library of celsus 塞尔瑟斯图书馆.ppt

1、Library of Celsus,The library of Celsus is an ancient Roman building in Ephesus Anatolia, now part of Turkey. It was built in honor of the Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus (completed in 135 AD) by Celsus son, Gaius Julius Aquila (consul, 110 AD). Celsus had been consul in 92 AD, gove

2、rnor of Asia in 115 AD, and a wealthy and popular local citizen. He was a native of nearby Sardis and amongst the earliest men of purely Greek origin to become a consul in the Roman Empire and is honored both as a Greek and a Roman on the library itself. Celsus paid for the construction of the libra

3、ry with his own personal wealth. The library was built to store 12,000 scrolls and to serve as a monumental tomb for Celsus. Celsus is buried in a sarcophagus beneath the library, in the main entrance which is both a crypt containing his sarcophagus and a sepulchral monument to him. It was unusual t

4、o be buried within a library or even within city limits, so this was a special honor for Celsus.,Library of Celsus, restored,History,It was built in Ephesus, in territory that was traditionally Greek to the core. The building is important as one of few remaining examples of an ancient Roman-influenc

5、ed library. It also shows that public libraries were built not only in Rome itself but throughout the Roman Empire. The interior of the library and all its books were destroyed by fire in the devastating earthquake that struck the city in 262. Only the facade survived. About 400 AD, the library was

6、transformed into a Nymphaeum. The facade was completely destroyed by a later earthquake, likely in the late Byzantine period.,In a massive restoration which is considered to be very true to the historic building, the front facade was rebuilt and now serves as a prime example of Roman public architec

7、ture. The Library of Celsus may serve as a model for other, less well preserved, libraries elsewhere in the Empire, for it is possible that literary collections were housed in other Roman cities for the benefit of students as well as traveling Romans. Such libraries may also have housed collections

8、of local documents of interest if they were not destroyed during the Roman conquest. The inside of the building, not fully restored, was a single rectangular room (measuring 17x11m) with a central apse framed by a large arch at the far wall. A statue of Celsus or of Athena, goddess of truth, stood i

9、n the apse, and Celsus tomb lay directly below in a vaulted chamber. Along the other three sides were rectangular recesses that held cupboards and shelves for the 12,000 scrolls. Celsus was said to have left a legacy of 25,000 denarii to pay for the librarys reading material.,The second and third le

10、vels could be reached via a set of stairs built into the walls to add support to the building and had similar niches for scrolls. The ceiling was flat, and there may have been a central square oculus to provide more light. The style of the library, with its ornate, balanced, well-planned faade, reflects the Greek influence on Roman architec