymphaeum in Ephesos, Forum Archaeologiae 48/IX/2008 (http://farch.net).

Contact:
Maria Aurenhammer
Colleagues:
Manuela-Monika Gessl
Martin Hofbauer
Klaus Jung
Matthias Pfisterer
Georg Plattner
Elisabeth Rathmayr
Hans Taeuber