1. Architectural description

The Round Τοmb is located 4 km south of Selçuk. This was a monopteral structure resting on a podium 1.80 m. in height; it featured six Corinthian order columns with monolithic shafts, which supported a richly adorned entablature. The entablature comprised a narrow three-fascia epistyle, crowned by an astragal, a frieze decorated with winding spouts and a cornice with corbels. The front of the cornice was adorned by a spiraling meander, while at the sima the drain-pipe spouts were shaped like lions’ heads and anthemia. The monument was covered by a conical roof, whose apex supported a central acroterion in the form of an acanthus.¹ Statues were set up inside the monopterow, which undoubtedly functioned as a funerary monument. Its total height is estimated to 14.02 m.²

On the basis of a fragmentary inscription found on the monument’s bathron, dated to the 2^nd cent. AD, it is believed that the monument, like the nearby villa rustica belonged to the Ephesian official Vedius.³

2. History of research

This monument was accidentally discovered by the inhabitants of the area. A first description was published in the third volume of the Austrian excavational reports from Ephesus, while a short publication followed in 1930 by the archaeologist J. Keil.⁴ The drawings of the ground plan and the reconstruction were sketched by M. Theuer. Details of the structure’s architecture have been examined in a comparative study of round monuments in Ephesus and Pergamum by W. Königs and W. Radt.⁵