Flavius Palmatus

Leading Citizen

Governor Oikoumenious

Citizen 19

Leading Citizens

Aphrodite of the City

Achilles

C Julius Ziolos Anti

Julius Zoilos

Figures sketch

Julius Zoilos

Garden Fragments

Museum Garden

Four Seasons

Local Aphrodite

Synagogue Donors List

This remarkable inscribed pillar, 2.80m tall, lists members of the local Jewish community at Aphrodisias in the late fourth century AD . It is inscribed on two adjacent faces, and both bear lists of names, c. 25 on the left side and c. 110 on the front. They are names of men who either belonged to the local synagogue or had donated to it.

The main list on the front is divided in two.

First come men who have distinctly Biblical names or names favoured by Jews, such as Benjamin, Judas, Joseph, Jacob, Samuel, Zachary and names such as Amantios (loving), Eusabathios (the good Sabbath).

Beneath them comes a list headed: And the theosebeis. The theosebeis or ‘godfearers’ are gentiles who have a strong chosen affiliation with Judaism but who are not themselves Jews. They have traditional Greek-Roman names such as Alexandros or Eutychos.

Several local councillors head the list of the godfearers, and ten of the Jews and seventeen of the god-fearers list their professions. They are all tradesmen who range from food-providers to painters to leather-workers, to sculptors and builders.

The pillar probably stood outside the local synagogue and is striking testimony to the proud place of the Jewish community in th city, to continuing fluid religious interaction in the fourth century AD, and especially to the high valuation of craft professions among this group of like-minded monotheists.

Found at: North-west of Museum

Sebastion Sevgi Gonul Hall

South Portico Reliefs

South building  Emperors and heroes.

The south building was sponsored by two brothers Attalos and Diogenes and their family. The third floor displayed the reliefs of emperors and gods and the second floor displayed scenes of Greek mythology. The reliefs are displayed in the same sequence as they where found.

Blue Horse

Aphrodisias Blue Horse.

The galloping horse of dark blue-grey marble was found in 1970 in the Civil Basilica beside the remains of its pedestal. The monument was a daring composition and had already been restored in antiquity.

The horse wore a gilded bronze saddle cloth in the form of a feline skin attached to its back with small iron pins. It was ridden by the figure of a naked heroic youth of whom only one thigh remains. From its fixings it is presumed he is falling off the horse.

The monument was mounted on an I-shaped base, facing down the interior nave of the Basilica. The lower part of the base is in situ in the Basilica. The upper plinth is restored and in position below the horse  The plinth has a cutout for a figure standing beside the horse. This was a three figure group of horse, heroic rider and standing figure. The subject was Troilos and Achilles. The young Trojan prince Troilos was ambushed and killed by Achilles when he rode out to a fountain outside the walls of Troy. The group probably showed Achilles in a well known composition, pulling the young Troilos from his galloping horse by his hair.                                                                 

South Portico Reliefs

Gods  and  Emperors.

South  building  third  storey.

These reliefs come from the third story of the south building. Their subjects are Roman emperors, imperial victory and the Olympian gods. The main early Roman emperors are present Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Nero, with younger princes and imperial women. The most important activity is victorious war over barbarians Claudius conquers Britannia, and Nero conquers Armenia.

Two Princes

Two princes stand like statues, naked wearing cloaks. The left figure holds the orb of the world in one hand, a symbol of world rule that indicates he is the imperial heir, and in the other hand a ships stern ornament ( aphlaston ) a symbol of a naval victory/ They are probably Gaius and Lucius, the grandsons of Augustus.

The Three Graces.

The Three Graces stand  in their familiar Hellenistic composition. They were handmaids of Aphrodite and appeared in this form on the decoration of her cult statue at Aphrodisias. Their names evoked their character Euphrosyne ( Joy), Aglata ( Splendour), and Thaleta ( Bloom ).          

Prometheus freed by Herakles.

Prometheus is screaming in pain, Zeus had given him a terrible punishment for giving fire to man, he was tied to the Caucasus mountains and had his liver pecked out daily by an eagle. Herakles has shot the eagle and is undoing the first mannacle. He wears the trade-mark lion-skin and has thrown his club aside. A small mountain nymph, holding a throwing stick, appears among the rocks above.

Nymphs with baby Dionysos. A heavily wrapped baby Dionysos is handed from one nymph to another for suckling. A bearded Silenos gestures excitedly with his arms and taps his foot as though singing or about to dance. The scene is set at nearby Nysa in the Meander valley, where Zeus had his gifted child Dionysos, born to him by Semele, brought up in the wilds out of view of his wife Hera. 

Nero with Armenia

Nero, wearing only a cloak and sword-strap, supports a slumped naked Armenia by her upper arms. She wears a soft eastern hat, and her bow and quiver are at the left. The heroic composition likens them to Achilles and the Amazon queen Penthesilea.

Three heroes with dog.

Two heroes stand in front of a third hero who is seated on a rock and pats the head of a bitch hound. They are hunters and should be taken in a group with the next two reliefs, which show Meleager with Atalante and then Meleager with the Calydonian boar.  

Meleager and Atalante.

Meleager sits on a rock tying his sandal. Below him lies a fierce hunting dog with a broad collar. On one side a god or another hero wearing a rounded hat was crowning Meleager ( arm is missing). On the other side stands the huntress Atalante, Meleagers lover she wears a short dress and quiver and lifts her cloak at the shoulder in a gesture of modesty and flirtation.        

Meleager and boar.

The naked hero stands in front of a rocky backdrop. In the foreground lies the dead Calydonian boar. Above, a local mountain nymph emerges from behind a fold in the landscape  The boar hunt took place on the imposing Mt. Zygos at Calydon.      

NERO AND AGRIPPINA

Agrippina crowns her young son Nero with a laurel wreath. She carries a cornucopia, symbol of Fortune and Plenty and he wears the armour and cloak of a Roman commander, with a helmet on the ground at his feet. The scene refers to Nero’s accession as emperor in AD 54, and belongs before AD 59 when Nero had Agrippina murdered.                                                      

Leda and Swan.

Zeus disguised as a swan assaults the Spartan princess Leda. The bird stands on the tips of its outspread wings and presses its webbed foot on the thigh of modest, struggling Leda. The swan is supported from behind by a small Eros. From this encounter came a large egg from which were born Helen and the Dioskouroi twins, Kastor and Polydeukes.   

Herakles and Antaios.

Herakles is preparing to wrestle the Libyan giant Antaios, Herakles (left) is taking off his bow-case to hang it on a rustic pillar-statue. Antaios (right) is binding up his head with ear protectors next to him stands an oil basin as used in the palaistra (wrestling ground). Antaios was a famous wrestler and challenged and killed all visitors to his country, until defeated by Herakles. 

Claudius and Britannia

The naked warrior Claudius is about to deliver a death blow to a slumped figure of Britannia.He wears a helmet, cloak and sword-belt with scabbard. Britannia wears a tunic with one breast bare – like the Amazon figures on which she is modelled.

Bellerophon.

Bellerophon was a Lykian hero, and was claimed as the founder at Aphrodisias. He holds his winged horse Pegasos. The design was modelled on another relief panel in this series ( Royal hero with two hunting dogs). The carving is poor the sculptor seems still to have been learning his craft.    

Anchises  and Aphrodite.

The Trojan shepherd Anchises gazes at the seated Aphrodite, his lover for one night on Mount Ida. She holds a small Eros on her lap this is an erotic encounter.The head of Selene ( Moon) appears above the mountain rocks she indicated night-time. It was from this union that Aineas was born.   

Achilles and Penthesilea.

Achilles supports the slumping figure of the Amazon queen Penthesilea, who he has mortally wounded. Her double headed axe slips from her hand. The queen has come to fight in the Trojan war against the invading Greeks. Between her being wounded and dying in his arms – the time represented here – Achilles fell in love with her.

North Portico

North building  Peoples of the empire.

The north building was sponsored by two brothers Menandros and Eusebes and their family.The third story displayed reliefs featuring imperial scenes and universial allegories of time and place such as Day and Ocean. The second floor displayed reliefs relating to the peoples captured by the empire during the reign of Augustus.      

Ethnos of the  Pirousti.

The figure represents a Balkan warrior tribe, defeated by Tiberius in AD 6-8, before he became emperor. She wears classical dress, cloak and helmet and carries a small shield and probably a spear. A builders inscription ( Pirousion written above to right of shield) ensured the relief was placed on the correct base.  

Ethnos of the  Dacians.

The Dacians are shown as a captive barbarian woman. Her arms are crossed in submission, and her thick dress slips off her shoulder partly revealing her breast. The forepart of a small bull stands in profile behind. Dacia, modern Romania, was claimed by Augustus as a conquest in 1 BC to AD 4.

Ethnos of the Bessi.

The Bessi  where a war-like Thracian tribe in the area of modern Bulgaria against whom Augustus armies campaigned in 35, 29. And 11 BC The figure wears a belted dress and a long cloak veiled over the head. The distinctive headband is an attribute of Dionysos and alludes to the well known enthusiasm of the Thracian tribes for the god. The conical hat on the ground was probably another ethnic marker.

Crete

The classical hairstyle, dress and pose characterize the figure as civilised and free as opposed to barbarians and captive. Attributes are missing from both hands.