Crowded or Empty Spaces? The Statuary Decoration of the ‘Palaestrae’ in Pompeii and Herculaneum

Während die Skulpturenausstattung von Palästren und Gymnasien im östlichen Mittelmeer in der Forschung viel Aufmerksamkeit erfahren hat, ist das Thema für die westlichen Pendants bislang nicht umfassend untersucht worden. Dieser Beitrag analysiert die Skulpturenausstattung der Samnitischen Palästra und der Großen Palästra in Pompeji sowie der Palästra in Herculaneum. Existenz und Charakter der Skulpturenprogramme werden untersucht ebenso wie die umstrittene Frage, ob die Skulpturen angemessen für die Sportbauten waren und sogar die problematische Identifizierung dieser Bauten als Palästren bestätigen können. Es zeigt sich, dass die Skulpturenausstattung aller drei Bauten erheblich von der in östlichen Pendants differiert. Dies legt nahe, die Benennung dieser ‚Palästren‘ zu überdenken

THE STUCCO DECORATION OF THE MONUMENTAL ARCH ON THE DECUMANUS MAXIMUS AT HERCULANEUM

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Northeast Insulae Project: Context and Analysis (revised edition)

This volume of the Final Report places the excavation of the northeast insulae into its historical and archaeological context and draws interpretive conclusions from the work done. Much of the material presented here is repeated in a second volume which recounts the history of the project sequentially. But the focus in this volume is on interpretation of the material remains in their context.https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/nip-final/1003/thumbnail.jp

Los Suburbios de Córdoba, España

Way and beyond ideological mandates that have at any moment in time distinguished legal differences between the area falling within or without the city walls, history shows that ever since it was founded, Cordoba has surpassed the strict limits imposed by its walls to make up a functional unit in which it is impossible to understand the city sensu stricto without its extra moenia area, its suburbia: an ever changing reality whose first sign of transition centers on the network of roads. This in turn becomes a guarantee for access to a second outlying strip (lacking in urban functions but easily accessible and the area favoured by its inhabitants for their daily activities), and finally to the land on which the city’s economy, political power and prestige depended. The suburbs served as a mirror for the city.Más allá de los imperativos ideológicos que en cada momento han definido las diferencias jurídicas entre el espacio intramuros y el extramuros, la historia evidencia que Córdoba ha trascendido desde su fundación los límites estrictos impuestos por sus murallas para configurar una unidad funcional en la que no es posible entender a la ciudad sensu stricto sin su espacio extra moenia, sus suburbia: realidad cambiante que establece un primer ámbito de transición vertebrado por la red viaria. Ésta se erige a su vez en garantía de acceso a una segunda franja de carácter periurbano (carente de funciones urbanas, pero fácilmente accesible y marco preferente para la actividad cotidiana de sus habitantes), y, por fin, al territorio dependiente, en el que se cimentaba la base económica, el poder político y el prestigio de la urbe. Los suburbios funcionaron así, para bien y para mal, como espejos de la misma

Summary Report for the 2010 Season

In 2010, excavation work concentrated on the area east of the domus of the North-East Church between Cardo 3 North and Cardo 4 North. This area may be the remains of a palatial home of a prominent citizen of the city. If our hypothesis holds true, the house would be some 375 m2 plus a garden to the north.1 In addition to the architecture revealed in 2010, small finds raise interesting questions about the use of the area and about the religious life of the community in the Byzantine period. This report will detail work done in three areas and the potential implications of the discoveries: A southerly room/cubiculum of the residence A peristyle court A northerly court/garden Conservation efforts Conclusion

Herod’s Western Palace in Jerusalem : some new insights

Despite Josephus’ detailed description of Herod’s palace built on the Southwestern Hill of Jerusalem in Bellum Judaicum, book 5, only scant archaeological remains from its substructure were revealed so far, and only few scholars have attempted reconstructing its plan and decoration. A group of monumental Ionic columns, alongside a sculpted head of a lion, found in the Southwestern Hill in the vicinity of the supposed location of the palace, seems to have originated from the palace complex, attesting to its grandeur and unique character. Combining this evidence with Josephus’ description and our vast knowledge of Herod’s palatial architecture, based on excavated palace remains in other sites, such as Jericho, Herodium, Masada, Caesarea Maritima and Machaerus, allows us to present a clearer picture of the main palace of this great builder

The development of monumental street-architecture with special emphasis on Roman Asia Minor.

The material relevant to the subject of this thesis is presented in two main divisions. - Chapters I-IV provide a descriptive survey and analysis of the treatment accorded streets from the beginning of their architectural elaboration in the Hellenistic period. In Chapter I the literary evidence for colonnaded streets, both primary and secondary, is considered. The argument about the origins and date of such planning is outlined and then the terminology utilized in ancient sources and its importance for an understanding of the history of the development of colonnaded streets is studied. In Chapter II the physical remains of street-architecture from the Hellenistic East and Republican West are dealt with chronologically. Two architectural traditions can be distinguished in this period: the Italic street-side portico which acts as an elaborated porch for the building behind and the Greek stoa, sometimes of great length, set on the edge of the roadway. Chapters III and IV follow the history of street management through the period from Augustus to Justinian, emphasizing the main trends in the types of architecture applied to streets. The Italic tradition is found to continue and, in areas such as North Africa, to take on a monumental appearance approaching the effect of the large-scale projects found in the East. The cities of Roman Syria contain some of the earliest and most extensive examples of monumental street-management. A survey of the known streets reveals that by the Severan period most cities and towns in the eastern Mediterranean exhibit some form of embellishment within the street-system and that the format begins to acquire an identity as a self-contained building type. The descriptive survey presented in Chapters I-IV provides the background against which the archaeological material gathered in Asia Minor can be set and evaluated. The information gathered during field work in the Greco- Roman cities of Turkey is presented in Chapters V and VI. Many of the architectural arrangements dealt with in these chapters are little known and poorly published. Hence the description and analysis of the colonnaded streets of Asia Minor provide a useful addition to the architectural history both of this area and of the building type. Of particular importance are cities such as Pergamon and Perge which contain early examples of comprehensive schemes of extensive street-management and a group of cities in southwestern Turkey in which a specialized colonnaded mall was developed, exploiting the natural topographical conditions. The cities of Asia Minor are grouped into two broad categories according to the nature of the streets chosen for embellishment. In Chapter V the cities exhibiting an extensive use of colonnaded streets are studied. The cities whose townscape features a single decorated thoroughfare are treated in Chapter VI. Such cities include both the extended colonnaded street defining the length or breadth of a town and the more specialized mall-like configurations which are limited to a short section of roadway. - Two appendices contain all colonnaded streets known from ancient or modern literary, sources for which the evidence on the ground is limited or non-existent