Architecture is the art of shaping human living spaces and combining aesthetics with functionality. In Ephesus, architecture has been a medium reflecting the city's identity and culture, from magnificent temples to theaters, from houses to public buildings. Every stone and structure carries the traces of the past into today.
The Ancient City of Ephesus is known in history as one of the first cities entirely built of marble. In this ancient city, structures were generally constructed using stone, brick, and wood, with stone - especially marble - being deemed the most important of these materials. Despite the presence of many marble quarries in the surrounding area, how the Ephesians first discovered this valuable construction material is a matter of curiosity. One ancient writer narrates the story of this discovery as follows: While constructing the Temple of Artemis, the Ephesians initially considered importing marble from the islands of Thassos and Paros due to the expected high costs. At that time, an unexpected event occurred. An Ephesian shepherd named Pixodoros was grazing his goats on the mountain when two goats began to fight. When one goat suddenly attacked the other, the attacked goat dodged aside, causing the attacker to lose balance and crash into the rock surface. A large spark emerged from this collision, and a piece broke off from the rock, revealing an unprecedentedly beautiful white marble. The shepherd excitedly rushed to the city and showed his discovery to everyone, recounting the event. This news created great delight in Ephesus. The name of the shepherd who discovered the marble was changed to "Evangelos," meaning "good news." Thus, the rich marble deposits located only 9 km from Ephesus (in the present vicinity of Belevi, at the foothills of Sağlık Mountain) were discovered. The monumental structures of the city, including the Temple of Artemis, were constructed in the following years using marble obtained from these nearby quarries.
Residential Architecture
Interior of a wealthy Roman period residence 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 wall paintings. In the central courtyard, remnants of a small water basin (impluvium) or fountain structure can be seen.
Houses in Ephesus, as well as small-scale structures like shops, were generally made of stone and bricks, covered by a wooden roof and tiled. Following the application of special stucco plaster on the walls, they were either decoratively painted with vibrant frescoes or given a marble appearance. The floors of Terrace Houses belonging to wealthy families were laid with colorful mosaics, and the walls were covered with actual marble slabs up to a certain height. In these homes, besides fresco decorations depicting mythological scenes, there were also small niches and even decorative fountains understood to exist in the interiors. The Terrace Houses open to visitors in Ephesus today still reveal these rich details of ancient residential architecture.
Monumental Structures and Construction Methods
The magnificent public buildings of Ephesus (temples, libraries, agoras, etc.) required substantial labor, time, and expense to construct. Marble blocks needed for these large structures were initially cut at quarries and transported to the construction site via wheel-drawn carts. The raw blocks extracted from the quarry were brought to sculpting workshops near the city, where they were shaped according to the architect's specifications by skilled craftsmen. The highest quality marble quarries around Ephesus were especially concentrated around Belevi Village. Indeed, relief figures carved by stone craftsmen cutting marble at ancient quarries in the Belevi region over 2,000 years ago have been identified. This shows that the traces left by Ephesian craftsmen at marble quarries have reached the present day.
The placement of processed marble blocks at the construction site required great engineering skill. For example, various cranes and rope systems were used to lift the giant blocks, which could weigh 10-15 tons, meters high. Ancient sources mention two main methods used for this purpose:
Projection (Ear) Method: When carving a block, a special projection about 20-25 cm long was left in the center, and thick ropes were tied to this projection to lift the block upwards with cranes. These projections served as handles to enable the ropes to grip the stone.
Groove (Channel) Method: Instead of leaving a projection on the stone block, U-shaped channels (grooves) were carved on opposite edges, where ropes were placed and tightened, then the block was lifted upwards. This allowed the ropes to hold onto the stone and the lifting operation to be safely carried out.
While constructing the skeleton of the structure and placing marble blocks on top of each other, additional measures were implemented to ensure the secure interlocking of adjacent stones. Blocks placed side by side were connected with dovetail-shaped iron clamps or rods placed in recesses left between them. In the overlapped layers, special sockets were carved into the upper surface of lower blocks, and projections (similar to dowels) were made to fit perfectly into these sockets on top blocks. All these clamp and dowel gaps opened via narrow channels to the outer surface of stone blocks. After the blocks were placed in position, molten lead was poured inside from these channels to reinforce the metal clamps, effectively riveting the blocks. This method allowed colossal marble pieces to be locked together as a single whole without the use of mortar and made them earthquake-resistant.
A drawing (above) and archaeological remains (below) showing the metal clamp system used to bind marble blocks in ancient construction engineering. Greek and Roman architects inserted Π-shaped iron clamps into special recesses carved on the side surfaces of blocks and stabilized them with lead poured over them to keep walls together. This way, large structures were able to stand for thousands of years.
This advanced clamping technique made it possible to build wall structures without mortar but extremely strong in cities like Ephesus. For example, most of the interlocked blocks in structures like the Celsus Library and the Great Theater still stand in their original state today. Ancient architects created a flexible yet unbreakable connection between blocks using iron clamps and lead; thus, the structure gained resilience against tremors and external influences.
Temple of Artemis: Transportation and Erection of Columns
A reconstruction drawing of the magnificent Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Completely made of marble, this monumental temple gained fame as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its dozens of columns and superstructure beams were assembled using advanced engineering techniques of the time.
The installation of marble columns and beams of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus displays one of the most impressive engineering solutions applied in antiquity. When transporting the giant column bodies, each about 20 meters high, to the location where they would be erected in the temple, they were encased in wooden cylindrical housings matching their height, with wheels attached to each side of these housings. Thus, the columns, horizontally like a "cylinder reel," were relatively easily rolled on the road from the quarry to the temple area. Although stacking and erecting column segments was relatively easy, lifting tons of weight architrave blocks to 20 meters high and placing them on top was extremely challenging. For this purpose, ancient craftsmen devised a brilliant method: First, large architrave blocks were placed in cylindrical sturdy wooden crates and filled with sand around them. Then, these crates were rolled on inclined wooden ramps built around the temple until they reached the top of the column capitals. Once at the targeted point, sand was gradually emptied through holes opened at the bottom of the crates, and as the sand decreased, the architrave block was controlled to slide down and fit snugly onto the columns. Using this method, massive architrave blocks were successfully lifted to the tops of tall columns and positioned without damage.
The complete marble construction of the Temple of Artemis and such innovative assembly techniques demonstrate the zenith ancient architecture reached in the ancient world. Ephesian architects and engineers used the most advanced methods of their era and succeeded in constructing this magnificent temple, which is said to rise to the clouds. Consequently, the structures in Ephesus ranked among the most durable and magnificent architectural works of their time, gaining a reputation that has persisted for centuries.
