Project Concept

Since summer 2000, the bath-gymnasium complex, consecrated in the mid-2nd century A.D. and founded by M. Claudius P. Vedius Antoninus Phaedrus Sabinianus on the north-west slope of the Panayırdağ, has been a focus of interest for Austrian research activities in Ephesos.
With the resumption of work at the Vedius Gymnasium, it was intended that the earlier researches carried out by Max Theuer, Josef Keil and Franz Miltner will be incorporated, with partial follow-up investigations, into a final publication, which until today has not yet appeared. This publication should encompass not only the theoretical reconstruction of the structure together with its furnishings and the clarification of the technical aspects of the baths, but also should include an archaeological-historical evalution of the area, whereby the history of usage of the baths and the previous usage of the area will be taken into consideration as part of the urban history of Ephesos.
The financing of the project resulted from the regular budget of the OEAI, and from funds from the former Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture, which were made available in the form of a research grant. The project has now been successfully concluded.

Building Description

The bath-gymnasium complex, laid out symmetrically along the east-west longitudinal axis, serves as the "ideal type" of a bath complex of Roman Imperial Asia Minor: the four main bathing rooms are disposed symmetrically on the main axis: the caldarium (XVI, XVII and XVIII) with its additional rooms (XV, and XIX) in the west, the tepidarum (XI) following on at the east and serving as sluice, and the centrally-placed frigidarium (V) with its natatio (IV) lying in front of it and disposed longitudinally. The central room (V) was flanked by two north-south oriented rooms (VI and VII), of which the southern one can be identified as an apodyterium due to its fittings of benches. Rooms IV, VI and VII were accessible via a double T-formed flanking room, which probably served as ambulatio and waiting-room. The approximately 40 × 50 m. great court of the palaestra, which also was laid out along the east-west axis, opened up above two small rooms (I and II) to the east of the flanking room.
At the west side of this palaestra, separated by a row of columns, an exedra decorated with two-storeyed tabernacle architecture, marble inlays and statuary, opened up; this exedra was framed at the same time by the Rooms I, II and III.
The monumental three-axial propylon in the middle of the south side of the palaestra constituted the main entrance to the area, through which one ultimately reached the colonnaded street between the Vedius Gymnasium and the Stadium.

History of Research

Even before the first excavations in the area of the Vedius Gymnasium had begun, the purpose of the more than 12,000 m² structure north of the Stadium was the point of departure for the numerous conjectures which were recorded in the reports of travellers, historians and archaeologists of the 18th and 19th centuries. Thus, A. Ritter Prokesch von Osten in 1836 took it to be a palace, R. Pococke in 1845 "a forum for the merchants of the city" and J. T. Wood in 1868/69 a "tyrant's palace", while F. Adler (1873) and G. Weber (1892) designated the baths a praetorium.

During the excavations begun in 1927 under the direction of J. Keil in Rooms XVI and XVIII of the west side of the baths, it was possible to confirm that "the completely destroyed and removed flooring slabs were supported on miniature columns made of rounded bricks in suspensura", that "tube-shaped heating tiles which were connected to each other had been affixed to the walls" and that the deep pit in the middle of the area reflected "traces of a water basin" (the natatio). It was thus first in autumn 1927 that Keil recognized that, at least in the western region of the building, he was dealing with a bathing establishment. He took up the proposal of M. Theuer, whom he had entrusted with carrying out the work on site, henceforth to designate this bathing complex as the "Stadium Baths", but kept in mind a later identification of the monument as a gymnasium.
When - after the discovery in September 1928 of a building inscription (IvE II 431) from the epistyle of the courtyard portico - a second building inscription was found, Keil was finally able to banish all doubts concerning the name of the structure: "Instead of the name Stadium Baths … from now on this building should be called the Gymnasium near the Stadium, or the Gymnasium at Koressos." In addition, he had no further doubts that this building ought to be identical with the gymnasion pros to Koressos, where the rhetor Aristeides undertook one of his ablutions which Asklepios had ordered him to do. In actuality, however, as is clear from the excavation notebooks, after 1929 he used the title "Vedius Gymnasium" without exception, taking up a reference in the building inscription (IvE II 438) to one M. Claudius P. Vedius Antoninus Phaedrus Sabinianus, named as the building's founder, who was also known to the Ephesians as the patron of the rebuilding of the Bouleuterion, in addition to other benefactions. During the first excavation period from 1927-1929, the west, east and south façades of the baths were almost completely uncovered by M. Theuer. In this first campaign, the outstanding moment was the excavation of the central room of the east facade of the bath, which was referred to as the "Kaisersaal."
The results which were achieved during these first years, however, did not lead to publication, as it had been planned to treat all the four gymnasia of Ephesos in a joint publication. The interruption of scientific research by the OEAI at Ephesos between 1936 and 1953 impeded the proposed joint publication. J. Keil felt compelled, due to the illness of M. Theuer, to entrust F. Miltner with the publication of the gymnasium in December 1948. Theuer died in the following year.
When, in the spring of 1954, after a long pause, it was first possible to resume research at Ephesos, Miltner immediately dedicated himself to the large bath complex. Due to lack of funds, however, the excavation had to be confined to limited investigations at the west and north facades. After that, the research was once more interrupted, with the start of the large-scale excavations on the Curetes Street. Only first in the spring and autumn of 1958 did Miltner carry out measuring and recording, as well as partial restoration work.
The intention to prepare a manuscript on the Vedius Gymnasium, which would lead finally to the publication of the four large gymnasia of Ephesos, however, came to nothing with the death of Miltner in the following year (23. 7. 1959).
In the summer of 2000, research by the OEAI at the Vedius Gymnasium was resumed.

Picture Captions
Fig. 1: Vedius Gymnasium. Ground plan (© OEAI)
Fig. 2: Vedius Gymnasium at the time of the excavations carried out by Max Theuer (1929) (© OEAI)
Fig. 3: Vedius Gymnasium, Overview from the south-east (© OEAI)
Fig. 4: Vedius Gymnasium, Marble Hall (© OEAI)

Bibliography:
J. Keil, XII. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 23, 1926, Beibl. 250-256.
J. Keil, XIII. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 24, 1929, Beibl. 19-58.
J. Keil, XIV. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 25, 1929, Beibl. 19-24.
J. Keil, XV. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 26, 1930, Beibl. 17-20.
F. Miltner, XX. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 42, 1955, Beibl. 23-28.
F. Miltner, XXIV. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Ephesos, ÖJh 45, 1960, Beibl. 69-72.
M. Steskal – M. La Torre, Das Vediusgymnasium in Ephesos, ÖJh 70, 2001, 221–244.
M. Steskal, Zu den Stiftungen des M. Claudius P. Vedius Antoninus Phaedrus Sabinianus und ihrem Echo in Ephesos, Tyche 16, 2001, 177-188.
M. Steskal, Bemerkungen zur Funktion der Palästren in den ephesischen Bad-Gymnasium-Komplexen, ÖJh 72, 2003, 227-239.
M. Steskal, Die ephesischen Thermengymnasien. Zu Nutzbarkeit und Funktion eines kaiserzeitlichen Gebäudetypus im Wandel der Jahrhunderte, Nikephoros 16, 2003, 157-172.
M. Steskal - S. Ladstätter, Vorbericht zur Baugeschichte des Vediusgymnasiums in Ephesos, ÖJh 73, 2004, 237-249.
A. Pülz - M. Steskal, Zu einer Platte mit jüdischen Symbolen aus dem Vediusgymnasium in Ephesos, ÖJh 73, 2004, 199-205.
M. Steskal, Eine Amazonenweihung aus dem Vediusgymnasium in Ephesos, in: B. Brandt - V. Gassner - S. Ladstätter (eds.), Synergia. Festschrift Friedrich Krinzinger I (2005) 327-336.
M. Steskal, The Bath-Gymnasium Complex of Vedius in Ephesus, in: O. Menozzi - M. L. Di Marzio - D. Fossataro (Hrsg.), SOMA 2005. Proceedings of the IX Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology. Chieti (Italy) 24-26 February 2005, BARIntSer 1739 (2008) 557-562.
M. La Torre, Bericht zur Neuaufnahme der Bauforschung am Vediusgymnasium in Ephesos, in: G. Koiner - M. Lehner - Th. Lorenz - G. Schwarz (eds.), Akten des 10. Österreichischen Archäologentages in Graz 7.-9.11.2003 (2006) 97-106.
M. La Torre, Das Vediusgymnasium in Ephesos, in: G. Wiplinger (ed.), Cura Aquarum in Ephesus. Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, Ephesus/Selçuk, October 2-10, 2004, SoSchrÖAI 42, BABesch Suppl. 12 (2006), 87-93.
M. La Torre, Einblick in die Haustechnik des Vediusgymnasiums in Ephesos, in: Bericht über die 43. Tagung für Ausgrabungswissenschaft und Bauforschung vom 19.-23.5.2004 in Dresden (2006) 87-93.
M. Steskal, Griechische Gymnasien und römische Thermen. Rezeption römischer Lebensart im griechischen Osten dargestellt am Beispiel der ephesischen Bad-Gymnasium-Komplexe, in: M. Meyer (ed.), Neue Zeiten - Neue Sitten. Zu Rezeption und Integration römischen und italischen Kulturguts in Kleinasien. Akten des Internationalen Kolloquiums in Wien 2005, WForsch 12 (2007) 115-123.
M. Steskal, Das Vediusgymnasium von Ephesos in der Spätantike, in: G. Grabherr - B. Kainrath (eds.), Akten des 11. Österreichischen Archäologentages, IKARUS 3 (2008) 293-302.
M. Kerschner - I. Kowalleck - M. Steskal, Archäologische Forschungen zur Siedlungsgeschichte von Ephesos in geometrischer, archaischer und klassischer Zeit. Grabungsbefunde und Keramikfunde aus dem Bereich von Koressos, 9. ErghÖJh (2008).
M. Steskal - M. La Torre, Das Vediusgymnasium in Ephesos. Archäologie und Baubefund, FiE XIV 1 (2008).
M. Steskal, Römische Thermen und griechische Gymnasien: Ephesos und Milet im Spiegel ihrer Bad-Gymnasien, in: Das kaiserzeitliche Gymnasion. Internationale Tagung an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main am 23. und 24. November 2007 (in Druck).

Contact:
Martin Steskal (Vienna; Archaeology)
Martino La Torre (Wiesbaden; Building Analysis)