Architecture in Ephesus

The Ancient City of Ephesus is known as one of the first cities in history built entirely of marble. In this ancient city, structures were typically constructed using stone, brick, and wood, with stone—particularly marble—being deemed the most important of these materials. Despite having many marble quarries in its vicinity, how the Ephesians first discovered this valuable building material is a subject of curiosity. One of the ancient writers narrates the story of this discovery as follows: While constructing the Temple of Artemis, the Ephesians initially considered bringing marble from the islands of Thasos and Paros due to the anticipated expenses. Just around this period, an unexpected incident occurred. Pixodoros, a shepherd from Ephesus, was grazing his goats on the mountain when two of them started to fight. One goat suddenly attacked the other, which evaded and the attacking goat, unable to stop, slammed into the surface of a rock. This collision caused a large spark, and a piece of rock broke off and fell to the ground, revealing an unprecedented beauty of white marble. The shepherd excitedly ran to the city to show his discovery to everyone and narrate the event. This news created great joy in Ephesus. The shepherd found the marble, had their name changed to Evangelos, meaning "good news." Thus, the rich marble deposits just 9 km from Ephesus (around today's Belevi, at the foothills of Sağlık Mountain) were discovered. The monumental structures of the city, including the Temple of Artemis, were built in the following years with marble obtained from these nearby quarries.

Residential Architecture

The interior of a wealthy Roman-era house, known as the Terrace Houses in Ephesus. The floor is covered with mosaics, the lower parts of the walls are adorned with marble slabs, and the upper parts are decorated with fresco paintings. In the central courtyard, a small water basin (impluvium) or the remains of a fountain structure can be seen.

In Ephesus, houses and small-scale structures like shops were typically built with stone and brick, covered with a wooden roof and tiled. After a special stucco plaster was applied to the walls, they were decoratively painted with vibrant frescoes or given a marble appearance. Especially the floors of Terrace Houses belonging to wealthy families were paved with colorful mosaics, with walls covered with real marble slabs up to a certain height. Besides the fresco decorations depicting mythological scenes, small niches, and even decorative fountains were found in the interiors of these houses. The Terrace Houses, open to visitors in Ephesus today, still reveal these rich details of ancient residential architecture.

Monumental Structures and Construction Methods

Ephesus's magnificent public buildings (temples, libraries, agoras, etc.) were constructed with significant effort, over extended duration, and at great expense. The marble blocks required for these large structures were initially cut in quarries and transported to the construction site via wheeled carts drawn by animals. The raw blocks extracted from the quarry were brought to the carving workshops located near the city, where craftsmen shaped them according to the architects' specifications. The finest marble quarries around Ephesus were primarily concentrated around Belevi Village. Indeed, even relief figures carved into the rock by stone masons cutting marble 2000 years ago have been identified in an ancient quarry in the Belevi region. This indicates that the traces left by Ephesus's masons in the marble quarries have reached us today.

Placing the processed and prepared marble blocks at the construction site required great engineering skill. Especially lifting massive blocks weighing 10-15 tons to heights of several meters required various crane and rope systems. Ancient sources convey two main methods implemented for this purpose:

• Projection (Handle) Method: As the stone block was being hewn, a special projection approximately 20-25 cm long was left at its center, and then thick ropes were tied to this projection for lifting the block upwards with cranes. These projections acted as a handle, enabling the ropes to grip the stone.
  
  
  

• Groove (Channel) Method: Instead of leaving a projection on the stone block, U-shaped channels (grooves) were carved into opposite edges, and ropes were placed and secured within these recesses before lifting the block upwards. This allowed the ropes to grip the stone, ensuring that the lifting operation was carried out safely.
  
  

Additional measures were applied for the secure interlocking of adjacent stones as the structure's skeleton was formed and marble blocks were stacked. Blocks placed side by side were connected with dovetail-shaped iron clamps or rods placed in grooves left between them. On overlapping layers, special sockets were carved into the top surface of lower blocks, and protuberances (like dowels) that would fit perfectly into these sockets were made at the bottom of the blocks above them. All this clamping and dowel voids were opened with fine channels to the outer surface of the stone blocks. After the blocks were placed, molten lead was poured inside from these channels to strengthen the metal clamps, thus effectively riveting the blocks together. This method made it possible for enormous marble pieces to be interlocked as a single entity without the use of mortar, making them earthquake-resistant.

A drawing (above) and archaeological remains (below) showing the metal clamping system used in ancient construction engineering to bind marble blocks. Greek and Roman architects inserted "Π" shaped iron clamps into special recesses cut into the sides of the blocks and stabilized them by pouring lead over them, holding the walls together. This way, large structures have stood for thousands of years.

This advanced clamping technique made it possible for the construction of mortarless and extremely solid walls in structures built in ancient cities such as Ephesus. For instance, many of the interlocked blocks in today’s Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre still remain in their original state. Ancient architects created a flexible yet unbreakable connection between the blocks using iron clamps and lead, granting the structure resilience against tremors and external factors.

Temple of Artemis: Transporting and Erecting the Columns

A reconstruction drawing of the grand Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. This monumental temple built entirely of marble became famous as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The dozens of columns and superstructure beams of the building were mounted using advanced engineering techniques of the time.

The installation of marble columns and beams of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus showcases one of the most impressive engineering solutions employed in the ancient period. Each giant column shaft, approximately 20 meters high, was encased in a cylindrical wooden enclosure with wheels attached to its sides for transport to where it would be erected in the temple. Thus, the columns could be rolled along the road from the quarry to the temple site horizontally, relatively easily. While stacking and erecting the column segments was relatively straightforward, lifting the massive architrave blocks weighing tons to a height of 20 m was extremely challenging. For this purpose, ancient craftsmen developed a brilliant method: large architrave blocks were first placed inside cylindrical robust wooden cases and surrounded with sand. Then, these cases were rolled up inclined wooden ramps built around the temple up to the top of the column capitals (capitals). When the desired point was reached, sand was slowly emptied from the holes drilled at the bottom of the cases, and as the sand decreased, the architrave block was lowered in a controlled manner to fit onto the top of the columns precisely. This method allowed enormous architrave blocks to be positioned atop tall columns without damage.

The fact that the Temple of Artemis was constructed entirely of marble and these innovative assembly techniques demonstrate the peak reached by architecture in the ancient world. Ephesian architects and engineers succeeded in using the most advanced methods of their time to build this magnificent temple, described as rising to the clouds. Consequently, the structures in Ephesus took their place among the most durable and magnificent architectural works of their time due to the quality of materials and the masterful techniques applied and their fame persevered for centuries.