#prytaneion

Prytaneion of Priene

Priene, Ionia, Turkey

180 BCE

The prytaneum was a meeting house and a dining room for senate members and housed the sacred flame of Hestia. I was adjacent to the bouleuterion in the center of the city.

The building in its present state takes the form of a peristyle house: a rectangular structure with a central paved, colonnaded courtyard surrounded by three small rooms on the north, two on the west and three on the south sides. The building was entered through a door in the north wall of the central room in the south row.

The Prytaneion held the sacred flame of the city, was dedicated to the goddess Hestia and held all other continually burned hearths. In the room to the east of the entrance stands the Sacred Hearth in which the sacred fire burned. The hearth was made of rubble which was 30 centimeters and is believed to date from earlier periods.

At the entrance to the southernmost room of the western row stands a reused column shaft carved with the following inscription: "The most brilliant city of the Ionian citizens of Priene and the most powerful Council and the most august Synhedrin of the elders in accordance with the things frequently received in (their?) accounts for...(council?) of the assemblies of the expenses of the city have honored M. Aur. Tatianus, the market official of the noble Pollion (?), the president of the festal assembly for the city's goddess Athena, the presiding officer of the goddess, the chief president, and the crowed president of the senate. May you prosper. “

More Priene buildings

Prytaneion

Ephesus, Turkey

1st century BCE 

The Prytaneum (Prytaneion), was the edifice where the executive council (Prytanes) ruling Ephesus had their meetings, ate their meals, received official guests and honoured them. It was also called the municipality building.

The building was rectangular with two main sections. A square courtyard formed in the south-western corner, while a monumental portico to its north, led to the two non communicating sets of rooms.

The remains of the courtyard consisted of a three-sided Ionic peristyle measuring 13,00x14,50 m. In the centre of the court is a rectangular foundation measuring 2,50x2,10 m. It was possibly the base for one of the three Roman copies of the Ephesian Artemis, which were found in this area.

To the north side of the courtyard, a stoa served as a porch to the interior rooms behind. It was of the Doric order, with five unfluted columns, 7,35 m wide and 8 m. high. The portico gave a monumental character to the building, emphasizing at the same time the meaning of the rooms to which it led. The columns and the entablature were covered with inscriptions of the Imperial era which are a valuable source of information for the interpretation of the building’s function andthe city’s public issues. Although the portico follows the forms and proportions of the Augustan architecture, some construction details reveal a remodelling during the Severan era (end of the 2nd, beginning of the 3rd century CE).

The head of the executive committee was called the Prytan and was selected from among the elite families of Ephesus. He had also to be rich because he would pay for most of the expenditures relating to the city from his own budget. The Prytan’s essential task was to watch over the cults in the city, to organize the ceremonies and to continue the social life of the city. Furthermore, he had to see that the sacred hearth of Hestia situated in the middle of the building was kept burning perpetually. This hearth was kept alive representing all the hearths in Ephesus.

The square shaped area made of darker stones in the hall of the building is the place of the sacred hearth. The famous statues of Artemis on display in the Ephesus Museum were found buried in the Prytaneum. It is understood that at the time of the Iconoclasts the Prytaneum was destroyed but that the destroyers did not dare touch the statues of Artemis.

The Prytaneum, with its façade of six thick columns, had the aspect of a Doric temple. There were double columns in the corners of the main hall in the middle of which stood the sacred hearth. The surrounding buildings served the functions of the Prytaneum.

The inscriptions on the columns are the lists of names of the Curetes. The order of priests called the Curetes who were formerly in the Temple of Artemis were later given a place in the Prytaneum. The Prytaneum was built in the 1st century BCE.