Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien, Band 80/2011, pp. 365-406, 2024/10/08
Based on new research on the architecture and furnishings of the Cemetery of the Seven Sleepers, its
original lay-out can now be dated to the 3rd century A.D. This is supported by the contextual analysis of the structure with its mosaics, paintings, stucco work, and in particular the inscriptions, which allow the identification of its character as an early Christian communal burial location. In contrast, the church was first built into the complex at a later date, probably in the late 4th century A.D. This new chronology has farreaching implications. The cult of the Seven Sleepers from the time of Theodosius II, reported in sources after the 6th century at Ephesos, is not archaeologically attested in the complex; their veneration can first be
ascertained at the site through Medieval graffiti. The hundreds of communal inhumation burials, however, reveal for the first time in Asia Minor such an early Christian necropolis as is found, for example, at Rome. The cemetery needs to be repositioned in the sepulchral landscape of Ephesos and Asia Minor.
