Citation
Page reference: Christopher Ratté and Peter D. De Staebler (eds.). Aphrodisias V. The Aphrodisias Regional Survey (Verlag Philipp von Zabern: Darmstadt/Mainz, 2012), 381 - Book catalogue no.: Churches cat. 7. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/93088>
Description
Local Name: Geyre
Local Information: Geyre, rear yard of Cihat Çoban
Latitude: 37.42.38.9
Longitude: 28.42.46.3
Elevation: 512m
Axis: E
Dimensions: L: 1.55 m; W: 1.22 m
Description: A soundings dug by the Aphrodisias Museum in 2000 revealed mortared rubble walls, floor pavements, and a marble ambo platform. The platform is a large round marble slab with two rectangular projections on opposite sides. The curving edges are molded, while the rectangular projections are rough. The top surface is smoothly dressed, and the lower surface (or soffit) is carved with a series of concentric circular recesses, at the center of which is a cross in low relief. The ambo platform served as the floor of the ambo, the elevated speaker's platform in a church, and thus its presence clearly indicates the existence of a church with marble furnishings. Its date is uncertain, but it is likely to be Early Christian. This site is 0.5 km west of the West Gate and the West Church, and could have been a second church in the western cemetery, since monumental tombs are still found more than 1.2 km from the West Gate.