Ephesus Odeon

$4.00

Description

These are the well preserved remains of a building that appears to have served the function of both a Bouleterion (city council chamber) and an Odeon (concert hall). Here, the members of the City Council came together to discuss important matters and concerts where 1,500 spectators could be seated, were also put on. The building has the form of a small theater and was roofed over with a wooden awning providing protection against the sun in summertime and the rain in winter. This building calls to mind the School or Lecture Hall of Tyrannus where Paul taught after he was rejected by the synagogue (Acts 19.9). According to an ancient manuscript (D Syriac – Western text) Paul taught there “from the fifth hour to the tenth”. Those are the hottest hours of the day, from 11.00 am till 4.00 pm. Apparently the lecture hall was not required by anybody else during this time and therefore was available for Paul to use. The real location of Tyrannus’ Lecture Hall has not yet been identified, although inscriptions found in Ephesus bearing the name Tyrannus show that this name was known here in the first century.