Library of Celsus

Ancient Greek building in Ephesus, Anatolia

The Library of Celsus (Βιβλιοθήκη του Κέλσου) is an ancient Roman building in Ephesus, Anatolia, today located near the modern town of Selçuk, in the İzmir Province of western Turkey. The building was commissioned in the years 110s CE by a consul of the Roman Empire, Tiberius Julius Aquila Polemaeanus, as a funerary monument for his father Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, former proconsul of Asia, and completed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, sometime after Aquila's death. Celsus is buried in a crypt beneath the library in a decorated marble sarcophagus. The interior measured roughly 180 square metres (2,000 square feet). The interior of the library and its contents were destroyed in a fire that resulted either from an earthquake or a Gothic invasion in 262 CE, It lay in ruins for centuries until the façade was re erected by archaeologists between 1970 and 1978.

Celsus enjoyed a successful military and political career, having served as a commander in the Roman army before being elected to serve as a consul for the Roman Empire in 92 CE. Celsus, a Romanized Greek native of Sardis or Ephesus who belonged to a family of priests of Rome, He may have been the first Greek to become a Roman senator, however there is scholarly debate that this may or may not be true. He was later appointed as proconsul, or governor, of Asia, the Roman province that covered roughly the same area as modern day Turkey. In Ancient Roman culture, the wealthy and privileged were expected to act as benefactors, and use their wealth for the greater good of the community. This Roman belief expanded to other Roman territories and provinces, such as the Greek city of Ephesus, where Aquila built the library in honor of his father, but also to benefit Ephesus as a whole. The library itself also embodies Roman values of sharing knowledge and growing literacy. Celsus' family most likely became citizens of the Roman Empire under the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius (14–37 CE), as he is named after Tiberius, which may have been to pay homage to the Emperor. The interior and contents of the library were destroyed by fire in 262 CE, though it remains unknown whether this fire was the result of natural disaster or a Gothic invasion, as it seems the city was struck by one of each that year. In the meantime, some of the architectural elements had been acquired by museums in Vienna and Istanbul. The absent fragments had to be replaced by copies or left missing.]] The east facing marble façade of the library is intricately decorated with botanical carvings and portrait statuary. The façade on the outside was built with false perspective, a Greek technique. This means that the inside columns are longer while the outside columns are higher. Though the columns are not identical, the illusion is that they are. This makes the library look larger on the outside and more grand than it actually is. Design features include acanthus leaves, scrolls, and fasces emblems, the latter being a symbol of magisterial power that alludes to Celsus's tenure as a consul. The four statues of the female virtues are not originals, but were replaced with four random female statues. These virtues allude to the dual purpose of the structure, built to function as both a library and a mausoleum; their presence both implies that the man for whom it was built exemplified these four virtues, and that the visitor may cultivate these virtues in him or herself by taking advantage of the library's holdings. This type of façade with inset frames and niches for statues is similar to that of the skene found in ancient Greek theatres and is thus characterized as "scenographic". The columns on the second level flank four podia, paralleling the aediculae below, which held statues of Celsus and his son. A crypt containing Celsus's decorated marble sarcophagus was located beneath the floor of the apse. It was unusual in Roman culture for someone to be buried within a library or even within city limits, so this was a special honour for Celsus, reflecting his prominent role as a public official. The three remaining walls were lined with either two or three levels of niches measuring 2.55x1.1x0.58 m on average, which would have held the armaria to house the scrolls. These niches, which were backed with double walls, may have also had a function to control the humidity and protect the scrolls from the extreme temperature. The upper level was a gallery with a balcony overlooking the main floor, creating a lofty spatial effect inside. It could be reached via a set of stairs built into the walls, which added structural support. The ceiling was flat and may have had a central round oculus to provide more light. The design of the library, with its ornate, balanced façade, reflects the influence of Greek style on Roman architecture, which reached its height in the second century. After the 2020 Aegean Sea earthquake on October 20, 2020, the performance of the reconstructed library was tested, and it performed well in terms of seismic behavior and the interaction between the adjacent walls and façade.

The cuirassed statue of Celsus now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum was one of three statues of the building's patron located on the second level of the façade. and of the 20 new lira banknote of 2005–2009.