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View looking east from the entrance of a large Byzantine Church that was built over the former temple of Aphrodite. The church was built around AD 500. The church was constructed by reusing many materials from the temple of Aphrodite. All the columns that are visible are from their position in the church. In the distance the main apse, synthronos, is visible. The church remained in use until the Seljuk conquest of the region around Aphrodisias in about AD 1200.
The Temple of Aphrodite was the main temple of Aphrodisias and was begun in the late first century BC. Zoilos, a leading citizen of Aphrodisias who also sponsored the construction of the Agora and Theater, paid for the initial construction. In the second century AD, the temple was enclosed in an elaborate colonnaded court, framed by a two-storied columnar façade on the east, and by porticos on the north, west, and south.
