Which ancient Turkish city is home to the Library of Celsus?

The ancient Turkish city home to the Library of Celsus is Ephesus. The monumental Roman library stood in Ephesus, an important city in Anatolia near modern Selçuk in Turkey’s İzmir Province.

The library was commissioned in the early second century CE by Tiberius Julius Aquila Polemaeanus in honour of his father, Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus. Celsus had served as a Roman consul and governor of the province of Asia. An endowment of 25,000 denarii was reportedly provided for scrolls and the library’s operation, reflecting the Roman tradition of wealthy citizens funding public works.

The building’s famous two-storey façade featured columns, statues and inscriptions in Greek and Latin. Its interior may have held as many as 12,000–16,000 scrolls. Fire destroyed the books and interior in 262 CE, while later earthquakes damaged the façade. Archaeologists reconstructed the visible façade between 1970 and 1978. Troy, Pergamon and Aphrodisias were also major ancient sites, but none is the city identified by this library.