Transcript
Narration
The houses at Ephesus are terraced into the hillside. Conserved under reconstructed roofing are two houses - A and B - excavated and studied in detail. These houses have a history of occupation covering some six centuries and a series of different building phases.
As at Pompeii, the house has a narrow entrance. But here the space is organised somewhat differently - the entrance leads down into a central area; in place of the large atrium with its axial view through the house there’s an enclosed court, although rooms still radiate off here.
At the centre of the court extensive use is made of marble for paving and for facing of low enclosure walls. A marble fountain once played here. There was another fountain in this arched niche by the main entrance.
Diagonally across the court are stairs leading to an upper storey.
Once again decoration is rich and varied. Geometric mosaics paved the floors of the surrounding colonnade and rooms facing the court. The walls are decorated with images of birds and cupids.
Once again characters from Greek theatre and myth feature in the wall paintings: including a tragic mask and Orestes, from the famous trilogy by Aeschylus. As with the Classical images at Pompeii, the allusions can only be appreciated fully by someone with a good knowledge of Greek literature, so the use of these motifs makes a statement about the educated nature of the householder.
But in the context of the Greek world, such themes may also have an additional resonance –evoking the Greek heritage of the area, perhaps making a deliberate statement about cultural affiliation. Once again we have examples of furnishing from the houses, now on display in Selcuk Museum. These, and the artefacts found in the houses, suggest further cultural influences.
This figurine shows an Egyptian priest; Busts of the Roman Emperor, Tiberius, and his mother, Livia, were found together in a niche along with a bronze snake. These could either have had a secular significance or have been related to the Emperor cult.
The house is also drawn into the secular world of the Empire, through the decorative scheme on this ivory frieze, which once adorned a wall or a piece of furniture. The scene depicts the Emperor Trajan amongst his troops.
The frieze was found in a room which was originally part of house A, but which was later taken over by its neighbour, House B. Here, too, the rooms are organised around a large central peristyle.
The rooms on the north side are large and richly decorated like the court itself.
On the south side, the mosaic floor depicts the sea goddess Amphitrite riding a hippokamp or mythical sea horse, being led by another sea god - Triton. On the wall, painted decoration mimics the dappled effect of marble border panels, imitating rich finishes in poorer materials.
Through this door in the west wall of the peristyle is a service area - a room for food preparation. The amphorae displayed here, once contained foodstuffs from different parts of the Empire.
The paintings on the walls are appropriate to an area used for cookery, although they date to an earlier phase when this area was part of the court. Behind the kitchen is a latrine. Although this is a functional space, located away from the main living apartments, the walls of this latrine have painted decoration.
Among the other facilities afforded by these houses was an under-floor heating system – a hypocaust – a design widely used across the empire. The floor would have been supported on the brick stacks, with hot air circulating underneath and up through pipes in the wall.
At Ephesus, then, as at Pompeii, the facilities and decoration of a house offered the owner a chance to demonstrate his wealth and “urbanitas” – his urban sophistication.
But here domestic space is organised in a more irregular fashion: there are no axial plans and symmetrical vistas.
This evidence suggests that, in contrast with the atrium houses at Pompeii, the Ephesian houses did not serve as formal settings for the reception of clients. Instead they were probably used to receive friends of the family.
So the design and layout of these houses reflects a contrast in the way social relationships were conducted.
This may have resulted from the continued influence of the traditional Greek culture of Asia Minor, in which official public life was conducted outside the home, in the public spaces of the city.
The importance of traditional, pre-Roman patterns of domestic life can be explored further in relation to our final examples, housing from three cities in the Roman province of Africa.