A Plastic and Iconographic Study of the Lion Foot Reliefs on the Seats of the Early Roman Imperial Bouleuterion of Smyrna

The Early Roman Imperial Bouleuterion of Smyrna had been used from the late 1st century BCE until the Smyrna earthquake of 177 CE. The building collapsed after the earthquake, its constructional components were repurposed to rubble stones and used in a new bouleuterion. The subject of this article, the lion feet reliefs were found in the new bouleuterion, were reused as spolia in cavea. They were found during 2009-2014 excavation seasons. This article analyzes a total of 12 reliefs whose stylistic features could be clearly identified. The findings were categorized into two groups based on an evaluation of their plastic details. The aim of this article is to identify fragments of these architectural plastic building elements and compare their stylistic characteristics with similar examples from Hellenistic and Roman buildings in Western Anatolia. In addition, the study included iconographic evaluations regarding the presence of lion foot reliefs in communal structures such as theaters and bouleuterions. Finally, opinions and suggestions on which predatory animal or mythological creature these may belong to and for what purpose they may have been made are discussed.