The building commonly known as Hadrian's Temple is one of the most famous monuments in the ancient city of Ephesos. Although an anastylosis was carried out in 1957/58 (fig. 1), this structure has never been systematically analyzed, studied, or published. As a result, it has remained a subject of controversy for over half a century. Until now, scholars have been unable to ascertain its chronology, function, and definitive architectural reconstruction.

The so-called Hadrian's Temple (fig. 2) occupies a prominent location in the western section of Curetes Street, one of the chief thoroughfares of the site. Its plan is essentially a variation of the tetrastyle prostylos temple layout, with two pillars anchoring the axis of the antae and two regular columns between them.
Franz Miltner, the then excavation director, interpreted the building - presumably in accordance with the building inscription - as the Neokoros Temple, the 'official' temple for the worship of the emperor Hadrian that had been awarded to Ephesos, but this interpretation was almost immediately contested. Based on prosopographical grounds, M. Wörrle argued that the building should be dated to 117/118 A.D., which places the building's construction more than ten years before the Neokoros Temple is known to have been granted to Ephesos. Ulrike Outschar suggested its possible function as a memorial building for Hadrian's companion Antinoos, but her proposition again leaves the problem of dating the structure unsolved: Antinoos died in 130 A.D., which gives a terminus post quem for a commemorative monument, and this date does not correspond with the dating of the inscription to 117/118 A.D.
A frieze inserted in the wall of the pronaos beneath the entablature has caused further ambiguity regarding the dating of the monument (fig. 3) because its style differs not only from the rest of the building but also from Roman Imperial art of the 2nd century A.D. in general. The frieze has been considered part of a 4th century A.D. alteration and it has even been suggested that the building as a whole is a Late Antique amalgamation.
However, this monument's continued significance for the urban layout of Ephesos in Late Antiquity cannot be doubted. Statue bases for three tetrarchs Diocletian, Constantius I, and Galerius, were erected in front of the temple façade. Later, Theodosius I possibly substituted a statue base for his father for the fourth tetrarch base as part of his refurbishment of Curetes Street.

The Hadrian's Temple Project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (Project P20947-G02), is designed to redress all these problems. Before issues such as interpretation and function can be addressed, it is of the utmost importance to clarify the architectural history of the structure. For the documentation, three-dimensional scanning methods will be used. The imperial elements need to be distinguished from later additions; this assignment to their respective chronological phases will allow to clarify the reconstruction of the building at different points in time. Only this approach will allow us to recognize a possible functional change and provide a secure basis for the study of the cultural and historical significance of this monument. Resolving the questions does not only contribute to our understanding of the Hadrian's Temple itself, but has also ramifications for our understanding of the city's history, its social structure as well as imperial architecture and imperial cult in Asia Minor.

Picture Captions
Fig. 1: Hadrian's Temple during the anastylosis in 1957 (© OEAI, Archive)
Fig. 2: Hadrian's Temple in 2007 (© OEAI, U. Quatember)
Fig. 3: Relief depicting the mythological foundation of Ephesos (© OEAI, N. Gail)

Selected Bibliography:
F. Miltner, XXII. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 44, 1959, Beibl. 264-273.
F. Miltner, Denkmalpflege in Ephesos, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 13, 1959, 1-10, bes. 6-8.
F. Miltner, XXIV. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 45, 1960, Beibl. 64-66.
R. Fleischer, Der Fries des Hadrianstempels in Ephesos, in: Festschrift Fritz Eichler, ÖJh Beih. 1 (Wien 1967) 23-71.
M. Wörrle, Zur Datierung des Hadrianstempels an der 'Kuretenstraße' in Ephesos, AA 1973, 470-477.
U. Outschar, Zur Deutung des Hadrianstempels an der Kuretenstraße, in: H. Friesinger - F. Krinzinger (Hrsg.), 100 Jahre Österreichische Forschungen in Ephesos. Akten des Symposions Wien 1995, AForsch 1 = DenkschrWien 260 (Wien 1999) 443-448.