1. Location

The Macellum of Aezani, Phrygia,¹ lies on the right bank of the Ryndakos River, while the Agora of the city extends to the northeast, on the left bank, in front of the yard of Zeus’ temple. The two agoras communicated through two bridges. Τhe complex is poorly preserved. It must have had a rectangular ground plan, measuring 40×60 m and including an open-air square with the circular building, the tholos, at the centre. The excavations brought to light the architectural remains of the tholos as well as numerous column shafts, probably belonging to the peripheral stoas that surrounded the open space of the complex.²

3. Materials and Structure

The circular foundation was built from mortared rubble. Above the foundation there was a low terrace (2.80 m long and 1.10 m wide) of large stones. The pedestal of the jambs, which ran in the lower part around a base with mouldings 30 cm high, rose above the groundwork. The ends of the jambs were crowned with mouldings formed and treated in the same way as the base. The jambs were connected with 16 metal joints, 2 of which were found in situ, while archaeologists repositioned 7 more. They were 1.32 m high, 2.44 m long and 0.8-0.95 m wide. The restoration of the upper part of the tholos is not feasible, since it is unknown whether the numerous architectural members found in the area came from the particular edifice.⁵

To sum up, the entire complex must be another example of an agora in the form of a macellum, which also appears in other Asia Minor cities in the 2^nd century, such as Perge, Side and Sagalassos. Although this type of building is of southern Italian origin, when it was incorporated in the long local tradition of the peristyle Hellenistic agoras, it became a standard local feature. Similar macella were also found in other Roman cities as well, mainly in Italy and north Africa.⁷

5. Chronology

The archaeologists that excavated the monument underlined the morphological similarities and common characteristics between the pedestal of the jambs of the circular edifice and the pedestal at the temple of Zeus and the Heroon of the agora in Aezani. According to these observations, the tholos must have been constructed around the second half of the 2^nd century, a period of increased building activity in the city, when new temples and public buildings were constructed. It is quite interesting that an edict dated to the early 4^th century is written on the jambs of the monument. It is the Edict On Prices (Edictum de pretiis rerum venalium) issued by Diocletian (284-305) and written in Latin, which regulates the prices of products and adds special historical value to the monument.⁸

6. Subsequent Uses and History of Research

In the Byzantine period the abandoned complex of the Roman macellum became a cemetery, while the circular edifice was possibly used as a chapel. In the 19^th century, although a lot of European travellers visited Aezani, it was only the French traveller Le Bas in 1843 that traced on the right bank of the Ryndakos River the remains of a small building carrying an inscription with Diocletian’s edict, which he included in the plan of the area published in 1888.⁹

Later on, at an unknown date, a mosque was built on that spot, the minaret of which lay to the northwest. In 1947 the mosque was destroyed and was replaced with a modern open market, while the minaret remained. When the mosque was destroyed several inscribed jambs of the tholos as well as various architectural members were brought to light which were used as tables by local merchants . The 1970 earthquake destroyed the minaret and the entire village, while the modern-day settlement was built on a new location. The transferred settlement gave the opportunity to the archaeologists R. and F. Naumann to excavate and study the monument in the early 1970s before publishing the results of their research.¹⁰