Structures

The Re-Use of Classical Antiquities In Later Structures
 
 a) Aims and Significance:
 
Antique building materials, statuary and bas-reliefs were
re-used throughout the Middle Ages not only for
convenience, but also because of the political messages
they could convey. I have demonstrated this in my The
Survival of Roman Antiquities in Mediaeval Europe (London
1989, 288 pp), and in papers presented at conferences in
Venice and Rome, as well as in contributions in 1984 and
1985 to two volumes of Einaudi's Storia dell'Arte Italiana.
In these publications, I wrote in general terms and also
with specific reference to Western Europe (especially Italy
and France).
 
Why concentrate on fortifications? This topic not only
narrows the focus and geographic range from that of my 1989
book, but has strong internal justifications: (a) often
from Greek times, fortifications were acknowledged as the
main means of displaying a city's pride to those who
approached it; (b) fortification sites have not changed
significantly down the centuries, hence later
fortifications tend simply to remodel and build on top of
earlier ones - so that the evidence still remains to be
seen; (c) because of their privileged location, guard
castles have often not been demolished for building stone;
(d) city walls have frequently survived in whole or in part
in Turkey - whereas most in Western Europe were demolished
in the 19th/20th centuries to accommodate increased
population levels.
 
Study tours of Western Turkey in 1989, 1990, 1991 & 1992
convinced me that (a) the re-use of antiquities could best
be studied on the ground in Turkey, because of the
plentiful supply of antique sites almost untouched by
population expansion and indistrialisation, and therefore
offering prime evidence - whereas in Western Europe
documentary evidence had to be used as a substitute; (b)
re-use is not restricted to people from the same broad
culture, because Islam apparently prized antiquities
(including some figured ones) just as much as the
descendants of the Romans; (c) importantly, the time-span
available for such study in Turkey, and hence the variety
of material re-used, stretches from the classical Greeks,
through the imposing remains of the Hellenistic Kingdoms to
the Romans and their Byzantine successors - all of whom,
including the Turks, re-used material from previous
generations.
 
Archaeologically, Turkey is blossoming, with important
discoveries being made every year; gradually, more and more
notice is taken of Byzantine levels (little noticed in
earlier years). As well as large and important sites, there
is a myriad of smaller ones - and all tend to have later
occupation, often in the form of civic buildings and
fortifications (such as Bursa, Aphrodisias, Miletus, Ankara
and Ephesus). Again, many imposing stand-alone castles were
constructed during the Middle Ages (such as Kizkalesi and
Anamur), sometimes on earlier foundations, and often
re-using classical antiquities ranging in date from Greek
through to Roman. 
 
The aim of the research is to broaden and deepen our
knowledge of this important aspect of the mediaeval world,
by establishing how widespread it was, and the mix of
reasons - political? economic? aesthetic? - for which it
was done. If political conditions allow, it would be most
useful to extend the scope of the research into Syria and
Jordan, where similar characteristics are to be found in
mediaeval architecture. 
 
The finished product of this research will be a long paper,
for a journal such as Antiquity or Byzantion.
 
Methods
 
The study of mediaeval defensive walls in Turkey is a
relatively new subject, and is generally done from the
military not the "antiquarian" point of view, as in Clive
Foss' Byzantine Fortifications: An Introduction (Pretoria
1986), or Robert Edwards' The Fortifications of Armenian
Cilicia (Washington DC 1987).
 
The first need, therefore, is to make a close study of
actual fortifications, with a cataloguing of the types and
quantities of antique spolia to be found in re-use. The
best examples are to be found in West and South Turkey, but
also as far inland as Ankara.
 
The second need is for a review of all publications from
previous centuries (i.e. before modernising changes,
accelerated theft for house-building, etc) offering
descriptions of mediaeval architecture in Turkey. This can
conveniently be done both at the ANU and in libraries at
the Universities of Ankara and Istanbul. There is useful
material in Arab travellers' writings, and these are
available in English, French or German.
 
The third feature of the project is a typological
comparison of spolia with what happened further West, where
objects Greek were very rare indeed. 
 
The fourth feature is also comparative, in that it consists
of an attempt to see if the various waves of civilisations
in Turkey viewed the re-use of spolia differently.
 
From here you may go to any of the following screens:
 
Home Screen; Architecture Overview; Architecture Images;
Prints overview; Prints Images; National Gallery Overview;
My Biography; Technology Sketch; Hong Kong Architecture.