Since its discovery in 1955, the Prytaneion of Ephesos, and its appearance, function and relationship to the neighbouring administrative quarter, have been a focus of research at Ephesos. Since it was not possible to evaluate fully the building and its stratigraphic findings after its excavation, the individual building phases and the later usage of the area have until today not been satisfactorily clarified.

The newly-conceived research project at the Prytaneion includes, under consideration of the results of the old excavations, a fundamental analysis of the structure's architectural state and its fittings. The study of the structure is thereby supported by a far-reaching archaeological investigation of the site, which should define the individual construction phases and post-construction periods of usage and identify a possible precursor of the structure. Furthermore, the building will undergo a cultural-historical analysis, which should shed light on its architectonic and functional relationship to the adjoining administrative quarter.
This project, based at the OEAI, is financed by the Austrian Science Fund (Project P19257-G02).

The building was discovered during the course of excavations by F. Miltner in 1955, and, following final investigations in 1956, was identified by the excavators as a Prytaneion, the administrative office of the prytaneis and the central civic cult building; this identification is widely accepted today. Miltner was already able to differentiate a number of building phases: the construction of the building in the Augustan period, a renovation or restoration in the Severan period, as well as the destruction of the site before the end of the 4th century A.D.
In spite of further investigations directed by W. Alzinger in the early 1960s, the building remained unpublished; follow-up investigations in the 1980s by the Efes Müsezi Selçuk, also failed to result in a definitive monograph: in contrast to the complete publication by D. Knibbe of the numerous inscriptions from the Prytaneion (FiE IX 1, 1 [1981]), neither findings from the building nor an archaeological evaluation have been published.

The date of the construction of the Prytaneion indicates that it formed an integral element of Augustan architectural policy in the administrative quarter of Ephesos. The edifice, which covers ca. 1,000 m², consists of a large ca. 26 × 22 m. peristyle at the south, whose columns and entablature of the Doric order have been partially reconstructed in the north. The overly-wide corridor of the peristyle at the north forms at the same time the vestibule of the main room which is located at the north. This main room, which is architectonically impressive with heart-shaped columns at the inner corners, measures ca. 15 × 14 m. and probably served as the location of public honorary banquets; it also housed on a central squared stone foundation either the sacred flame of Hestia, and with it the hearth of the colony, or a sideboard connected to the festival meals. A passage through to additional smaller rooms in the north was walled up in late antiquity, and the room itself was converted into a cistern. The function of the two rooms located to the west of the main room, both heavily altered in late antiquity, today remains unclear.
While the rebuilding of the Prytaneion can only roughly be dated to the Severan period based on stylistic considerations concerning the heart-shaped inner-corner columns, the date of the destruction of the building is on the other hand well-documented: since numerous architectural elements from the Prytaneion were rebuilt into the Scholastikia Baths and the Curetes Street, which obtained its name from the long list of cult personnel on the columns of the Prytaneion, the destruction of the building must have occurred before the end of the 5th century A.D. In addition to the cultural-historically relevant information contained in the inscriptions, the discovery of three Roman copies of the cult statue of Artemis Ephesia, erected in the area of the Prytaneion, also assumes particular importance. The late- and post-antique usage of the area after the destruction of the Prytaneion is largely unknown.

The resumption of research at the Prytaneion beginning in January 2007 is henceforth dedicated to this wish of Ephesian research history, and is concentrated on one of the most important buildings in the administrative centre of the city and its possible precursor, in a region in which fundamental questions of topography and chronology are still unanswered. The anticipated results will decisively enrich our knowledge of these questions, and will form a significant contribution to the understanding of urban, architectural, and cultural processes in the civic area of Ephesos.

Picture Captions
Fig. 1: The Prytaneion from the south (© OEAI)
Fig. 2: Heart-shaped inner-corner column, detail (© OEAI)
Fig. 3: Main room from the south (© OEAI)
Fig. 4: List of cult personnel on a Doric column in the peristyle (© OEAI)
Fig. 5: Roman copy of the cult statue of Artemis Ephesia (Beautiful Artemis) (© OEAI)

Bibliography:
F. Miltner, XXI. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 43, 1956-58, Beibl. 27 ff.
F. Miltner, XXII. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos,ÖJh 44, 1959, Beibl. 290 ff.
F. Eichler, Die österreichischen Ausgrabungen in Ephesos im Jahre 1960, AnzWien 98, 1961, 65–69.
F. Eichler, Die österreichischen Ausgrabungen in Ephesos im Jahre 1961, AnzWien 99, 1962, 37–40.
F. Eichler, Die österreichischen Ausgrabungen in Ephesos im Jahre 1962, AnzWien 100, 1963, 45–46.
F. Eichler, Die österreichischen Ausgrabungen in Ephesos im Jahre 1963, AnzWien 101, 1964, 40–41.
W. Alzinger, Grabungen in Ephesos von 1960-1969 bzw. 1970. Das Regierungsviertel, ÖJh 50, 1972-75, Beibl. 241 ff.
W. Alzinger, Augusteische Architektur in Ephesos, SoSchrÖAI 16 (1974) 51 ff.
S. G. Miller, The Prytaneion, its Function and Architectural Form (1978) 98-109.
D. Knibbe, Der Staatsmarkt. Die Inschriften des Prytaneions, FiE IX 1, 1 (1981).
A. Bammer, Zur Dekonstruktion römischer Architektur. Studien zur Architektur im Nordbereich der sog. Oberen Agora von Ephesos, Anatolia Antiqua 16, 2008, 165-180.
M. Steskal, Konstruktionszeichnungen zweier Voluten aus dem Prytaneion in Ephesos, ÖJh 76, 2007, 371-392.
M. Steskal, Rituelle Bestattungen im Prytaneion von Ephesos? Zu den Fundumständen der Artemis Ephesia-Statuen, ÖJh 77, 2008 (in Druck).