Columns Of The Bishop`s Palace, Aphrodisias Royalty-Free Stock Image

To the west of the Council House is a well-preserved peristyle building completely refurbished in late antiquity and known as the Bishop`s Palace, and it may indeed have been an official residence of some kind in the late period. It was one of the largest houses in the city: it occupied a whole city-block c. 35 x 40 m. As was usual for an elite Roman house, the plan was centred on a columned courtyard. Opening off the courtyard are large reception rooms, a triple-apsed dining room to the east, and an apsidal hall to the north. Coin finds indicate these core parts of the late Roman house were built around AD 400. It was richly decorated with mosaics, cut-marble floors, sculptures, and figured wall paintings. In late antiquity, the house may have been used as the residence of the provincial governor, and in the middle ages, when the house underwent extensive re-modelling, it probably became the residence of the bishop. It was occupied through to c. AD 1200, when Aphrodisias was finally abandoned.