Hanghaus 2 in Ephesos

The Terrace House 2 in Ephesos is the best preserved housing complex of Roman imperial times in the Eastern Mediterranean. The insula i.e. the apartment block in the centre of the ancient metropolis was divided into seven peristyle houses. This volume presents the first housing unit, which is located on the eastern part of the middle terrace. Here, four building phases from the beginning of the 1st century A.D. up to the 3rd quarter of the 3rd century A.D. can clearly be recognized. Resulting from the successive expansion of the neighbouring apartment belonging to one of the Ephesian dignitaries the former peristyle hall was changed into a pilaster hall, including a - for Ephesos unique - illusionistic garden-painting and a central water fountain providing the impressive atmosphere for a summer-triclinum. At the same time a third floor was added on to the housing unit. Numerous graffiti on the walls of the hall, to a certain extent the guestbook but also including household bills, and the inventory of findings provide an informative view of the daily life at the time of the destruction through an earthquake in 262 A.D.