Aspendus (Antiquity), Nymphaeum

1. Location and Interpretation

The facade of a monumental building with rich architectural decoration survives at the north side of the Agora of Aspendus. It was built around the second half of the 2nd c. AD, facing the Agora square, thus contributing to the more definite demarcation of the complex, while at the same time it attributed a Roman character to the Agora. Τhe building was identified with a nymphaeum due to the similarity of its architecture with the nymphaeum of Side, while the existence of a faucet shaped like a dolphin’s head and some fragments of clay water pipes were connected to the functional character of the building. However, as there were no reservoirs for the collection and supply of water, an indispensable construction element of the Roman nymphaea, the use of the monument as a nymphaeum was doubted, as it happened with its connection with the city aqueduct.1 A recent study, however, has convincingly supported the identification of the edifice with a nymphaeum, where the aqueduct ended, while traces of hydraulic mechanisms at the back side of the surviving facade have also been located.2

The presence of a nymphaeum at the public and administrative centre of the city is not unexpected as luxurious fountains adorning the complex of the Agora are also found in other Asia Minor cities like Sagalassos. As a matter of fact, the nymphaea are among the most typical and particularly luxurious constructions of the public Roman architecture, which in the Imperial years were closely connected with state propaganda apart from their beneficial value.3

2. Architecture

The surviving wall was built from carved conglomerate stones and was covered with marble. The facade, 15 m high and 1.50 m thick, follows the architecture of the scaenae frons of the Roman theatres. It was a two-storey, U-shaped construction with projecting ends.

Five niches are formed at each floor. The top view of the niche on the axis of the lower floor was semicircular, while smaller semicircular and rectangular niches were formed on either side of the previous niche.4 The interior of the niches has traces of coating evidencing the written decoration of the arched structures. The fountains of the nymphaeum were probably on the niches of the ground floor, while those of the upper floor were possibly adorned with statues.

Between the niches of the lower floor there were pedestals, each of them supporting two pilasters formed at the front of the facade, and two columns, while the wider corner pedestals supported two pairs of columns, which formed the projections of the composition. The columns of the monument were probably in Composite order, which combines the Ionic and the Corinthian orders and was very common in Roman years. Columns and pilasters supported the richly adorned receding entablature, which consisted of a three-banded epistyle and a frieze.5 In the drawing representations of the monument, the half-dome of the central niche is framed by half pediments, which stress the slender proportions of the composition.6

Although on a smaller scale, the architecture of the upper floor actually follows the morphological choices of the ground floor. The small temples (aediculae) that were formed were crowned with triangular and arched pediments clearly giving the impression of a stage decor.7

3. Chronology and Current Condition

The monument was initially dated to the middle or the second half of the 3rd c. AD, although an earlier date around the second half of the 2nd c. AD, particularly in the Antonine period, was later regarded as more possible. The construction of the building at the north side of the Agora of Aspendus was considered a decisive architectural and aesthetic intervention in the complex, as it attributed a monumental character and at the same time revealed the intentions of the Roman ideas about defining and drawing attention to the area of the Agora. The monumental facade of the nymphaeum has been preserved as it was exactly represented in the drawings of the 19th c. researchers. No excavations have been carried out in the area.8



1. The interpretation of the building in Aspendus as a nymphaeum has been doubted by Dorl-Klingenschmid in her study on the nymphaea; see Cl. Dorl-Klingenschmid, Prunkbrunnen in kleinasiatischen Städten. Funktion im Kontext (Μünchen 2001) no. 13 p. 177.

2. Τhe relevant article was published by Susanna A.G. Piras; see. S. Piras, "Façade Nymphaea in Asia Minor. Aspendos, an Example of Massive Urban Water Imprint", in G.Wiplinger (ed), Cura aquarum in Ephesus: Proceedings of the twelfth International Congress on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, Ephesus/Selçuk, Turkey, October 2‑10, 2004, (ÖAI Sonderschriften 42, Leuven‑Paris–Dudley 2006) pp. 397-400. The text reports that the area in front of the facade has not been excavated and, as a result, the possibility of finding the water reservoirs has not been excluded. Moreover, the researcher adds that water could flow from the nymphaeum to the baths east of the acropolis. She finally concludes that perhaps the specific nymphaeum was not of a functional character, meaning that instead of serving the citizens it could have a clearly decorative role aiming exclusively at impressing the visitors, who admired the artificial water supply to the city.

3. Lanckoronski, C., Städte Pamphyliens und Pisidiens, (Wien 1890), pp. 98-102; Hormann, H., “Das Nymphaum zu Aspendos,” JdI 44 (1929) 263-274; Özgür, E. M., Aspendos. A Travel Guide, (s.l. 1986), p. 24.

4. The central niche of the ground floor was allegedly an entrance or a window. Furthermore, smaller semicircular niches are formed on the side fronts of the wall. Cl. Dorl-Klingenschmid, Prunkbrunnen in kleinasiatischen Städten. Funktion im Kontext (Μünchen 2001), p. 177.

5. For more details of the architectural decor of the entablature of the ground floor, see Cl. Dorl-Klingenschmid, Prunkbrunnen in kleinasiatischen Städten. Funktion im Kontext (Μünchen 2001), p. 177.

6. Drawing representations of the monument’s view made by Lanckoronski and Hormann; see Lanckoronski, C., Städte Pamphyliens und Pisidiens, (Wien 1890), pp. 98-102, pl. ΧΙΧ and Hormann, H., “Das Nymphaum zu Aspendos, ” JdI 44 (1929) 263-274, respectively.

7. For more details of the architectural form and decor of the monument, see Lanckoronski, C., Städte Pamphyliens und Pisidiens (Wien 1890), pp. 98-102; Hormann, H., “Das Nymphaum zu Aspendos, ” JdI 44 (1929) 263-274; Lyttelton M., Baroque Architecture in Classical Antiquity (London 1974), p. 266; Özgür, E. M., Aspendos. A Travel Guide, (s.l. 1986), p. 24; R.L. Vann, A study of Roman Construction in Asia Minor (Diss. Cornell University, 1976), p. 121; Vandeput, L., The Architectural Decoration in Roman Asia Minor, Sagalassos: a Case Study (Leuven, 1997), 71, 123, 140; Mitchell, S., Cremna in Pisidia (Swansea 1995), p. 135.

8. H. Hormann supported that the building was made in the mid-2nd c. AD [see Hormann, H., “Das Nymphaum zu Aspendos,” JdI 44 (1929) 263-274]. J.B. Wand Perkins dated the monument to the middle or the second half of the 3rd c. AD [see Wand Perkins, J.B. “The Aqueduct of Aspendos,” PBSR 23 (1955) 115-123]. The latter view was doubted by J. Krammer, who believed the monument was built earlier, around the second half of the 2nd c. AD; see Krammer, J., “Architekturteile des Grabtempels westlich von Side,” BJb 183 (1983) pp. 154-157. For the chronology, which is mainly based on the details of the architectural decor, see also Vandeput, L., The Architectural Decoration in Roman Asia Minor, Sagalassos: a Case Study (Leuven, 1997), p. 39; Mitchell, S., Cremnα in Pisidia (Swansea 1995), p. 135; Cl. Dorl-Klingenschmid, Prunkbrunnen in kleinasiatischen Städten. Funktion im Kontext (Μünchen 2001), p. 178; Susanna A.G. Piras; see S. Piras, "Façade Nymphaea in Asia Minor. Aspendos, an Example of Massive Urban Water Imprint", in G.Wiplinger (ed), Cura aquarum in Ephesus: Proceedings of the twelfth International Congress on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, Ephesus/Selçuk, Turkey, October 2-10, 2004, (ÖAI Sonderschriften 42, Leuven-Paris–Dudley 2006), p. 399.