Approaching monumental architecture: mechanics and movement in Archaic Etruscan palaces

2013 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 39-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen E. Meyers

This paper reassesses the architectural setting of a group of monumental buildings dating to the sixth centurybcfrom the Etruscan area of central Italy, sometimes referred to as palaces, orpalazzi. Although scholars traditionally have focused on classifying the buildings, the architectural form is here examined through close comparative analysis of spatial mechanics and movement. Focusing on case-studies from Poggio Civitate (Murlo) and Acquarossa, the author reconstructs the architectural processes of movement, particularly between the exterior and interior spaces arranged around a characteristic courtyard, and concludes that the structures are indicative of a unique Etruscan experience rather than that of Mediterranean palaces more generally. The author calls for a shift away from attempts to categorize these monumental structures in favour of a close analysis of spatial experience in order to explore better their architectural impact and function.

Author(s):  
Charlotte R. Potts

This book began by stating that histories of religious architecture can be accounts of both buildings and people. This particular history, focused on the archaeological evidence for the development of cult buildings in early central Italy, has reconsidered traditional narratives about the form and function of Etrusco-Italic religious architecture and proposed an alternative reconstruction of how their architects and audiences may have interacted with one another in Rome, Latium, and Etruria between the ninth and the sixth centuries BC. Comparison with the construction of monumental temples elsewhere also indicated that settlements including Rome, Satricum, Pyrgi, and Tarquinia can perhaps be considered part of a network of Archaic Mediterranean settlements with material, commercial, and religious connections, and that monumental architecture may have been a mechanism for successful social interaction. This study has therefore supported the suggestion that the physical and social fabric of ancient communities were closely linked, and that regional studies of Latium and Etruria may furthermore benefit from being set in Italic and Mediterranean contexts. This concluding chapter briefly recapitulates the arguments made in the main body of the book and the significance of each of those arguments for studies of ancient architecture and society. It also assesses how these findings relate to broader debates about Archaic Italy. Finally, it acknowledges the limitations of this analysis and highlights opportunities for future research. Part I of this book demonstrated that ancient religious architecture was a protean phenomenon. Three chapters analysed the ambiguous evidence for Iron Age sacred huts, the range of different buildings types associated with ritual activities in the seventh century BC, and the emergence of a separate architectural language for religious buildings during the Archaic period. Detailed analyses of foundations and roofs revealed that as changes in technology and society led to the widespread use of more permanent building materials, the physical fabric of central Italic settlements was also increasingly marked by the use of particular architectural forms and decorations to differentiate cult buildings from other structures, setting them apart in a form of architectural consecration.


Author(s):  
Betsey A. Robinson

Case studies from Hellenistic and imperial Corinth and Ephesus demonstrate the ways in which springs and fountains were used to honour forces of nature, commemorate mythological figures and events, and strengthen, or even invent, local traditions. Famous for its natural water supply, Corinth capitalized on storied springs, both before and after its destruction and refoundation as a Roman colony. The fountains of Peirene and Glauce demonstrate different strategies for connecting past and present and establishing authority by the manipulation of architectural form and the selective retelling of stories. At Ephesus, Hellenistic and Roman fountains celebrated local nature and myth with increasingly extravagant architecture, statuary, and water displays. This chapter focuses on a series of fountains that featured the founding hero Androclus, from a monument erected in his honour to great facade fountains in which he was one of many figures communicating Ephesian identity and pride.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Clementi

This paper presents a detailed study of the damages and collapses suffered by various masonry churches in the aftermath of the seismic sequence of Central Italy in 2016. The damages will first be analyzed and then compared with the numerical data obtained through 3D simulations with eigenfrequency and then nonlinear static analyses (i.e., pushover). The main purposes of this study are: (i) to create an adequately consistent sensitivity study on several definite case studies to obtain an insight into the role played by geometry—which is always unique when referred to churches—and by irregularities; (ii) validate or address the applicability limits of the more widespread nonlinear approach, widely recommended by the Italian Technical Regulations. Pushover analyses are conducted assuming that the masonry behaves as a nonlinear material with different tensile and compressive strengths. The consistent number of case studies investigated will show how conventional static approaches can identify, albeit in a qualitative way, the most critical macro-elements that usually trigger both global and local collapses, underlining once again how the phenomena are affected by the geometry of stones and bricks, the texture of the wall face, and irregularities in the plan and elevation and in addition to hypotheses made on the continuity between orthogonal walls.


Burns ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.A Aaron ◽  
D.R Patterson ◽  
C.P Finch ◽  
G.J Carrougher ◽  
D.M Heimbach

Urban History ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Lee

ABSTRACTThis article addresses a range of conceptual issues relating to the history of European port cities in order to construct a framework for comparative research. Port cities played a key role in European urban development and their growth was often determined by common factors. Particular attention is paid to the demography of port cities, their specific labour markets and the dominant ideology of merchant capital. The article establishes a basis for analysing case studies of individual port cities and for exploring their location within the overall process of European urbanization.


1995 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 475-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. K. Langdon

This study is a description and discussion of all known examples of mortar-and-rubble towers in Attica, extending P. Lock's survey of central Greece inBSA81 (1986). Attic towers of this type are generally free-standing and located in places of agricultural rather than strategic importance. In this, as well as in the lack of pretension in their architectural form, they conform to the mortared towers of Boiotia studied by Lock, and reinforce his conclusion that they functioned primarily as fortified residences of Frankish lords. Ceramic evidence from various sites, and the evidence of the ‘tower house’ of medieval western Europe, strengthen the arguments for date and function. Included in the discussion are possible Turkish towers and other pre-modern structures such as windmills and monastery towers.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo De Santis ◽  
Gianfranco Cianchini ◽  
Rita Di Giovambattista ◽  
Cristoforo Abbattista ◽  
Lucilla Alfonsi ◽  
...  

Abstract. Geosystemics (De Santis 2009, 2014) studies the Earth system as a whole focusing on the possible coupling among the Earth layers (the so called geo-layers), and using universal tools to integrate different methods that can be applied to multi-parameter data, often taken on different platforms. Its main objective is to understand the particular phenomenon of interest from a holistic point of view. In this paper we will deal with earthquakes, considered as a long term chain of processes involving, not only the interaction between different components of the Earth’s interior, but also the coupling of the solid earth with the above neutral and ionized atmosphere, and finally culminating with the main rupture along the fault of concern (De Santis et al., 2015a). Some case studies (particular emphasis is given to recent central Italy earthquakes) will be discussed in the frame of the geosystemic approach for better understanding the physics of the underlying complex dynamical system.


2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Hesse

Regional logistics changes. Locational dynamics and strategies in physical distribution - a transatlantic comparison. The paper discusses locational dynamics of freight distribution firms at the regional level, as a consequence of changes in logistics network configuration and related requirements for placing distribution centres. The empirical basis is provided by two case studies, carried out in Germany and in Northern California (USA). Both cases are subject to comparative analysis, regarding location choice and context, corporate strategy and regional policy and planning.


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