Temenos with Double Monument

Peristyle rodio is the name used in this study for an ancient temenos of the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor, in present‑day Turkey. Its ruins are part of the archaeological site of Ephesus, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The original name of the building is unknown.

The temenos consisted of an open peristyle of approximately 33 × 28 m. It was surrounded on three of its sides by Ionic‑style columns. The composition recalls the colonnaded courtyards of Rhodes, hence the current name of the building. The columns, in turn, refer to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. In the western part of the courtyard there was a podium with a staircase leading to it. It contained two small temples built by the emperor Augustus at the beginning of the Roman period around 29 BC. They were dedicated, according to one interpretation, to Divus Julius, or Julius Caesar, who was exalted as a god, and to Dea Roma, the personification of the city of Rome, although it has also been suggested that the so‑called Temple of the Administrative Agora was dedicated to them. However, the building is usually called Temple of Dea Roma. Another interpretation is that the temples would have been dedicated to Augustus himself and to Artemis. In the past, the building was interpreted as an altar to the city‑state. The building was destroyed in the year 300 AD.

On the south side of the temenos was the so‑called Basilica‑estoa and behind it the Administrative Agora; on the east side the Buleuterion, also called Odeon; and on the west side the Pritaneum.