1. Introduction
The modern name of the «Tomb of St. Luke» was ascribed to it by the first excavator, J. T. Wood. He found a pilaster with the representation of a carved cross and a humpbacked ox (fig. 7), which he interpreted as the symbol1 of the Evangelist Luke and thus called the building Tomb of St. Luke.2 The monument lies to the SE of the upper agora (=Public agora) in the city of Ephesus. It is a circular monument, a two-storey rotunda with a monopteros on a pedestal, which has been variously interpreted as a circular church (according to Wood), or a temple (tholos) on a pedestal (according to Adler, Ryland, Weber). Its construction is dated to the middle or second half of 2nd c. AD (although according to Adler it dates from the 1st c. AD) and its abandonment in the first half of 5th c. AD. The initial use of the building was probably that of a fountain. Other interpretations tend to identify it with the grave and church for St. Luke (Wood), a grave-monument or temple, i.e. polyandreion (Weber), or a building with representative character (Heberdey).
2. Architectural description
The monument (fig. 1) is situated on the saddle between the two hills of the city, Bülbüldağ (anc. Preon) in the South and Panayırdağ in (anc. Pion) the North, about 150 m Southeast of the upper agora. The building is part of a bigger architectural ensemble which consists of a circular building in the centre of a marble-paved court (45 by 55 m) and is surrounded by a quadriporticus. The complex was flanked by a public basilica in the east (erected in the 3rd to 4th c. AD) and a “wool factors market“ (according to Wood) in the west. In the north there was one of the main streets of the antique city (connection of the Magnesian gate and the upper agora). The situation in the south of the building is unknown because of missing archaeological references.
The two-storey monument is formed by a pedestal and an upper level. The pedestal is about 2 m high and built on a circular opus caementitium-foundation (diameter of 15.5 m) and two rectangular projections in the east and west. A circle of 14 (formerly 16) pillars at the outside edge surrounds a huge circular wall (thickness of 1.35 m). Originally the pillars were screened by orthostats (fig. 5) and intercolumnia were closed by inserted doors. The circular wall contains a system of several chambers, a corridor and a solid central pillar.
The northern and western sectors offer three little chambers each, whereas the southern segment consists of a single room (A). Today the eastern sector shows the supplementary crypt which is accessible by two doorways. In the west of the rotunda another chamber (B) and in the east an apse were added. The podium could be reached by stairways in the north, the west and the south.
The upper floor of the Roman building (fig. 2) was destroyed in early Byzantine times (fig. 3) and converted into a church. Therefore there are no original Roman structures which remained in situ.
2.1. Suggested reconstructions
Judging fromthe architectural remains, the Roman monument was reconstructed quite similar to the well-known rotundas in Rome (for instance the mausoleum nearby Tor de’ Schiavi and the mausoleum of Maxentius at the via Appia). The building was thought to have been a tholos with ionic order, roofed by a huge dome and accessible by a monumentally (?) arranged stairway.3 This reconstruction isbased on the opinion that the majority of the wall structures belonged to the Roman monument. Only the stairways in the north, the south and the west, the walls at the northwestern side of the rotunda, the crypt and the apse were regarded as Byzantine. However forteichoskopic and stratigraphic reasons the huge circular wall as well as room B have to be considered also as early Byzantine.
Thus the pedestal of the Roman rotunda originally consisted of 16 columns, the chamber system with four sectors, the corridor and the central pillar.4
Inside the rotunda a pipeline was partly excavated and thus its function as a temple or a grave monument can be excluded. It is more probable that the monument was rather a fountain. Due to the architectural remains the upper floor most probably can be reconstructed5 as hypaethral monopteros6 which encircled a basin.
Because of the lack of archaeological information the interrelation of the rotunda and the quadriporticus can not be defined. A series of epigraphic, numismatic and stratigraphic references indicates an interpretation of the entire complex as a macellum with a central fountain.7 The monument can be characterized as the first example of a fountain of such kind and dimensionsin Asia Minor. The monopteros originally was erected in the corinthian order. Wood however reconstructed it asan Ionic order building, which clearly could not be verified (fig. 4).
A quite remarkable quantity of the architectural and sculptural decoration is preserved, especially because the elements were reused for the establishment of the church in early Byzantine times. Spolia were found in the three stairways of the church as well as in the mighty circular wall (fig. 6).
3. Construction
The exterior of the podium as well as the entire upper building (monopteros) consisted of white-bluish-grayish grained marble. The 16 pillars and the chamber system were erected with local limestone and quarrystone. The foundation of the building consists of opus caementitium, the brick-work of the Roman chamber system as well as the early Byzantine walls are set up in theopus incertum technique. The late Byzantine structures in the crypt show opus mixtum. The domed roof of the chambers, the corridor and the crypt consisted of bricks.
4. History and chronology
Due to the numerous spolia and the stratigraphic circumstances, the erection of the fountain in the mid to the 2nd half of the 2nd c. AD is considered very likely. In the 1st half of the 5th c. AD the fountain was abandoned and the architectural remains were reused for the church. There is no indication of repairs after that of the well known earthquakes in the 3rd and 4th c. AD.
After the abandonment of the fountain the ruin was adapted and rebuilt as a church of unknown consecration. An apse was added in the east, the chamber system in the pedestal zone was partly removed and room A as well as the crypt were installed. The inserted circular wall served as a substructure for the church on the upper floor. Equally the solid walls of room B in the west served as a foundation for the narthex. The church on the podium was accessible by three stairways, which were attached to the north, the west and the south. There are nearly no remains of the church, probably because the building was used as quarry in post-Byzantine times.
The first excavations took place in 1865 (J.T. Wood), in 1908 further investigations were carried out by the Austrian Archaeological Institute (R. Heberdey). A re-examination finally started in 1997 (A. Pülz). In 1996 the Austrian Archaeological Institute re-erected some architectural blocks which had caved in. Today the monument lies outside the excavation area (nearby the upper entrance) and is accessible for the visitors.