The Ephesian Theatre was first investigated by J.T. Wood, and almost completely exposed in 1897 and 1900 by the OEAI under the leadership of Rudolf Heberdey. In the 1970s, in combination with restoration work, excavations in the seating area were undertaken by the Ephesos Museum. From 1993 until 1998, the seating area was again further explored by the OEAI in connection with new restoration measures (I. Ataç, St. Karwiese). Since 1997, attention has focussed on the investigation of the stage building and its building history (A. Öztürk); in 2004, in cooperation with the Technical University of Vienna (M. Döring-Williams), a project aimed at the consolidation of the building structure was begun.

Description and Building History

The Theatre lies on the western slope of Panayırdağ, one of the two city hills of Ephesos; a large part of the audience area is built into the slope. The Theatre opens towards the west, and attained, after the final construction phase with three horizontally divided tiers, ca. 25,000 seats during the Roman imperial period. The stage building was conceived as a free-standing element.
From the ruins of the Theatre, two building phases of the hellenistic period are postulated. It is assumed that a Theatre was already planned at the siting of the new city under Lysimachos, and that the oldest part of the preserved ruins belongs therefore to approximately the first half of the 3rd century B.C. From the second hellenistic building phase originates the orchestra with its drainage channel, while the seating area at that period perhaps only manifested one tier. The stage building of the second hellenistic phase consisted of a two-storeyed structure. The decorative façade of the upper storey was articulated by seven thyromata, large openings between the pilasters intended for picture plaques. The second hellenistic building phase is to be dated at the earliest to the end of the 2nd century B.C., more probably to the 1st century B.C. The Roman scaenae frons was placed in front of the hellenistic stage building. It was originally two-storeyed and was heightened by one storey at a later date. For the Ephesian scaenae frons, three possible reconstructions have been proposed to date.
The installation of the two-storeyed scaenae frons was achieved as part of the great building- and improvement-programme at the time of the Flavian imperial dynasty (late 1st century A.D.). To this period also dates the addition of the second tier of the audience section, whose rows of seats at the outer margins were laid down over substructions in the form of empty vaulted chambers. It can be presumed that the scaenae frons was raised by one more storey before 262 A.D. and the third tier of seats was built. With the great earthquake of 262, parts of the construction collapsed; thereafter, the stepped exits in the northern analemma were fundamentally altered. In the 7th century, the Theatre was incorporated into the defensive system of the drastically reduced city.

Current Research

The goals of the current research at the stage building of the Theatre of Ephesos are the clarification of questions concerning its architectural history by means of a thorough recording of all architectural elements, and the working out of a stone reconstruction of the façade with the aid of modern scientific understanding, as well as the rapid publication of the results of earlier research. The project will be financially borne by the OEAI.
Since 1997, all the stone blocks of the theatre façade, after being collected and numbered in the sequence of their position on the building, were laid out in the palaestra of the neighbouring Theatre-Gymnasium, and the recording, by drawing, of the architectural elements and of the stage building was begun, and completed in 2005. In the course of the architectural documentation, in addition to restoration- and conservation-concepts, proposals for the contemporary usage of the Ephesian Theatre were also worked out.

Picture Captions
Fig. 1: Theatre, View into the orchestra towards the west, over the Arcadiane Street towards the so-called Prison of St. Paul (© OEAI)
Fig. 2: Theatre, Reconstruction of the scaenae frons by G. Niemann (FiE II [1912]) (© OEAI)
Fig. 3: Theatre-Gymnasium, View of the laid-out architectural elements from the scaenae frons (© OEAI)

Bibliography:
R. Heberdey - G. Niemann - W. Wilberg, Das Theater von Ephesos, FiE II (1912).
H. Hörmann, Jdl 38/39, 1923/24, 282ff.
I. Ataç, Neue Beobachtungen am Theater von Ephesos, in: P. Scherrer - H. Taeuber - H. Thür (eds.), Steine und Wege. Festschrift Dieter Knibbe, SoSchrÖAI 32 (1999) 1ff.
M. Hofbauer, Zum Theater von Ephesos. Eine kurze Darstellung der Grabungsgeschichte zwischen 1866 und 2001, ÖJh 71, 2002, 177 ff.
A. Öztürk - G. Styhler, Konservierung und Restaurierung im Theater von Ephesos, ÖJh 75, 2006 (in Druck).

Contact:
Friedrich Krinzinger
Co-workers:
Martin Hofbauer (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Arzu Öztürk (Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi, Istanbul)