Ephesus city management

Administration of Ephesus City

How was the administration of the ancient city of Ephesus? How did the rulers of the city of Ephesus make decisions and who made the decisions? What were the administrative buildings in the city of Ephesus called in antiquity? Did these people working for the city of Ephesus receive a salary? How was the civil service in the city of Ephesus during the Hellenistic period? What duties did the officials in Ephesus do? How many classes were civil servants in the city administration of Ephesus? You can find the answers to these questions in the city administration of Ephesus.

Ephesus Agora was the life center of the city. Although it is often known as a market place, it actually means a meeting place. Perhaps this is why Aristotle said that nothing should be sold in the agora, that there should be no workers and peasants, and that there should be another place for such work.

The presence of 2 agora as a state agora and a commercial agora in some cities, as in Ephesus, is a good example of this. The agora of Ephesus was the political, social and administrative center of the city during the Hellenistic period. During the Roman period, it also served as a market place. However, in many Anatolian cities, there are Macellums that serve as market places.

Agora is usually a rectangular and irregular space. It is usually located in the center of the city. If the city was a port city, the agora would be located close to the port. It is surrounded by stoa or peristyle. The main roads leading to the city of Ephesus would reach the agora.

Behind the stoas in the Ephesus agora, there were shops, nearby fountains, administrative buildings, inscriptions in the square, altars dedicated to gods or heroes, statues of gods or heroes, stalls of marketers and money changers (trapezites).

Large quantities of goods, grains, ceramics, slaves, etc. were traded in the agora. In addition, vegetable and fruit sellers used to sell their food in the Agora of Ephesus.

There was a civil service in the Ephesus agora, which was created to ensure that trade was done without fraud, this was called Agoronomoi. They checked the prices of the goods put on the market in the Ephesus agora, whether the weights of the scales were correct, and whether the money used in shopping was genuine. They would do this with their assistants called Metronomoi.

The story of the establishment of the ancient city of Ephesus and the management of the city of Ephesus

In the Hellenic period, when a new city was established, the approval of the gods had to be obtained first. The priests were used for this. According to the culture that became almost a tradition in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, when the decision to emigrate was decided, the people of the main city would choose a leader for the convoy.

This president, who was called the Founder (Oikist), first applied to the oracle of Delphi, Pythia, and asked where the city could be established, and after receiving the prophecy from the oracle, he would go there with his people and establish the city. In this way, many ancient cities in the Mediterranean basin and Anatolia have had very interesting founding stories.

Management in Ephesus City

Cities founded during the Hellenistic period were small by today’s dimensions. Except for big cities such as Ephesus, Antiocheia, Athens and Alexandria, most of the cities would not have a population of more than 10,000.

In the city of Ephesus, the people were divided into classes as free citizens, children and spouses of free citizens, foreigners, freedmen and slaves. Every free man who has completed the age of 18 is considered an adult and could participate in the election of members to the councils related to the administration of the city of Ephesus. This group of people from Ephesus, who had the right to vote, was called Demos. In order to be eligible to be elected to the People’s Assembly (Ekklesia), he had to have completed his military service and completed at least twenty years of age. The city of Ephesus and other cities were enacting laws for the proper functioning of the people’s order.

It was the duty of the people’s assembly (Bouleuterion) to implement the decisions made in the city of Ephesus and to punish those who did not obey the laws. In order to be elected to the city council (Bouleuterion) or the municipal council (Prytaneion) in Ephesus, in addition to being a free citizen, it was necessary to be thirty years old and over.

The members of the people’s council (Bouleuterion) in Ephesus were elected by the Prytans from among the members of the people’s council. The Prtyans were chosen from among the members of Boule. The Prytans presided over the Bouleuterion for 36-39 days. The key and seal of the city of Ephesus were found in Prytan of Ephesus.

Two beautiful examples of Prytaneion are seen in Ephesus and Priene. The People’s Assembly managed the city’s financial assets and acted as its spokesperson. It was also the duty of this assembly to build temples and decide on the erection of statues of famous people.

The Prytans were responsible for not extinguishing the fire of Hestia, the god of the hearth, who represented the eternal life of the city of Ephesus. Representatives from other city-states were hosted by the Prytans in Prytaneion.

Prytaneion Town Hall in Ephesus

After the Temple of Artemis, the Prytaneion, to North West of the state agora, was the most important structure in the ephesus city. The holy fire of Hestia burned continuuosly in it. The Ephesians held politicial discussions here, entertained official guests, and held banquets; the prytaneion had the function of a Ephesus city hall.

The Prytaneion, with its square courtyard to the South, and the Doric columns ot its facade, looked like a temple. Immediately in front of the building is another, rectangular courtyard. The cult room of Hestia Boulaia is in the northeast part of the complex. A two-room annex occupies teh area West of this room. In each of the four corners of the cult room stood two columns formed in the shape of a heart, topped with decorated capitals.

The eastern part of prytaneion was planned as a unit with the altar of Hestia in Ephesus. The holy fire, which never died out, burned on the altar. Because of the later buildings, and additions, the altar was vet difficult to discern in the initial excavations (1955) During these excavations, however, two famous statues of Artemis were found unexpectedly; these can be seen in the Ephesus museum today. These statues demonstrate that the prytaneion was not only a public building, but also one of the most important sanctuaries.

Another group concerned with prytaneion were the prytaneis. These were respectable citizens of Ephesus, both male and female, who were responsible for the holy fire. The prytaneis  stood in the service of the goddess of the hearth, Hestia, and were responsible for all cult activities.

This scructure was first renovated in the third century BC, during the reign of Lysimachus; at this time, the Ephesians rebuilt the greater part of the structure and and the columns of the facade in marble. A hunderd years later, the building was extended by an entry court to South, which had three facade and two entrance.

In the first half of the third century CE, the heartshaped double columns with decorated capitals were erected in the cult rom of Hestia. After an earthquake in the fourth century, the statues of Artemis were buried in the location in which they found, so that the adherents of the new religion would not destroy them.

The columns of the facade of the prytaneion have Doric capitals. On these unfluted columns, the names of the curets are listed. Until the time of Augustus, these curets were monks of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. When the  temple began to lose its promince, the monks were reassigned to the prytaneion.

In the first half of the third century CE, the heartshaped double columns with decorated capitals were erected in the cult rom of Hestia. After an earthquake in the fourth century, the statues of Artemis were buried in the location in which they found, so that the adherents of the new religion would not destroy them.

The first excavations of the Austraian Archaeological Institue here took place in 1960. They restored the columns of the facade and it part, re-erected them. The Ephesus museum resumed excavations here in 1990; thus, the building, it’s annexes and the other structures in the area are more clearly visible today.

In addition, in the city of Ephesus, there was an area where the Ephesians gathered as the city council or the people’s assembly (Ephesus Bouleuterion). This area is also the odeon in Ephesus. Decisions about the people of Ephesus were taken here, and then they were announced to the people of Ephesus through inscriptions.

The task of the city council, called the Boule, was to lease city lands, build public buildings, and maintain order and security in the city. Boule employed some clerks to fulfill these duties;

Agoronomos: The keeper of the Agora was checking that the trade in the Agora was done correctly and honestly.

Grammateus: secretary of state, civil servant,

Gymnasiarchos: The official responsible for the Gymnasion,

Perikoros: The official who looks after the relations of the city of Ephesus with the neighboring states or cities

Strategos: Commander-in-Chief

Kreupulos: The official in charge of the cemetery

Agonothetes: The official who organizes and referees competitions in stadiums, theaters and in the city of Ephesus.

Those who were appointed to such civil servants assumed this duty for a year and were not paid for their work. These people were considered the notables of the city, and some of these people had fountains, baths, aqueducts built and organized games for the benefit of the people of Ephesus in order to immortalize their names. Such people were called benefactors (Eurgetes).

Ephesus bouleuterion – Odeon in Ephesus

The Ephesus odeon, built into the South slope of Panayir Mount, is like a small theater. Its location North of the state agora and next to the Ephesus prytaneion suggests that it also fulfilled the function of a bouleuterion (meeting place of the council of elders, or senate)  An inscription tells us that Publius Vedius a Antoninus built the Ephesus odeon in the middle of the second century CE.

At the beginning of iys excavation, archaeologists searched for traces of an earlier structure and uncovered various finds from the Hellenistic period. Except for the outer Wall of the odeon, however, which was characteristic for the Hellenistic era, no other structural remains from this period could be recovered.

The Ephesus museum continued the excavations and restorations in the seventies, and in 1990;as a result of this, the odeon has again taken on its original forum. The odeon seats about 1500 spectators. It comprises three sections: the cavea (seating), the orchestra, and the scene. Two diazoma, and five radial aisles, divide the semicircular cavea.

The audience could enter the odeon through two symmetrical vaulted entrances in the west and the east. A narrow podium, stands  above the orchestra and front of richley decorated facade of the stage. Since there are no channels in the orchestra fort he drainage of rainwater, the odeon must have been roofed. The roof would probably have been wooden.

Like many other structures at Ephesus, the odeon collapsed during a severe earthquake in the fourth century. The marble slabs forming the seats were reused in later restorations of other buildings.

These institutions in the Hellenic period in the city of Ephesus were completely under the control of the provincial governors (Proconsul) or his representative Questor, who were sent to the city by Rome during the Roman period. Governors had the greatest administrative and military power in the states. He was the spokesman, administrative and legal control of the entire province. All the expenditures of the province were approved by him.

Taxation and the collection of debts were under his control. He was authorized to convene the people’s assembly. The elections of the administrators to be elected to the local governments were under his supervision and control. Provincial governors remained in the provincial center, while in non-provincial cities the Questors fulfilled his duties.

This is how we can see the city administration in the ancient city of Ephesus. But there is a fact that should not be forgotten that the people elected to the people’s assembly in Ephesus were not paid. They were working to beautify their ideas and time to beautify the beautiful city of Ephesus where they lived. They have been very successful in this as well. The ancient city of Ephesus survived for about 1300 years.

When you come to the ancient city of Ephesus, you can learn new information by visiting the historical places known as the Ephesus Odeon of Ephesus Municipality building (Ephesus Prytaneion) and the public assembly (Ephesus Bouleuterion) gathered in Ephesus. You can actually come to the city of Ephesus and become the current time traveler of the ancient city of Ephesus, which has a history of 2500 years.