[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]
The collection under review originated as a workshop held at Wolfson College, Oxford University in 2022. Loosely organized under the triad of themes included in the title—models, agency, reception—the twelve core chapters, bookended by a short editor’s introduction and an afterword by Janet DeLaine, range widely in geographic and methodological scope. Their one uniform objective is to showcase architectural practices in urban centers of one or more of the Roman provinces. The diversity of these practices, and the many ways in which they demonstrate cultural and political negotiation between Roman dominion and local traditions, gives force to the plural noun in the main title: Architectures of the Roman Empire. Niccolò Mugnai, the editor, wisely left the contributors on a long leash, allowing them to present their evidence and arguments to their best advantage. The essays vary considerably in scope, ambition, and method but consistently engage a curious reader’s interest.
We are mostly spared the often overtheorized voice of Roman provincial studies. While the themes of models and reception imbue almost every chapter, the second-named of the thematic triad, agency, is managed with a lighter hand, at least in its explanatory guise; most contributors are satisfied to observe and confirm patterns of architectural hybridity without trying to connect them to any cognitive, social, or political determinant. All accept without much comment the proposition that the movement of ideas around the Roman empire was complicated and multidirectional; but apart from identifying strands of “Roman” and “local” practice, there is little appetite for postcolonial discourse.
Some contributions, such as those by Philip Stinson and Eleonora Gasperini, characterize patterns of cultural hybridity in provincial cities by way of traditional connoisseurship, tracing the interwoven paths of regional columnar styles—be it the Ionic-dominant early composite capitals of western Asia Minor or the Alexandrian inflections of the Doric and Ionic of Cyrenaica and Cyprus—with the influx of Roman Corinthian styles. Three essays (by Lynne Lancaster, Paolo Vitti, and Ben Russell, et al.) examine an architectural technique and trace its influence geographically; I will return to them below. Others present recent fieldwork on individual buildings or building types at a particular site. Thomas Hufschmid’s summary of the stunningly sophisticated excavations at the theater of Augusta Raurica (Switzerland) stands out among these, but several additional chapters offer synthetic overviews drawn from work the authors have conducted over longer periods. Caterina Previato presents a no-nonsense conspectus of the Romanizing character (here the term seems both appropriate and necessary) of the baths at Nora (Sardinia), which save for the locally sourced materials seem to have been transplanted straight from central Italy. Dominik Maschek and Mugnai broaden their focus to urban spaces rather than buildings per se: city walls on the Rhine and Danube in the former case, city centers at Thugga, Lepcis Magna, and Cyrene in the latter.
Two essays take a more expansive cultural approach to a single provincial city. Orit Peleg-Barkat reports on developments in the archaeology of Jerusalem under Herod, his successors, and Pilate. Herod’s capital certainly became a much more Roman-looking place; but recent discoveries help us appreciate the city’s persistent Judaean character through this period, particularly along the monumental pilgrimage route connecting the Siloam Pool to the Temple Mount. Christopher Siwicki’s chapter takes a more experimental stance, posing an interesting question: To what degree, if at all, did Athenians perceive within the architectural developments of Roman Athens the quality we call classicism? To modern scholars, the “wandering” buildings such as the fifth-century BCE Temple of Ares imported into the Agora, or hybrids of old and new such as the Southwest Temple with its six Ionic columns transferred from Sounion, or new “classicizing” structures like the Temple of Aphrodite Ourania with its references to the columnar order or the Erechtheion, did not just pay tribute to the glorious past of the Greek golden era; they did so openly and obviously. Siwicki disagrees; for one thing, he takes to heart Nikolaus Pevsner’s observation that meaning was not conveyed by architectural details until the eighteenth century; for another, we should take seriously Osbert Lancaster’s caustic jape that “the ordinary intelligent member of the public, when confronted with architecture, … remains resolutely dumb—in both the original and transatlantic sense of the word.” To the degree that meaning was transmitted, Siwicki argues, it passed through the conduit of function, not form. Herodes Atticus’ odeion and stadium did not quote Greek antecedents visually; they only replicated their name and function. The tendency of Roman elites to create retreats dubbed “Lyceum,” “Academy,” etc. was even less embodied; it reflects cultural continuity indifferent to corporeal continuity. Formal quotation, made obvious to us across generations of antiquarianism, was in antiquity a game played by architects alone, who probably had to coax their patrons into joining in by evoking more visceral qualities such as beauty, familiarity, or (to use a Vitruvian term) decor, appropriateness. Siwicki’s hypothesis is provocative and elegantly argued; it certainly bears further thought and analysis.
Broadest in scope is Edmund Thomas’ inquiry into Roman architectural innovation as a potential exemplum of sustainable practice. The author freely admits that we cannot retroject modern environmentalism onto ancient values, but it is fair to ask, nevertheless, whether such qualities as durability of materials or conservation of energy and resources reflected a similar ethos. Like Siwicki’s big question, this one is open-ended; we cannot answer it but we can return to it periodically as our empirical knowledge improves. The chapter opens with a reasoned evaluation of the evidence for regional deforestation in service of architecture. There follows a brief distillation of Roman legal provisions for maintaining buildings in perpetuity along with a smattering of archaeological evidence for heat conservation such as double glazing (at the Forum Baths in Ostia) or efficient redesign of heated areas (the later phases of the Hadrianic Baths at Aphrodisias). We learn, among other things, that wood-fired terracotta production is far less green even than concrete, which itself has an enormous carbon footprint. But widespread reuse of terracotta in antiquity softened its heavy demands on fuel; by way of comparison, we are apprised of how few modern building materials are recycled. Thomas’ understanding of Roman water resource management is competent (such authorities as Mark Locicero and Julian Richard are cited), but incomplete; he bypasses, for example, the recycling of water or nucleation of its outlets for maximum use value as key elements of urban hydraulic design in eastern Roman cities. Mid-argument, the subject unaccountably shifts to the capacity of Roman architecture to maximize human comfort and amoenitas—warmth in the baths, shade in the theater, draining of pestilent swamps, cooling breezes along streets, pleasant acoustic environments, etc. How such qualities, desirable as they are, advance sustainability goes unexplained; as I read on, I felt common sense repeatedly interjecting that bodily amenities often come at great environmental cost. Therein lies the core problem with this otherwise creditable undertaking: the author never fully defines the object of inquiry. It is disorienting when concern for the natural world at large blurs suddenly into concern for the embodied experience of it.
For me, the most rewarding chapters focus on materials, techniques, or process. The excavations at the theater of Augusta Raurica represent archaeology at its astonishing best. Not only have the excavators traced the evolution of the Roman theater through three radically different stages, each encompassing many internal phases, but they can map that history onto a uniquely well-preserved, and stratified, adjacent worksite. The sequence of lime mixing, mortar production, stoneworking, even forging of iron tools can be reconstructed in concert with the building’s evolution. This project is truly a virtuoso performance, perhaps never to be replicated elsewhere.
Lancaster continues her illuminating series of studies on terracotta vaulting systems. Here she meticulously traces the geographic diffusion of the “armchair” vault, a system of interlocking terracotta panels and ribs, from Italy to Sicily and later into Gaul and Spain; and hollow voussoirs, a phenomenon emerging later in Britain and a few sites in northern Gaul and Germany. The armchair vault is convincingly explained as a buffer to protect timber outer roofs from the humidity of the baths. Hollow voussoirs, in contrast, conveyed the heat of the hypocausts into the vault, creating an efficient insulating system. Lancaster concludes that armchair-vault technology moved with the Roman army whereas hollow voussoirs did not; this, she believes, was because the former could be adapted more easily to the different vault diameters as suited the modular military style.
Like Lancaster’s chapter, those of Russell, et al., and Vitti reflect a prior history of publication. Russell and his colleagues broaden their scope to three earthen techniques scattered across the Roman West: rammed earth, shuttered cob, and turf. The first technique saw broad diffusion in western Europe and North Africa. Its simple requirements (local earth mixed with sand and a modest amount of water, minimal wooden formwork) and efficiency (it did not shrink, and no drying time was needed between applications) ensured its popularity. Shuttered cob, a wetter earthen formula mixed with fiber such as straw to deter cracking and shrinking, also spread widely; it has been recognized in Lambaesis (Algeria) and across the northwestern provinces. It seems to have been favored in northern climates but the authors do not offer any thoughts about its climatic affordances. The third technique, turf, was confined to the northern provinces, especially in fortifications. It is easier to identify than cob and because it was laid in embankments it leaves behind a distinctive striated stratigraphy that can even reveal individual building styles. Turf constituted the principal material of the first six of Vindolanda’s nine forts; it was used throughout the Antonine Wall and initially constituted the western end of Hadrian’s Wall. All these earthen techniques seem to have arrived with the Romans; even the Punic phases of North African sites favored the older technique of mudbrick before rammed earth was introduced.
In recent years Paolo Vitti has engaged intensively with Roman building techniques in Greece. Despite the longstanding archaeological favor this region has received, its Roman-era architecture remains neglected. Yet it has many stories to tell, not least experiments by local builders who, lacking pozzolanic aggregates necessary for strong mortars, labored to develop concrete-free vaulting techniques that could transmit Roman forms on a Roman scale. It was probably this lack of mortar strength that led to the brilliant brick vaulting techniques of the Byzantine era. Vitti traces the emergence of brick vaulting back to the early generations of veteran settlement in Greece under Augustus, as exemplified by the tomb of Marcia Maxima at Patras. At Nikopolis the builders developed a system of interlocking timbers running through mortared rubble wall cores to combat settling and seismic damage. At Olympia, in their second (early first-century BCE) phase, the Greek Baths feature traditional local technique of Hellenistic origin—“dry brick,” i.e., local bricks laid with pure clay—alongside plainly Roman elements such as a full hypocaust and opus signinum floors.
Briefly summarized, this book is more of a broad buffet than a conceptual unity; therein lies its appeal. Like another recent collections it showcases some of the more important projects and developments in recent Roman architectural studies. The volume’s ample illustration budget allows for abundant high-quality photographs, maps, plans, and drawings in color and black and white; yet the paperback price is reasonable. Only rarely did I wish for more visual referents; Peleg-Barkat’s otherwise well-illustrated chapter was missing a map of ancient Jerusalem, for example. But for an occasional minor infelicity of English usage from the non-native speakers, the copy editing is consistently at a high level. I recommend it to research libraries and serious scholars alike.
Authors and titles
- Niccolò Mugnai, “Architectures of the Roman World: An introduction”
- Ben Russell, Christopher Beckett, Tanja Romankiewicz, J. Riley Snyder, and Rose Ferraby, “…incorrupti imbribus, ventis, ignibus omnique caemento firmiores? Earthen building materials in the Roman West”
- Lynne C. Lancaster, “Unusual terracotta tiles for the vaulting of Roman baths: An investigation into the exchange and diffusion of technical knowledge in the western Roman Empire”
- Paolo Vitti, “From dry to mortared construction: Building at Nikopolis and Olympia between the first century BCE and the first century CE”
- Edmund Thomas, “Green shoots: Architectural transfer and sustainability in the architecture of the Roman provinces”
- Dominik Maschek, “Building cities on the Rhine and on the Danube: The socio-ecological diversity of Roman construction”
- Thomas Hufschmid, “Provincial-sized monumentality: The construction site of the Roman theatre of Augusta Raurica (Switzerland)”
- Caterina Previato, “Building public baths outside Rome: The case study of Nora (Sardinia)”
- Orit Peleg-Barkat, “What have the Romans ever done for us? Early Roman Jerusalem as an urban centre between local tradition and Roman rule”
- Niccolò Mugnai, “Building and reshaping public spaces in North Africa in the early imperial period: The examples of Thugga, Lepcis Magna, and Cyrene”
- Christopher Siwicki, “Responding to ‘Classical’ architecture in Roman-era Athens: Spolia, emulation, agency, and audiences”
- Philip T. Stinson, “A matter of perspective: The reception of early imperial composite column capitals in Asia Minor”
- Eleonora Gasparini, “Where do we live? Local stonescapes and globalized architecture in Cyrenaica and Cyprus”
- Janet DeLaine, “Architectures of the Roman World: Some conclusions”