Marble panels and paintings in Terrace House 2 in Ephesus

The Terrace House 2 in Ephesus was excavated from 1962 to 1985 by H. Vetters. Because of the excellent condition of its lower floors, its fine decoration comprising marble panels, mural paintings and mosaics and its important finds (sculptures, small artifacts, household goods) the terrace house is one of the most important residential monuments of imperial times in the Eastern Mediterranean region. In 1977, even before the whole insula was excavated, V. M. Strocka submitted the mural paintings and W. Jobst the mosaics of the housing units 1-5 of the upper terraces. The excavator summarized the history of the building as follows: the origin and the utilization of the insula took place from the first century AD until the building was destroyed by an earthquake in the beginning of the seventh century AD. The discovery of a coin from the time of Heraklios seemed to confirm this thesis. Therefore, the authors assumed the majority of the decoration to be from late antiquity, the main part originating in the first half of the fifth century AD. However, new archaeological evidence from the housing units 6 and 7, recent excavations, the building analysis which was begun in 1995, revision of the rich inventory and indices provided by the graffiti enforced the doubts of this late dating. In course of the research being conducted for the project "Preparation for Publication" these doubts were confirmed. Accordingly, the housing units of the Terrace House 2, including their decorations and inventories, were already destroyed by an earthquake around 262 AD. This results in extensive consequences concerning the dating and especially the interpretation of the qualitative differences in the decoration of concurrent room contexts. The goal of the proposed project is based on the knowledge won from the project "Preparation for Publication". The marble panels, the paintings on the floors, walls and ceilings of the Terrace House 2, seen as decorational elements of dwellings of imperial times, are to be discussed in a cultural-historical context. The ideal situation of several living areas in various sizes and for various demands enables a diachronical comparison of the luxury of decoration in its crucial points and its devolpment. Concerning the marble paneling, Dr. Koller gained knowledge about the treatment of coloured stone through her dissertation about the so-called Marblehall of the housing unit 6. In course of the project "Preparation for Publication" she has made extensive preliminary studies, which now can lead to the presentation of aspects of art- and economic-history, but also initiate questions of technical nature concerning the surface of the marble. Dr. Zimmermann, who showed an innovative approach to post-pompejian mural paintings in his dissertation, will be able to analyse the relation of the position of the rooms, their function and their decoration by looking at the evidence of same painters in the main and secondary rooms of different dwelling terraces. In this way, not only wallsystems of various qualitative grades can be revealed, but it is also possible to discuss far-reaching sociological aspects concerning the Ephisian housing programm. The evidence of a reciprocal correlation of the decorations with marble and/or painting will be shown in the planned visualizations by DI Adenstedt. Apart from the documentation of the building situation in situ, the visualizations will include the results of the building research and of the study of the fragments of the ceilings and upper floors. The planned research in course of the proposed project attempts to not only analyse the unique situation of the Terrace House 2 in a descriptive and art-historical manner. More especially, this important monument of the Metropolis Asiae in its cultural-historical dimension shall stand side-by-side the building research concentrating on Vesuvian cities.

With the excavation of the Terrace House 2 in the centre of Ephesos a building complex was uncovered that is singular in the Eastern Mediterranean for its state of preservation and décor. It is on a par with the houses of the Vesuvius cities Pompeii and Herculaneum. In course of the project, the décor with the in Ephesos much valued marble wall-panelling and the various wall-paintings could be reappraised in its art- and cultural-historical dimension. The wall-paintings, which represent a unique group of post-Pompeian paintings, are of particular importance because they provide a basis of reference for sites with less complex findings. Due to the concept of the publication, which is based on the combined analysis of the building features, the decoration and the finds, the décor could be put into an absolute chronological frame. An important result is the hierarchy of the room décor observed consistently in the building complex. The functions of the rooms - main rooms for representation and reception of guests on one hand, secondary rooms for private and domestic uses on the other hand - can be seen in exactly coordinated sequences. In the case of the marble revetments, wall systems with three zones, an architectural structuring and rare, expensive coloured stone point to more significant rooms than two-zoned systems of local marble with field structuring or a simple partition through a profiled border. In the case of the wall-paintings, the marble imitations rank highest, followed by Felder-Lisenen- paintings in three zones on a dark, e.g. red, surface, followed by field-systems on a white surface, then simple scattered flower painting and at last plain white walls with red stripes as the only décor. For the wall-paintings of the last phase (about 230 AD) the paintings of all seven housing units could be attached to a single workshop. Therefore, this workshop painted the whole spectrum from the high-quality paintings of the Theaterzimmer to the hasty scattered flowers of the secondary rooms. The quality depended on the function and the visibility. Differences in the choice of decoration (marble panelling or wall-paintings) allow to draw conclusions on the personal taste of the inhabitants, who were at places tangible through inscriptions and graffiti. Due to the décor it is proven that the upper stories of the houses were of equivalent representative value. This can be seen as another important result.