AIA-1H: New Research on Roman Greece (Colloquium)

Sponsored by:

Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation

Organizers

Mantha Zarmakoupi, University of Pennsylvania

Discussants

Francesco de Angelis, Columbia University

Overview Statement

Over the last 20 years a series of conferences and publications have enriched our knowledge about the art, architecture, and archaeology of the Roman provinces of Greece, including the 2015 conference “What’s New in Roman Greece,” which marked the 25th anniversary of Susan Alcock’s Graecia Capta: The Landscapes of Roman Greece and was published in 2018. Most importantly, new projects have led to the archaeological documentation and mapping of new and old sites thus enhancing our understanding of Greek cities, sanctuaries, and rural settlements during the Roman period. These recent developments follow up from the long-standing projects and publications on the history and epigraphy of Roman Greece led by the National Hellenic Research Foundation.

This colloquium presents new research on the art, architecture, and archaeology of Roman Greece, tackling old questions, such as the issue of “Romanization,” but also broadening the discussion to address the particularities of this region when considering both Roman settlers and local elites. The first two papers focus on Macedonia in the late Republican and early Imperial periods to discuss the adaption of imperial architectural and trading models. Vassilis Evangelidis examines the architecture of Roman Macedonia to tackle its distinctive features and relation to the Hellenistic architectural ideas and designs and explicate the ways in which imperial norms and architectural trends were here adapted and appropriated. Apostolos Garyfallopoulos discusses the diffusion and circulation of pottery originating from Italy from 100 B.C.E. to 100 C.E. in Macedonia to argue that this unpublished dataset reflects the integration of the region in Rome’s international trade system early on. The third paper of the colloquium focuses on Athens and Rhodes in the middle Imperial and Late Antique periods to reveal the ways in which engagement with local historical, and religious traditions informed architectural and sculptural mannerisms. Dimitris Sourlas reexamines the unpublished archaeological, architectural, and sculptural finds from a large Roman house in Athens to argue that this site was the seat of a philosophical school in the center of the city from the second to the sixth century C.E. The fourth paper examines the architecture, decoration, and honorific practices of a major public building complex located at the eastern foot of the acropolis of Rhodes to tackle the cultural and economic networks of the island during the Roman Imperial period. These four papers provide new readings of the material culture of Roman Greece and shed light on the developments that took place in urban, domestic, and religious spaces as well as infrastructures.