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monial gate that was decorated with re-used ancient marble reliefs of Heracles and
his deeds.106 Numerous honorary statutes continued to be erected as late as the sixth
century107 and will, like at Aphrodisias,108 have imparted antique flair of a kind that
had become rare in the Byzantine period.
Unlike Miletus and Aphrodisias, early Byzantine Ephesus was thus characterized
by a dynamic development, much of which may have been necessitated by previous
earthquake-related destruction. However, due to their antique stylization, the innova-
tions make it clear that Ephesus, too, was committed to the cultivation of ancient tra-
dition. This also applies to Ephesian church buildings: the church claimed the ancient
centre of Ephesus earlier and with more buildings than at Miletus and at Aphrodisias,
but the architecture was similarly informed by an endeavour to make the new sanc-
tuaries fit in with the pre-existing cityscape, for example by converting ancient mon-
uments as in the cases of the church of St Mary inside the olympieion, the so-called
Grave of Luke inside a macellum(?), and churches in the serapeion, artemision, East
Gymnasium, Gymnasium of Vedius, and Harbour Gymnasium.109
Much building material was also re-used, which was economical and seems to
reflect appreciation of the city’s ancient heritage. The latter appears to be confirmed by
the newly carved capitals of the first memorial church above the grave of the Apostle
John (Fig. io):110 The capitals were produced locally, and their layout as well as the
shape of their acanthus leaves are based on regional tradition, ignoring what was fash-
ionable in Constantinople, just like the said carvings from Miletus and Aphrodisias.
In contrast, Justinian’s second church of St John was a modern domed basilica with
imported marbles from Constantinople/Proconnesus and could have stood in the cap-
ital just as well as at Ephesus.111 The new capitals bore monograms with the names of
Justinian and his wife Theodora and proclaimed for all to see that the largest and most
splendid church of Ephesus was an imperial rather than a local building. The new
imperial presence in the region included John, a monk and native of Amida/Diya-
bakir in Mesopotamia, who served as Justinian’s emissary in western Asia Minor and,
according to his own statements, baptized 70,000 heathens there,112 who may in fact
have been Christian heretics.113 Later, the same John was ordained bishop of Ephe-
sus. All these imperial initiatives may have been intended to counteract particularistic
tendencies in the cities and the local churches of western Asia Minor by promoting
integration with the centre, Constantinople. Accordingly, the antiquarian character
of early Byzantine urbanism in western Asia Minor may reflect local patriotism and
traditional urban autonomy, instead of pagan tendencies.

106 Pülz (2010); Ladstätter (2017).

107 Auinger (2009); Auinger/Aurenhammer (2010).

108 Roueché (1999).

109 Pillinger (1996); Ladstätter/Pülz (2007), pp. 408-409; Bauer (2015).

no Büyükkolanci/Russo (2010).

in Hörmann (1951); Thiel (2005); Russo (2010).

112 John of Ephesus, Lives, ed. Brooks, p. 681; cf. Ps.-Dionysius, Chronicle, trans. Witakowski,p. 72, Michael
Syrus, Chronica IX 24, ed. Chabot.

113 Trombley (1985), pp. 330-333; Whitby (1991).