The Church of Mary at Ephesus

The aim of the project is the publication of all new results won since 1984 when the research of Mary`s Church at Ephesus was resumed, as well as a critical view of earlier evidence and interpretations. Apart from working up the stratigraphical-archaeological context and its co-ordination with a 1 1 finds, also a realia-related research of the Acts of the Council of AD 431 is being planned. The steps of work will be as follows : 1) Context-bound completion of the stratigraphical evidence together with classification and determination of the entire find material (here for the time being, not an all-embracing working up and publication of all types is being aimed at but a general classification; however, the significant types of Glass, Oil lamps, Coins, Terrasigillata, Bone and bronze, but also the specific architectural parts [particularly cancelli and epistylia] will especially be dealt with : in the case of glass, lamps and TS in the shape of type catalogues [as such have already been exemplarily started for Ephesus in the project], in the other cases in the shape of a general catalogue). 2) After having thus obtained an absolute dating of the strata and therefore of the building phases connected, it will be tried, also together with reconstruction drawings, to acquire a new historical sequence of the entire complex (i.e. not only for the church itself and the Episcopium annex but also the preceding building, the South Portico of the Olympieium). 3) In connection with all this, because of promising preliminary results a critical research of the tradition of the Acts of the Council will be carried out, according to the new edition by E. Schwartz, in order to be able to classify the extant topographical clues and to understand the importance of the building within the setting of that controversial council; by this, also, further conclusion will possibly be drawn on the structural situation and its liturgical use respectively. 4) The entire complex will finally be examined not only a) as to its original meaning as part of the Olympeieum and b) as the centre of Late Antiquity Ephesus, but will also be confronted with comparable buildings. Furthermore, the history of destruction of the complex, which in any case is part of such of the whole city, will be investigated anew.