Curetes Street (Ephesus)

The Curetes Street was one of the main streets of the ancient city of Ephesus in present-day Turkey.

The ancient name of the street was probably Embolos (Ancient Greek ἔμβολος “wedge”) or Plateia (πλατεῖα “broad street”). Its modern name was derived from inscriptions of the Ephesian Curetes found there, which originally came from the Prytaneion. The street is paved with limestone and marble slabs and runs in the valley between the two city hills of Ephesus, Bülbüldağ and Panayirdağ, from the Heracles Gate to the Library of Celsus. Unlike the other streets of the city, the Curetes Street does not follow the right‑angled Hellenistic‑Roman street system, which is probably due to its great age and thus its significance for cultic processions.

While the eastern section of the street is lined with colonnades with shops behind them and hillside houses, the western section contains public buildings as well as tomb and honor monuments, including the Nymphaeum Traiani, the Heroon of the city founder Androklos, the Octagon, whose underground burial chamber contained the remains of a young aristocrat, possibly Arsinoë IV, the Hadrian Temple, the Scholastikia Baths and the Hadrian Gate.

A earthquake in the 4th century AD severely damaged the street.