Terrace House 2

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

first to third century CE

Excavation Dates

1967-1983

Garden Description

The most striking remains are in Terrace House 2, in Room 20 (Residence 4), excavated by H. Vetters between 1967-1983. Here, in a space originally designed as a courtyard, the walls are decorated with an elaborate garden scene. Much of the painting is covered by a later painting of marble panels, but on the north and west walls the garden scene has been partially revealed (Figs. 1 and 2). The viewer within the room looks out past a real marble dado on top of which is an illusionistic marble fence with an unusual egg and dart design along the top. Beyond is a garden scene, similar to those seen in Pompeii or the famous garden scene of Livia at Prima Porta. The scene is filled with luxuriant foliage, out of which apple trees rise up against the blue sky bearing apples or quinces. A bird flies over a young juniper or cypress. The illusion of the garden continues without a break around the corners. It allows the viewers to feel present in a garden, while knowing they are in a room looking out at it. The later painting completely destroys both the illusion and any recollection that the space had formerly been an open courtyard.

In the central peristyle of Residence 2 of Terrace House 2, Vetters uncovered a late Imperial mosaic of Dionysius and Ariadne in a niche. The peristyle itself is a paved courtyard, but the mosaic offers the viewer a rich view of a paradisiacal vineyard. A lunette features a mosaic of two peacocks holding a garland over a basket or urn of grapes and fruits, with white geese to each side standing on a green lawn with roses and lilies (Fig. 3). The ceiling of the niche features Dionysias and Ariadne in a central medallion set into a panel of blue, against which is arrayed a vine laden with grapes and doves (Fig. 4). In the upper corner, the vine emerges from the ground, and along the base of the wall, a winged putto leads two harnessed leopards or panthers. The opposite side is not preserved.

Just off the peristyle in Room 17, the walls feature a variety of birds, individually portrayed on white backgrounds either sitting on branches or standing among small plants. In Room 24, the landscape themes continue with a painting of stags in woodland, apparently being chased by a putto. Only a small fragment remains. In Room 14, mythological scenes of Achilles and Skyros (west wall) and Achilles and Priam (south wall) are set in a landscape of rocks and trees (Fig. 6). Bird and plant themes are represented through this house.

Plans

Plan of Ephesos terrace house 2 with courtyard in the middle and rooms surrounding it.

Credit: Photo by N. Blanc

Images

Garden painting in the North-West corner of the peristyle

Detail of the garden painting in the North-West corner of the peristyle.

Credit: Photo by N. Blanc

Painting as discovered on the west wall of the terrace house 2

Painting as discovered on the North wall of the terrace house 2

Bibliography

Jobst, W. 1977. Römische Mosaiken aus Ephesos I: Die Hanghäuser des Embolos 8/2, Figs. 109-130. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (worldcat)
Kearns, C. 2013. “Visual Representations of Gardens: Diachronic Perspectives on the Art of Landscape.” In A Cultural History of Gardens. Vol. 1, Antiquity, edited by K.L. Gleason, 164–65. London: Bloomsbury Academic. (worldcat)
Strocka, V.M. 1977. Die Wandmalerei der Hanghäuser in Ephesos. Forschungen in Ephesos 8/1, Figs. 207-219. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (worldcat)

Keywords

Tomb Garden and Orchard of Aphrodisios and Flavia

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

second or third century BCE

Excavation Dates

unspecified

Garden Description

According to a secondary inscription carved horizontally, perhaps in the third century CE, across the back of a figured grave stele of perhaps the third or second century BCE, found on the road between the Magnesia gate and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, "this orchard with its sarcophagi and pavilion (θόλῳ) belongs to Aphrodisios and his wife and children" (τοῦτο τὸ πωμάριν ἐστὶν σὺν τε͂ς σ̣ωροῖς κὲ τῷ θόλῳ Ἀφροδισίου κὲ γ(υ)ν(αικὸς) Φλαβίας κὲ τέκνω[ν], IEph 1625B). The first editor, Hicks, interpreted the word πωμάριν to mean "cover" or "lid" (πῶμα) and thought that the stele originally protected the entrance to the monument, but Keil rightly saw that πωμάριν was nothing more than a transliterated form of the Latin pomarium, fruit orchard, an amenity often attached to tomb monuments in the Roman world. The character of the θόλῳ is uncertain—the term is attested only once elsewhere in Asia Minor in a funerary context, in Pisidia, where a θόλῳ is equipped with statues (Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiquae. Manchester and London, 1928-1993, VIII, 375; cf. Kubińska)—but the transliterated pumarin gives reason to suspect that a Roman context is here relevant, in which case one naturally thinks of the sort of ornamental (often round) pavilion (diaeta) frequently found in Roman tomb gardens.

Bibliography

Börker, C., and R. Merkelbach. 1980. Die Inschriften von Ephesos. Teil 5. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt. (worldcat)
Hicks, E.L. 1890. The Collection of Ancient Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum. Vol. 3, pt. 2, Ephesos. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (worldcat)
Keil, B. 1908. "Über kleinasiatische Grabinschriften." Hermes 43:546 n. 1. (worldcat)
Kubińska, J. 1968. Les monuments funéraires dans les inscriptions grecques de l'Asie Mineure. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. (worldcat)

Ephesos on Gardens of the Roman Empire

Terrace House 2

Dates

Excavation Dates

Garden Description

Plans

Images

Bibliography

Keywords

Tomb Garden and Orchard of Aphrodisios and Flavia

Dates

Excavation Dates

Garden Description

Bibliography

Keywords