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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2013
Ephesos was one of the great cities of the ancient world; in the period of the Roman empire, it was the capital of the province of Asia, and on one celebrated occasion its religious life came into sharp conflict with early Christianity (Acts xix 23-41). From the earliest days of methodical excavation in Turkey, Ephesos has provided a magnet to travellers and archaeologists. Hence a problem that involves the cults and the topography of imperial Ephesos can claim more than an antiquarian interest.
1 I am grateful to G.W. Bowersock and Hans Taeuber for their comments, and to the Trustees of the British Museum for supplying Plates I and II and granting permission to reproduce them. I have used the following special abbreviations: Aufstieg und Niedergang = Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, ed. Haase, W. and Temporini, H. (Berlin and New York)Google Scholar; Bowie, ‘Temple of Hadrian’ = Bowie, E.L., ‘The “Temple of Hadrian” at Ephesus’, ZPE viii (1971) 137–41Google Scholar; Metcalf, Cistophori = Metcalf, William E., The Cistophori of Hadrian, Numismatic Studies xv (New York 1980)Google Scholar; Price, Rituals = Price, S. R. F., Rituals and power (Cambridge 1984)Google Scholar; Robert, OMS = Robert, L., Opera Minora Selecta i–vii (Amsterdam 1969–1990)Google Scholar; Rogers, Sacred identity = Rogers, Guy M., The sacred identity of Ephesos (London and New York 1991)Google Scholar; Wood, Discoveries = Wood, J.T., Discoveries at Ephesus (London 1877).Google Scholar For excellent. sketch-maps of imperial Ephesos, Rogers, Sacred identity 195–97.
2 Paus, vii 2. 9. Karwiese, St., RE suppl. xii (1970) 334Google Scholar, cites Pausanias for the statement that ‘Hadrian had an Olympieion built outside the city’, but the text does not mention Hadrian.
3 Heberdey, R., Forschungen in Ephesos ii (Vienna 1912) 127 ff. no. 27Google Scholar (Inschriften von Ephesos i 27) lines 563–67, cf. 423–25. For Wood's discovery, Discoveries 73–74; on the foundation of Salutaris see now Rogers, Sacred identity.
4 Wood, Discoveries 79–80, 111–12; Alzinger, W., RE suppl. xii (1970) 1599Google Scholar; Rogers, Sacred identity 86.
5 Wood, Discoveries 126–27.
6 Str. xiv 1. 4, 633 C. (West, M.L., lambi et Elegi Graeci [Oxford 1982] ii 48 no. 2).Google Scholar On the cult of Zeus at Ephesos, Oster, Richard E. in Aufstieg und Niedergang i 18, 2 (1990) 1691–95.Google Scholar
7 Inschriften von Ephesos ii 101–104; for the cult-place, references in Knibbe, , RE suppl. xii (1970) 284.Google Scholar
8 Keil, , JOEAI xxxv (1943)Google Scholar Beibl. 108 n. 18 ('S(kizzen)B(uch) 1895 III S. 65').
9 Antiquity of Olympia: Robert, , BCH cii (1978) 474Google Scholar (Documents d'Asie Mineure [Paris 1987] 170). Under Domitian: Moretti, Iscrizioni agonistiche greche 66 (W. Blümel, Inschriften von lasos 108).
10 Metcalf, Cistophori 16–17, types 13–15, with discussion 22–24; ib. 31, type 29, with discussion, 38.
11 Beaujeu, J., La religion romaine à l'apogée de l'empire (Paris 1955) 182Google Scholar; Metcalf, Cistophori 22.
12 Robertson, Anne S., Roman imperial coins in the Hunter Coin Cabinet i (Oxford 1962) 1, 55, with pl. 9Google Scholar; Grant, M., From Imperium to Auctoritas (Cambridge 1946) 104Google Scholar, followed by Woodward, A.M., Num Chron. ser. 6, xii (1952) 28–29.Google Scholar
13 For construction in Ephesos under Domitian, Inschriften von Ephesos ii 449Google Scholar; for a list of Hadrian's benefactions, not including the Olympieion, Inschriften von Ephesos ii 274.Google Scholar
14 Keil, , JOEAI xxvii (1932) Beibl. 54–61Google Scholar; Alzinger, , RE suppl. xii (1970) 1649–50Google Scholar (no. 34 on map facing col. 1600); Price, Rituals 255 no. 31. Recent doubts about the identification (Bammer, A., Ephesos [Graz 1988] 153–56Google Scholar) seem unjustified.
15 Keil, J., Num. Zeitschr. n.s. viii (1915) 125–130Google Scholar; Keil's intuition was brilliantly confirmed by a letter of Caracalla himself (now Inschriften von Ephesos ii 212, 15–22), elucidated by Robert, , RPhil ser. 3, xli (1967) 44–57Google Scholar (OMS v 384–97).
16 Keil, , JOEAI xliv (1959) Beibl. 266Google Scholar n. 40 (Inschriften von Ephesos ii 428); cf. Bowie, ‘Temple of Hadrian’ 137.
17 Magie, , Roman rule in Asia Minor (Princeton 1950) 619Google Scholar with 1479 n. 30; cf. Weber, W., Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Kaisers Hadrianus (Leipzig 1907) 215.Google ScholarWörrle, M., Arch. Anz. 1973, 477Google Scholar, and Price, Rituals 256, express cautious agreement; contrast Metcalf, Cistophori 22 n. 15, rejecting Magie's ‘elaborate scheme’.
18 Foundation of the sanctuary by Deucalion: FGrHist239, 4 (Parian Marble), Paus. i 18. 8. Cult-statue of Zeus: Paus. i 18. 6; Lacroix, L., Les reproductions de statues sur les monnaies grecques (Liège 1949) 266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar On the Athenian Olympieion generally, Travlos, J., Pictorial dictionary of ancient Athens (London 1971) 402–11Google Scholar; Wycherley, R.E., The stones of Athens (Princeton 1978) 155–66Google Scholar; Price, , Rituals 68, 147Google Scholar; Spawforth, A.J. and Walker, S., JRS lxxv (1985) 93–94.Google Scholar
19 Knibbe, D., RE suppl. xii (1970) 277–78Google Scholar, following Lämmer, M., Olympieen und Hadrianeen im antiken Ephesos, diss. Köln 1967Google Scholar [non uidi]. Olympia under Domitian: above, n. 9.
20 For lists of attestations of the Olympia, Robert, L., RPhil ser. 3, iii (1930) 52 n. 8Google Scholar (OMS ii 1152); id., Anatolian Studies…Buckler (Manchester 1939) 233 n. 1 (OMS i 617); of the Hadriana, Robert, , RPhil ser. 3, iii (1930) 52 n. 7Google Scholar (OMS ii 1152); there are no counter-examples in subsequent additions except that in Inschriften von Ephesos iv 1083 [Ἀδριά]νεια Ὀλύμπια has been restored. Aphrodisias: CIG 2810, 17–18, now re-edited by Roueché, C., Performers and partisans at Aphrodisias (London 1993), no. 67.Google Scholar
21 Inschriften von Tralles i 135, 17–18, cf. Robert, , RPhil ser. 3, iii (1930) 35Google Scholar (OMS ii 1135). Cf. the name ‘Kaisareia’ added to the Pythia of Delphi and the Eleutheria of Plataea in the early principate, Robert, , Arch. Eph. 1969, 49–58Google Scholar (OMS vii 755–64); cf. Price, S.R.F., JRS lxx (1980) 32.Google Scholar
22 Miltner, F., JOEAI xliv (1959) Beibl. 264–66Google Scholar; Bowie, ‘Temple of Hadrian’ 137–41; Wörrle (n. 17), 470–77; Price, Rituals 255–56.
23 See now Karwiese, St., Die Marienkirche in Ephesos: Erster vorläufiger Grabungsbericht 1984–1986, Denkschr. Akad. Wien cc (Vienna 1989)Google Scholar, Index s.v. Olympieion; for previous reports. Anz. Wien cx (1973) 178–80; cxxi (1984) 210–211; cxxiii (1987) 84; cxxv (1988) 91–92. For the Church of Mary, see Alzinger, RE suppl. xii (1970), plan facing col. 1584, no. 6. Karwiese's view is strongly endorsed by S. Mitchell in AR 1989–1990, 100; Rogers, Sacred identity 104, is more reserved.
24 Bowie, ‘Temple of Hadrian’ 141.
