Research on Sculpture in Ephesos

Goal of the Project

The long-term project »Sculpture from Ephesos« provides the opportunity to study the abundance of sculpture, in its diverse aspects, from an ancient city over the course of centuries – a city which in its heyday was the provincial capital of the Roman empire and one of the most important centres of representational art in Late Antiquity (4th – 6th century A.D.) – as well as to make this material accessible to scholars and to an interested public. The goal is the documentation of all sculptures, and as complete a publication as possible of the sculpture from a variety of perspectives. Due to the history of research at Ephesos, the sculptures are today distributed amongst five museums in three countries, necessitating that the project be carried out by a team of scholars, in cooperation with museums in Turkey, Vienna and London.

Method

The foundation for the investigation of the monuments is, on the one hand, the collection of all information regarding the sculptures in the archives of the OeAI and the museums as well as in the secondary literature; on the other hand, an examination of the sculptures and a scientific recording of them. Methodologically, the project initially proceeds from a twofold research approach. The first concentrates on types of sculptures, endeavours to compile iconographic groups and chronological sequences, and aims at the investigation of the complexes of ›identity and dependence‹ (portraits) and ›production and trade‹ (sarcophagi). The second approach concerns the interpretation of the sculptural programmes of public and private buildings as well as of entire areas of the city, and therefore approaches the sculptures primarily in terms of their context, based on their place of display, their image-carriers, and their connection with the entire spectrum of archaeological-epigraphical evidence. Find-spot plans for the individual buildings and areas form the basis for the division of the various phases of decoration. Within the framework of the complex ›production and trade‹, in an interdisciplinary project concerning the origin of white, non-dolomitic marble, the quarries in and around Ephesos have been sampled, and investigated petrographically as well as by means of isotope analysis.

State of Research and Results

The foundation for the project has been laid by the documentation work carried out by M. Aurenhammer. Since 1995, with multi-year support by the Austrian Science Fund, the project has been carried out by a team of scholars. In a number of smaller-scale projects, the typology of the portraits, herms, and sarcophagi has been analysed, and the decoration of the Terrace Houses and numerous official structures has been interpreted (the Bouleuterion, the Nymphaeum of C. Laecanius Bassus, the Vedius Gymnasium and the East Gymnasium). The publication programme with regard to the Terrace Houses is housed at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Culture at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Sculptures from Terrace House 2: E. Rathmayr and E. Christof).

Currently, the focus of research lies on the completion of a number of publications which will appear in the series »Forschungen in Ephesos«: »The Bouleuterion of Ephesos« will appear in 2011, »Der Prunkbrunnen des Laecanius Bassus« and »Skulpturen des Vedius- und Ostgymnasiums« are prepared for press or are about to be completed. The manuscript on the sculptural decoration of Residential Unit 6 in Terrace House 2 is also completed. The preparations for publication of the portraits and the Attic sarcophagi, an effort of international cooperation, are also about to be completed. Studies on the decoration of the Theatre are also underway, and, after the Attic sarcophagi, the huge complex of the remaining sarcophagi from Ephesos will also be carried out to completion.

The results of two projects may be mentioned here as exemplary. Within the framework of the monograph on the Nymphaeum of C. Laecanius Bassus prepared by M. Aurenhammer and C. Jung, the earliest façade nymphaeum in Asia Minor, E. Rathmayr produced a reconstruction of the main façade, with a programme of a sea-thiasos; it also became clear that the original decoration remained in place until Late Antiquity. Taking into consideration the building-inscriptions and inscribed statue-bases from nymphaea in the east of the Roman empire, it could also be proven that imperial statues were first erected in these structures during the reign of Domitian; at the Bassus Nymphaeum, no imperial statues belonged to the decorative repertoire.

Careful evaluation of the excavation documentation at the OeAI, as well as the partial architectural recording of the East Gymnasium (A. Leung) led J. Auinger to new reconstructions of the sculptural decoration of the exedrae of the Vedius Gymnasium and the East Gymnasium, as well as to the distinction between the primary and Late Antique decoration. Furthermore, she was able to revise earlier interpretations of these exedrae (›Kaisersäle‹).

Due to the abundance of material, the sculptural finds which have collected over the course of the centuries in the Theatre, pose a particular challenge. Since 2005, a majority of the objects has been recorded in Selçuk and London. In 2009, in a cooperative project with the Department of Antiquities of the British Museum, the recording of the Erotes- and-Satyr-frieze was begun. Numerous fragments are located in the British Museum, but most of them are in Vienna. R. Heberdey and F. Eichler attempted to reconstruct the frieze, but with the exception of a short article by F. Eichler, the frieze remains unpublished. Themes of the high-quality frieze, which is captivating due to its rich content, are lying satyrs, and erotes hunting in a sacred landscape. The completion of the work on the entire decorative scheme of the Theatre is planned for 2011–2012.

Finally, in 2008 and 2009, A. Landskron recorded the altar, decorated with reliefs, from the Temple of Domitian in preparation for publication: the eastern half of the altar, displayed in the Efes Müzesi Selçuk, which was discovered during excavations by J. Keil on the temple terrace, as well as the fragments found still in situ built into a Byzantine fountain on the “Theatre Street”.

Outlook

The well-advanced documentation of the sculptures from Ephesos, and the stage of analysis both of the programmes of decoration of a number of buildings and of two important sculptural types, now permit the Ephesian material to be considered from a wider perspective and from differing points of view. Two studies concerning the relationship of the Late Ancient city with its cultural heritage represent a first step in this direction: (J. Auinger – E. Rathmayr, Zur spätantiken Statuenausstattung der Thermen und Nymphäen in Ephesos, in: F. A. Bauer – C. Witschel [eds.], Statuen in der Spätantike [Wiesbaden 2007] 237–269, and M. Aurenhammer – A. Sokolicek, The Remains of the Centuries: Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Sculpture and Statue Bases from Ephesus. The Evidence of the Upper Agora, contribution to the symposium »Archaeology and the Cities of Asia Minor«, Michigan 2008 [in preparation for press, for a supplementary volume of the JRA]). Areas of research which are planned for the future include the working out of chronological horizons, and changing ›sculptural landscapes‹ in the urban picture. Furthermore, due to their various functions, sculptures also play an important role in comprehensive cultural-historical questions, such as that of the identity of the city as reflected in a variety of sources and media, or the question regarding the complex of ›cult and religion‹. Finally, the thematic ›areas of workshops, production and trade‹ need to be mentioned, areas which have only been treated partially and in rudimentary fashion with regard to the sculptures from Ephesos.

Financing

1988–2008: FWF

OeAI

Cooperation

• Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for the Study of Ancient Culture
• University of Vienna, Institute for Ancient History, Archaeology, Papyrology and Epigraphy (H. Taeuber, Epigraphy)
• Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Department of Antiquities (M. Laubenberger, Portraits; G. Plattner, Erotes- and Satyr frieze)
• British Museum, London, Department of Greek and Roman Art (T. Opper, Porträts)
• Efes Müzesi Selçuk: G. von Graeve (Portraits); former staff of the Museum: M. Büyükkolancı (Portraits, Attic Sarkophagi), C. İçten (Portraits); B. Tuluk (Garland Sarcophagi), Ü. Yüğrük (Portraits).

Selected Bibliography (after 2005)

• M. Aurenhammer, Ein augusteisches Spenderelief aus dem sog. Odeionkanal in Ephesos, in: B. Brandt – V. Gassner – S. Ladstätter (Hrsg.), Synergia. Festschrift Friedrich Krinzinger I (Wien 2005) 45–50.
• J. Auinger, Eine vergessene spätantike Plinthe aus Ephesos, in: B. Brandt – V. Gassner – S. Ladstätter (Hrsg.), Synergia. Festschrift Friedrich Krinzinger I (Wien 2005) 39–44.
• E. Rathmayr, Skulpturen aus buntem Stein aus dem Hanghaus 2 in Ephesos, in: B. Brandt – V. Gassner – S. Ladstätter (Hrsg.), Synergia. Festschrift Friedrich Krinzinger I (Wien 2005) 279–285.
• E. Rathmayr, Skulpturen, in: H. Thür (Hrsg.), Das Hanghaus 2 in Ephesos. Wohneinheit 4. Baubefund, Ausstattung, Funde, FiE 8, 6 (Wien 2005) 207–229.
• J. Auinger − A. Sokolicek, Ein späthellenistisches Grabrelief aus der Nekropole vom Ostabhang des Panayirdağ, ÖJh 75, 2006, 299–314.
• E. Rathmayr, Götter- und Kaiserkult im privaten Wohnbereich anhand von Skulpturen aus dem Hanghaus 2 in Ephesos, RömHistMitt 48, 2006, 103–133.
• M. Aurenhammer, The Sculptures, in: F. Krinzinger (Hrsg.), Ephesos. Architecture, Monuments and Sculpture (Istanbul 2007) 173–184.
• J. Auinger − E. Rathmayr, Zur spätantiken Statuenausstattung der Thermen und Nymphäen in Ephesos, in: F. A. Bauer − C. Witschel (Hrsg.), Statuen in der Spätantike (Wiesbaden 2007) 237–269.
• E. Rathmayr, Die Skulpturenausstattung des C. Laecanius Bassus – Nymphäum in Ephesos, Forum Archaeologiae 48/IX/2008
• M. Aurenhammer, Funde aus Marmor: Skulptur und Mobiliar, in: U. Quatember u. a., Die Grabung des Jahres 2005 beim Nymphäum Traiani in Ephesos, ÖJh 77, 2008, 322–330.
• J. Auinger, Zum Umgang mit Statuen hoher Würdenträger in spätantiker und nachantiker Zeit entlang der Kuretenstraße in Ephesos, in: S. Ladstätter (Hrsg.), Neue Forschungen zur Kuretenstraße von Ephesos. DenkschrWien 382 = AForsch 15 (Wien 2009) 29–52.
• E. Rathmayr, Das Haus des Ritters C. Flavius Furius Aptus. Beobachtungen zur Einflussnahme von Hausbesitzern an Architektur und Ausstattung in der Wohneinheit 6 des Hanghauses 2 in Ephesos, IstMitt 59, 2009, 307–336.
• E. Rathmayr, Skulpturen, in: F. Krinzinger (Hrsg.), Hanghaus 2 in Ephesos. Die Wohneinheiten 1 und 2. Baubefunde, Ausstattung, Funde, FiE 8, 8 (Wien 2010) Textband Wohneinheit 1, 333–342.
• E. Christof, Skulpturen, in: F. Krinzinger (Hrsg.), Hanghaus 2 in Ephesos. Die Wohneinheiten 1 und 2. Baubefunde, Ausstattung, Funde, FiE 8, 8 (Wien 2010) Textband Wohneinheit 2, 656–676.
• J. Auinger – M. Aurenhammer, Ephesische Skulptur am Ende der Antike, in: F. Daim − J. Drauschke (Hrsg.), Byzanz − das Römerreich im Mittelalter Teil 2, 2, Monographien des RGZM 84, 2, 2 (Mainz 2010) 663–696.

Contact

Maria Aurenhammer