The so-called Serapis Temple in Ephesos - Investigation of the Ancient Monumental Building

• Applicant: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Thekla Schulz-Brize
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology ; Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 568555256

The so-called Serapis Temple in Ephesos is one of the best-preserved temples in Asia Minor and can therefore be almost completely reconstructed. Its analysis is particularly important for the building history of antiquity due to its monolithic construction and unusual design. The investigations will initially focus on the reconstruction of the temple’s entire structure, including the support of the barrel vault, the corridors that are arranged on top of each other and of the walkable roof space. These areas are accessible via the two staircases that are hidden in the rear wall of the temple. Furthermore, the connection of the halls and thus the design of the entire Serapeion complex will be reconstructed. On this basis, the building construction of the temple, in particular the vault, ceiling and roof construction as well as the implemented earthquake prevention measures will be analyzed. Other essential aspects are the access to the temple, the routing inside, the water supply through the temple and the construction sequence during the edification and the underlying building planning of the temple. Finally, the function of the individual areas, including corridors, stairwells and roof space with the epiphany doors in the gable, and thus above all the so far unresolved interpretation of the temple will be investigated. In order to answer these research questions, the western wall crown, the door in the rear wall, the connection to the halls in the west of the temple and the water reservoir southeast of the temple will be uncovered. These excavations will be accompanied by detailed building research of these areas with digitally supported building documentations based on laser scans and photogrammetry as well as building component documentations. The aim of the planned research project is to investigate the Serapis Temple by considering the important aspects of building construction, building materials, technical infrastructure, access, building processes, planning as well as the dating, the function and the interpretation of the temple in order to fathom the knowledge of ancient construction inherent in the building. Only rarely such findings in the upper part of the structure of Imperial period temples are preserved. In this respect, it is of paramount importance for the history of ancient architecture to investigate these aspects of the Serapis Temple and to compare them with other temples to gain overarching insights into temple construction in Asia Minor. The research project will be led by two working groups with Martin Steskal as head of the excavations in Ephesos and Thekla Schulz-Brize as representative of building research. The established interdisciplinary collaboration between classical archaeology and building research in Ephesos will be consolidated and further developed during this planned project. Finally, the joint research results on the Serapis temple will be published in a monograph.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Partner Organisation: Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF)
• Cooperation Partner: Privatdozent Dr. Martin Steskal