A monument of early Byzantine Sardis: architectural analysis and graphic reconstruction of Building D

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 115-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos D. Karydis
Keyword(s):  
Central Area ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Original Form ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Architectural Analysis ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The City ◽  
Early Byzantine

AbstractSardis constituted a major urban centre during the early Byzantine period, an era marked by the gradual transformation of the city into a Christian metropolis. From the fourth to the sixth century AD, Sardis maintained an important commercial, industrial and administrative role that sustained high-quality monumental construction. Yet, the major architectural types that emerged during this crucial period in the centre of the early Christian city are largely unknown to us. The unexcavated remains of the monument known as ‘Building D’ offer the best opportunity to shed light on this enigmatic aspect of the history of the city. Indeed, these remains display a late fourth century reused inscription as well as construction details typical of the early Byzantine period. They also lie in what must have been a central area of the city during this time. At first sight, this building seems hopelessly dilapidated and largely inaccessible. Still, the current paper demonstrates that a closer examination of the fabric of Building D reveals invaluable clues for its original form and function. This new exploration of the building includes the graphic recording, careful analysis and interpretation of the remains, thus providing the evidence required for the first substantiated reconstruction of a major part of the monument. The exploration reveals the articulation and structure of the primary load-bearing elements, as well as the form of the enormous vaulted canopy that covered one of the most imposing and towering spaces of early Byzantine Sardis. The article uses this reconstruction as a basis for the identification of those architectural features that help to interpret the function of the building, its role in the development of late antique Sardis as well as its position in the evolution of early Byzantine architecture in western Asia Minor.

scholarly journals Three Unpublished Byzantine Lead Seals from Western Asia Minor (With an Appendix on an Amulet from Izmir)

2021 ◽  
pp. 160-167
Author(s):  
Ergün Laflı ◽  
Maurizio Buora
Keyword(s):  
Asia Minor ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Western Turkey ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The City ◽  
Early Byzantine

This paper presents three formerly unpublished Byzantine lead seals and an amulet that were examined in the archaeological museum of Izmir (nos. 1, 3 and figs. 5a–b) and Akhisar (no. 2) in western Turkey. They date from the 7th to the 13th century AD. The seal of a Manuel apo hypaton (no. 1) reveals the relations between the court of Constantinople and the city of Smyrna in the 7th century AD. Another one of Ioannes hypatos spatharios (no. 2) comes from Akhisar (8th century AD). No. 3 is dated to the 11th and 12th centuries AD. A lead amulet at the appendix part (figs. 5a–b), which perhaps originates from the Early Byzantine period, bears the name of Sabaṓth.

scholarly journals The Chickpea (ἐρέβινϑος; Cicer arietinum L) as a Medicinal Foodstuff and Medicine in Selected Greek Medical Writings

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 99-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maciej Kokoszko ◽  
Krzysztof Jagusiak ◽  
Jolanta Dybała
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Diet ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
Medical Theory ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Culinary Uses ◽  
Early Byzantine ◽  
Medical Writings

Leguminous plants were a crucially important element in the Mediterranean diet, and, as such, these plants were second only to cereals. It is also important to note that according to medical writings preserved from antiquity and the early Byzantine period they were considered to be an accessible source of substances which could be applied in therapeutics. One of the most commonly mentioned legumes was the chickpea. The source material demonstrates that the medicinal properties of the chickpea and its therapeutic use were discussed by Greek physicians as early as in the fourth century BC. It seems that the plant was a readily accessible medicament and thus used in therapy also by those who could not afford costly medicines. The authors argue, however, that the medical theory concerning its role in therapeutics evolved into a fully developed form only in the first century AD (thanks to Dioscorides) and was not modified by Galen. The doctrine of these two physicians became part of the medical encyclopaedias of the early Byzantine period. The presented material also illustrates the fact that a significant number of medicinal Recipes which involved using the chickpea were formulated between the second century BC and the second century AD. Byzantine physicians avidly used these formulas in their practice, but failed to develop them in a significantly innovative way. The surviving medical writings make it possible to conclude that the chickpea was believed to be a highly effective medicine and as such worthy of cultivation, which only testifies to the general popularity of the plant. Medical writings may serve as a proof that the chickpea remained a key element in the Mediterranean diet throughout the period from the fourth century BC to the seventh century AD. The analysed material demonstrates the use of the same basic varieties of the erebinthos throughout the period, even though some local variants were also identified. The consistency of the data also suggests that the scale and methods of cultivation of this plant remained unchanged. The culinary uses of the chickpea must also have been the same throughout the period, given that the writers discussed similar uses of the plant as a foodstuff.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF A GREAT CITY: EARTH, WALLS AND WATER IN LATE ANTIQUE CONSTANTINOPLE

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-285
Author(s):  
James Crow
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Civic Architecture ◽  
Ancient Technology ◽  
The Third ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The City ◽  
Earth Walls

By the later 5th c. A.D., Constantinople was the greatest urban centre in the Mediterranean world. This paper considers three associated elements of the infrastructure of the city, each of which applied aspects of ancient technology: a first theme will consider the urban terraces which have only been studied in detail for the area of the Great Palace, but which represent a massive investment in the transformation of the built topography of the city; a second theme will examine the new Theodosian fortifications and suggest that these reflect a new level of innovation more often associated with the religious and civic architecture of the city; the third theme will briefly review recent research on the water supply and will identify major areas of continuity and innovation into the Middle Byzantine period.

scholarly journals The Fortifications of Chalcis (Evripos/Negreponte/Egriboz), Greece

X ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stavros Mamaloukos
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The City ◽  
Steep Hill

The aim of this paper is the study of the now destroyed fortifications of the Greek city of Chalcis (Evripos / Negreponte / Egriboz). Having been an important urban centre during the Early and Middle Byzantine Period, Chalcis was occupied by the Latins after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and became a significant trade centre of Venice. By the end of the fourteenth century, the city became a Venetian holding. In 1470 the Ottomans captured the city after a brief siege. In 1688 the city was unsuccessfully besieged by the Venetians. And in 1833 it was annexed by the Greek State. In the end of the nineteenth century the fortifications of Chalcis were almost completely demolished during an attempt to reorganize and modernize the city. The fortified medieval city of Chalcis, the Kastro, had the shape of a long, irregular pentagon with maximum dimensions 400 x 700 m. It was surrounded on three sides, namely the north, west and south, by sea. Along its two other sides, the northeast and the southeast, there was a dry moat. Its fortifications had three gates, one on Euripus bridge and two on the land wall, through which the city was connected with Boeotia and Euboea, respectively. From the study of the fortifications, based on their depictions in old engravings and photographs as well as on some poor and still visible remnants, it appears that until their demolition the city walls retained to a large extent their late medieval form, although they had undergone significant interventions by the Ottomans, mainly on the eve, and just after the siege of 1688. The only surviving part of the city’s defences, the fort of Karababa, built on the steep hill of the Boeotian coast, can be dated to this period.

Sinopean Imports on the Black Sea Littoral of South-West Georgia

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 487-559
Author(s):  
Merab Khalvashi ◽  
Nino Inaishvili
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Ceramic Ware ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
The South ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
Early Byzantine

Abstract Sinopean imports ‐ coins, ceramic ware ‐ amphorae, mortars and tiles ‐ found in the south-western Georgian Black Sea littoral characterise different aspects of relationships in the south and eastern Black Sea littoral over a long period. The south-western coast of ancient Colchis seems to have been closely connected with Sinope from the fifth century BC. Sinopean finds become more and more frequent in fourth-third centuries BC contexts. From the last quarter of the fourth century BC, the leading role of trading with Colchis passed to Sinope. It was archaeologically expressed in the intensive circulation of Sinopean drachmas and hemidrachmas as well as in the import of Sinopean ceramic ware (amphorae, mortars, tiles) and production of their local imitations. In the Roman and early Byzantine periods, Sinope was a key base for the Roman army and fleet at the southern Black Sea coast. Finds of Sinopean ceramic products of this period are frequent during the excavations of the fortresses of the Roman and early Byzantine period on the eastern Black Sea littoral.

scholarly journals Early Byzantine Officials in the Southwestern Taurica According to the Seals from Cherson and Its Environ

2020 ◽  
pp. 95-110
Author(s):  
Nikolaу Alekseienko
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Records Management ◽  
High Status ◽  
City Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
The City ◽  
Land Register ◽  
Early Byzantine

Introduction. Written sources and epigraphic monuments reflecting the history of Early Byzantine Cherson keep a few isolated accounts of some representatives of a large imperial administrative apparatus, which certainly existed in the city from the late 5th to the 8th century (komes, bikarios, doux, and archon). Methods. Sigillographic monuments supply some extra information of the stratum of local officials in the period under consideration. The set of seals of Chersonites and their addressees from the early Byzantine period allows to uncover a variety of correspondents from military and civil departments (magistros, stratelates, droungarios, kommerkiarios, notarios, magistrianos, arkarios, hermeneutes, and others). In my point of view, these sources indicate parallel local officials who worked in Cherson and its environs, show that the city established appropriate bureaucratic offices, and inform of its rather high status as an important strategic, administrative, and economic stronghold. Analysis. Today it is possible to enlarge this group with several new seals from the 6th to the 8th century, partially originating from the vicinity of Cherson. There are molybdoboulla of asekretis, referendarios, chartoularios, genikos kommerkiarios, komes and senator – illoustrios. Results. This way, the early Byzantine seals of Cherson and its neighbourhood supply reasons to consider that, from the 6th to the 8th century, this provincial centre got a number of various magistracies to control different aspects of the city life, from common records management to land register, foreign trade, and diplomatic missions sent by the basileus.

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