Ephesus Agora Royalty-Free Stock Photo

The agora was located to the south of the Basilica and was built during the Roman Empire, probably in the first century BC. The Agora of Ephesus served less as a marketplace and more as a place to conclude business contracts. It played an important role as a place of assembly when government decisions were discussed.During the excavations in the northeast corner of the Agora, graves probably dating from the 7th to the 6th century B.C. were found in considerable amounts and a stone road and an archaic terracotta sarcophagus were also unearthed. On the basis of these findings it was decided that during the archaic period a part of the Agora served as the cemetery of Ephesus. At the corner of the Agora is a water tank that played a primary role in Ephesus. The reservoir was filled with water through the Pollio Aqueduct, which can be seen 5 kilometers from the Agora along the Selsuk-Aydin highway.The Agora, geometrically 160 by 73 meters, with colonnades on three sides, and a temple in the center, dating back to the first century of our era. The temple was dedicated to Isis, surrounded by ten columns on the larger side and six on the smaller. The temple was destroyed during the reign of Augustus and was never rebuilt because of Emperor Augustus' dislike of anything Egyptian. On the facade of the temple are groups of statues that are described in the legends of Odysseus and Polyphemus, which have not been moved to the Ephesus Museum.