The reuse of marble in the eastern Mediterranean in medieval times

Precious building materials have always been used over and over again — the spoils of the architectural war. A section of the Colosseum is now the Palazzo Farnese and the Church of the Wisdom of God in the respectable Surrey town of Kingswood harbours capitals from Ephesus, the Studion, and the Myrelaion in Istanbul, besides a quantity of Byzantine marble. Precious marbles were transported far and wide by sea and, although it is not surprising that porphyry from the Red Sea coast of Egypt is used in the Pantheon, it is interesting that Giallo Antico from Algeria or Tunisia and Pavonazzetto from Phrygia which decorated, for example, the Basilica Julia in Rome have been found at provincial Colchester.

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The British Museum Excavations at Adulis, 1868

The Antiquaries Journal ◽

10.1017/s0003581500043407 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 69 (1) ◽

pp. 43-52 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Stuart Munro-Hay

Keyword(s):

Red Sea ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

British Museum ◽

Port City ◽

Archaeological Excavation ◽

British Military ◽

Red Sea Coast ◽

First Time ◽

Sea Coast

In 1868, during the British military expedition to Magdala in Abyssinia (Ethiopia), an archaeological excavation was undertaken, under the auspices of R. Holmes, a representative of the British Museum, at the ancient port-city of Adulis a few kilometres from the Red Sea coast. The excavation, of which some details were reported in a War Office Publication of 1870, was one of the earliest undertaken in Africa south of the Sahara. As a result an ancient church was discovered and cleared. Among the finds were a number of items of ecclesiastical furniture, some apparently imported in a prefabricated state from the Roman eastern Mediterranean. Some of these pieces, now lodged in the British Museum, are here published for the first time.

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Microphytobenthos of the Red Sea Coast in the Area of Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt)

International Journal on Algae ◽

10.1615/interjalgae.v21.i2.40 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 137-148

Author(s):

V. P. Gerasimiuk

Keyword(s):

Red Sea ◽

Red Sea Coast ◽

Sea Coast

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Roads of Arabia: New finds of Aqaba amphorae in the Red Sea from a newly discovered wreck site at Jeddah/Eliza shoals

10.31338/uw.2083-537x.pam29.1.05 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rupert Brandmeier

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Red Sea ◽

Saudi Arabian ◽

Maritime Archaeology ◽

Western Coast ◽

Research Activities ◽

Red Sea Coast ◽

Insight Into ◽

Sea Coast

This paper concerns a probable shipwreck cargo of Aqaba amphorae, which was discovered during the second season of the survey project along the Saudi Arabian coast, initiated by nautical archaeologists of Philipps-University Marburg and conducted in cooperation with members of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Heritage in autumn 2013. Seafaring and sea trade was, according to the few ancient sources and modern research activities, a hazardous endeavor in antiquity. Transport containers like the Aqaba Amphorae played a major role in sea trade, a significant number of which have been detected on various sites along the Red Sea coast and its hinterland. The chronological classification as well as the application is far from complete, and recent archaeometrical investigations help to clarify the logistical aspects of manufacturing and distribution of Aqaba amphorae. Finding a number of remains of Aqaba amphorae at a supposed shipwreck site close to Jeddah delivers new insight into the maritime routes and activities along the western coast of Saudi Arabia. The documentary material currently available is the baseline for further research in the field of maritime archaeology as it pertains to trade in the Red Sea.

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