The houses are located
on the slopes of Bulbul Mountain, opposite
the Hadrian Temple. Also called
as "the houses of rich", these
houses were for the important and wealthy
people of Ephesus, as only rich
people could afford such houses.
The houses were in a
form that on each terrace, two houses,
one facing the street on east and one
facing the street on west, were built.
The oldest of the houses were built in
the first century BC, and most of the
houses were restored in the second century
AD. The houses seemed plain from outside,
but inside were constructed with the highest
standards of their date. They were decorated
with mosaics and frescoes, and they had
interior courtyards (peristyle) in the
center, with the ceiling open.
These houses were mostly
two-storied, upper stores have collapsed
during time. On the ground floor there
were living and dining rooms opening to
the hall, and upstairs there were bedrooms
and guest rooms. The heating system of
the houses were the same as that in baths.
Clay pipes beneath the floors and behind
the walls carried hot air through the
houses. The houses also had cold and hot
water. The rooms had no window, only illuminated
with light coming from the open hall,
so that most of the rooms were dim. The
excavations of the terrace houses started
in 1960. The first frescoes, mosaics and
other things found were taken to museums,
but after that findings have been left
in their original places. The restoration
of the two of the houses have been finished
and can be visited today.
Quoted
from From KusadasiGuide.com
with permission.
