The mausoleum at Belevi. Archaeological research...

This current volume of Forschungen in Epheos presents the concluding results of the recent archaeological and art-historical investigations at the monumental tomb at Belevi in the hinterland of Ephesus. It is preceded by C. Praschniker M. Theuer, Das Mausoleum von Belevi, FiE 6 (Wien 1979) which covers the research at the mausoleum during the 1930s and 1970s and R. Heinz, Das Mausoleum von Belevi. Die Bauforschung, FiE 6, 1 (in print) with latest investigations on the architecture and the reconstruction of the monument. The analysis of the recent archaeological field studies (Chap. 3 Chap. 5, including a comprehensive evaluation of the previous excavations) is complemented by contributions regarding artefact categories such as ceramics (Chap. 9, M. Trapichler), glass finds (Chap. 10, M. Schätzschock), coin finds (Chap. 11, M. Pfisterer), inscriptions (Chap. 12, H. Taeuber), bone finds (Chap. 13, G. Forstenpointner, A. Galik, G. E. Weissengruber and Chap. 14, F. Kanz) as well as marble analysis (Chap. 15 W. Prochaska). Newly discovered strata on the west side indicating several construction phases topped with residues from funerary as well as commemorative ceremonies (in the form of the chipped, fragmented and partially burned drinking, dining and cooking utensils as well as from bone waste) enable a stratigraphically secure chronological classification; the ritual ceremonies took place during the first quarter of the 3rd century BC. Causality presupposes that the commemoration of the dead was preceded by the completion of construction and the burial. Moreover, the material evidence proves the site was frequented over a prolonged period, suggesting that the practice of a death cult occurred there until the beginning of the second century BC. The stylistic and iconographic research (Chap. 6), supplemented by some new finds of sculptural adornment applies itself to the coffered reliefs, the free-standing roof sculptures, as well as the design program of the burial chamber The figure on the lid of the sarcophagus and the statue of a servant in Persian costume in the main chamber of the tomb suggest a monumental, three-dimensional banquet scene, whose iconography is based in detail on the reliefs with a reclining hero and not on those representing a funerary banquet. The combined erection of the sarcophagus and its lid during the work process and the original sealing of the burial chamber in the crepidoma leave no possibility open to continue supporting the theory proposed in the original publication of a two-phase construction and occupancy of the mausoleum including a subsequent expansion of the sculptural program in the main chamber. The sculptures of the burial chamber, along with their geometric structures and the parallelization of main compositional lines and the strong contour characteristics, fit design criteria dating to the period between the end of the fourth century BC and about 280 BC. At this time, the flattening of relief sculpture (the flattening of forms and employing shallow spatial depth) and the decrease in figural plasticity occurred here, as it did in the coffer reliefs of the Mausoleum. Cumulative with the precise analysis of the architectural ornamentation in the publication of F. Rumscheid, the information gleaned from the most recent excavations regarding the implementation of the burial cult confirms that the mausoleum was erected in the decades between 310 and 280/70 BC, approximately (Chap. 7). The historical classification of the monument is connected to the question of whom it may have been constructed for (Chap. 8). Following a detailed interpretation of references regarding the monuments benefactor and sources for the historical events which place between the death of Alexander the Great and the Battle of Kouropedion (281 BC), potential historical figures are discussed in the process of elimination; Antigonus I Monophthalmos is recognised, with highest probability, as the personality to whom the tomb of Belevi belonged. At the zenith of his power, his most important naval base was at Ephesos. Antigonus I defended it, together with his son Demetrius I Poliorketes, on several occasions against the forces of Lysimachus, before being killed in the Battle of Ipsos (301 BC). The Antigonids ensured the respectful continuation of the grave cult in subsequent years and the Ephesian Artemision was very likely the patroness of the mausoleum, erected as it was on the temples estate.