Aphrodisias’ Sebasteion - I
The External Porticoes
The Sebasteion of Aphrodisias, a city of the Roman Asia Minor in Caria, was discovered in 1979. It was a religious sanctuary dedicated to the worship of the Julio Caudian emperors as gods (Theoi Sebastoi) – a widespread practice in Greek-speaking parts of the Roman empire.
The Sebasteion was dedicated to Aphrodite and the imperial family, an appropriate pair since Venus was the mother of Aeneas, the mythical founder of the Julian line.
The complex consists of a monumental gateway on the west, which led into two long porticoes on the north and south, at the east end of which stood a temple. The two porticoes were three stories high, with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders respectively in their first, second and third stories. Relief panels flanked by columns were in the two upper stories. The 180 panels (of which about eighty have survived) were varied in their subject matter—mythology, allegory and, important for our purposes, imperial figures of the Julio-Claudian era. This last group provides a rich store of Julio-Claudian iconography and can be surprisingly detailed. Two reliefs, probably the most striking pieces of all Agrippina’s surviving sculpture, come from this source.
The photo shows a detail of the South building façade with relief panels depicting scenes from Greek mythology in the middle storey, and the exploits of the Roman emperors in the upper storey. The image inside the central higher panel shows the emperor Claudius with is 4th wife Agrippina.
Aphrodisias Sebasteion
South Portico
Claudius – early Nero age (41 – 58 AD)
Aphrodisias, Caria, Turkey
Aphrodisias’ Sebasteion - I
The External Porticoes
The Sebasteion of Aphrodisias, a city of the Roman Asia Minor in Caria, was discovered in 1979. It was a religious sanctuary dedicated to the worship of the Julio Caudian emperors as gods (Theoi Sebastoi) – a widespread practice in Greek-speaking parts of the Roman empire.
The Sebasteion was dedicated to Aphrodite and the imperial family, an appropriate pair since Venus was the mother of Aeneas, the mythical founder of the Julian line.
The complex consists of a monumental gateway on the west, which led into two long porticoes on the north and south, at the east end of which stood a temple. The two porticoes were three stories high, with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders respectively in their first, second and third stories. Relief panels flanked by columns were in the two upper stories. The 180 panels (of which about eighty have survived) were varied in their subject matter—mythology, allegory and, important for our purposes, imperial figures of the Julio-Claudian era. This last group provides a rich store of Julio-Claudian iconography and can be surprisingly detailed. Two reliefs, probably the most striking pieces of all Agrippina’s surviving sculpture, come from this source.
The photo shows a detail of the South building façade with relief panels depicting scenes from Greek mythology in the middle storey, and the exploits of the Roman emperors in the upper storey. The image inside the central higher panel shows the emperor Claudius with is 4th wife Agrippina.
Aphrodisias Sebasteion
South Portico
Claudius – early Nero age (41 – 58 AD)
Aphrodisias, Caria, Turkey