A Terracotta Treasure at Assos

During the summer of 1995, Turkish archaeologists discovered a unique Late Classical tomb in the Western Necropolis of Assos. A modestly designed cist grave, Tomb 4 surprised excavators with the richest cache of grave goods ever found at the ancient city. The 62 well-preserved artifacts, which date from the 4th century BCE, when Aristotle's school of philosophy was active at Assos, consist of terracotta figurines, gold and bronze jewelry, and vases

The new corpus of painted Imperial Roman marble reliefs from Nicomedia: a preliminary report on polychromy

This paper presents an initial report on the extant polychromy on the remarkable series of Roman marble state relief sculptures excavated at a newly discovered Tetrarchic imperial building complex in Nicomedia (Turkey). The reliefs, featuring imperial and other diverse subject matters, retain extensive ancient coloration. A brief discussion of the history of the discovery and excavations surrounding these reliefs and the current Tübitak Archaeological Project is followed with a discussion of their polychromy. Preliminary observations about the painting technique, the range of colors and the palette of pigments and patterning are presented, before focusing on the use of color in the dress of the imperial costumes of the emperors. These exceptional painted state reliefs afford key new insights into the nexus of art, color-coding, sculpture, and court ritual in later Roman culture.L’étude consiste en un premier rapport sur la polychromie du remarquable ensemble de reliefs impériaux sculptés en marbre, mis au jour dans un complexe architectural datant de la Tétrarchie récemment découvert à Nicomédie (actuelle Izmit). Les reliefs, ornés de thèmes impériaux et de divers autres sujets, portent d’importantes traces de coloration antique. Une présentation rapide de l’histoire des fouilles entourant cette découverte et de la campagne archéologique en cours sous l’égide du Tübitak introduit l’examen de la polychromie. Les observations initiales sur la technique picturale, la gamme de couleurs, la palette de pigments et le répertoire de motifs sont complétés par une étude plus fouillée des couleurs employées pour les costumes des empereurs. Ces exceptionnels reliefs peints de caractère public apportent des informations décisives sur les liens entre art, code de couleurs, sculpture et rituels de cour dans la culture romaine tardive

A Terracotta Treasure at Assos

During the summer of 1995, Turkish archaeologists discovered a unique Late Classical tomb in the Western Necropolis of Assos. A modestly designed cist grave, Tomb 4 surprised excavators with the richest cache of grave goods ever found at the ancient city. The 62 well-preserved artifacts, which date from the 4th century BCE, when Aristotle's school of philosophy was active at Assos, consist of terracotta figurines, gold and bronze jewelry, and vases