The Urban Narrative of Aphrodisias: From 30 BCE to the 4th Century CE
Modern interpretations of ancient urban narratives provide a rich source of information
that can inform our understanding of the ancient world. An ancient city’s narrative may have
multiple authors and, as a result, multiple narratives. The multiplicity of authors’ narratives is
located in a spatial plane (there may be one or a number of different authors in a delineated
space) and a chronological plane (these narratives accumulate over time). The accumulation of
narratives occurred in the ancient world because cities changed slowly over time, often
preserving the preexisting narratives along side the new narratives.
This paper offers a modern reading of the various narratives of Aphrodisias, a city in
Asia Minor, at three different time points. Aphrodisias provides an excellent opportunity to
engage in a historical narrative of the city as text because of its excellent preservation and
meticulous long-term excavation. The first of these snapshots will be after the completion of
Julius Zoilos’ building projects, the man who was arguably the founder of the monumental urban
narrative of Aphrodisias, which date to the 30s and 20s BCE. The extent to which Zoilos was
able to contribute to every aspect of the monumental building projects in Aphrodisias has only
one parallel, that of Augustus in Rome. In short, Zoilos was Aphrodisias’ Augustus and
Aphrodisias was Zoilos’ Rome.
The second period of major building construction was completed after the end of the
Flavian dynasty in 96 CE. Aphrodisias no longer supported Zoilos’ position as ‘founder’ and ‘remaker’ of the city, rather, the city celebrated a founder tradition stretching back to mythological
times, and Zoilos became just another wealthy benefactor. The third snapshot is at the
conclusion of the Severan dynasty in 235 CE, at approximately the time Aphrodisias transitioned
from rural city to the provincial capital of the Roman province of Caria. The urban narrative of
Aphrodisias continued to be written by multiple benefactors, and Aphrodisias’ importance in the
Empire was emphasized by the scale of buildings themselves and by the Aphrodisian narratives
presented within and on them.
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