The marbles of the Church of st Philip in Hierapolis. Phases of construction and opus sectile flooring. (original) (raw)
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28. Arastirma Sonuçlari Toplantisi, 2. Cilt, 24-28 Mayis 2010 Istanbul, Ankara 2011 , 2011
The project of a Corpus of the Byzantine sculptures in the Ayasofya Müzesi at İstanbul started in 2005 and has been carried on through the following years by the universities of Rome Sapienza, Rome Tor Vergata, and, since 2007, Bologna. It is a pleasure to thank here the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey for giving us permission to work in the Museum; thanks are also due to the Ayasofya Müzesi authorities. Research work for the year 2009 focused on a group of marble slabs that, although few in number, display noteworthy decorative and technical characteristics, as has already been observed about the refined Middle-Byzantine slabs that are now preserved in Saint Irene and which we presented at the Kocaeli Symposium.
the North Agora, built in the Hadrianic-Antonine age, constitutes a unique context in the panorama of the ancient building sites of Hierapolis, given its very huge dimensions, its architectural layout and the extensive use of white marbles. the focus of this paper is the strategies adopted for the procurement of marble by the building sites of both the lateral stoai and the stoa-basilica. the systematic sampling showed different criteria guiding the selection of stone materials used in the buildings surrounding the square. the paper discusses the factors which conditioned the selection of particular varieties of local marbles during the construction.
2014
The project of a Corpus of the Byzantine sculptures in the Ayasofya Müzesi at İstanbul started in 2005 and has been carried on through the following years by the universities of Rome Sapienza, Rome Tor Vergata, and, since 2007, Bologna2. It is a pleasure to thank here the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey for giving us permission to work in the Museum; thanks are also due to the Ayasofya Müzesi authorities. Research work for the year 20093 focused on a group of marble slabs that, although few in number, display noteworthy decorative and technical characteristics, as has already been observed about the refined Middle-Byzantine slabs that are now preserved in Saint Irene and which we presented at the Kocaeli Symposium4. Among the sculptures in Saint Irene figures a very interesting, but damaged and incomplete Early-Byzantine slab, inv. 388, which was briefly published by Ayten Erder in 19655 (Fig. 1). Of unknown provenance, it shows a quite unusual composition
Ismaelli, T., Scardozzi, G. (eds.), Ancient quarries and building sites in Asia Minor. Research on Hierapolis in Phrygia and other cities in south-western Anatolia: archaeology, archaeometry, conservation, Bari: Edipuglia, 259-276, 2016
Recent investigations in the North-East Necropolis and in the St Philip church at Hierapolis brought to light numerous fragments of marble sarcophagi. the paper presents the results of the archaeological examinations carried out on these sarcophagi, which are discussed in integration with petrographic, isotopic and cathodoluminescence data. Imported sarcophagi from Dokimeion and others made of local marbles (especially from thiounta and Marmar tepe) are attested, suggesting a new scenario for the production activities and the presence of travelling craftsmen in the Lykos Valley. Also the reuse of the roman Imperial sarcophagi inside the byzantine building site of the st Philip church is discussed.
2016
The paper presents the results of the analyses and study of the fragments of painted plaster discovered during the recent archaeological investigations inside the Church of st Philip in Hierapolis. The archaeological and archaeometric approach has made it possible to better document the various building phases of the church and to offer, despite the extremely fragmentary nature of the analysed material, a reconstruction of some decorative motifs. Lastly, chemical analyses highlighted some differences between the proto- and middle Byzantine plasters and documented the composition of the pigments. Keywords: st Philip Church, Hierapolis, painted plaster.
thanks to systematic sampling and pre-existing knowledge of the composition of the three orders of the theatre, the paper presents a detailed study of the criteria adopted for the procurement of marbles used in the construction of the scaenae frons. the building site of this monument has been the object of many studies, given its exceptional state of conservation, the dedicatory inscription mentioning the Dokimeian marble and the assumed involvement of aphrodisian craftsmen in the decoration process. the present research offers new data regarding (i) the first phase of the scaenae frons (augustan and Julio-Claudian era), (ii) the chronological development of the severan building site (early to late severan period), (iii) the provenance of the marbles used the logeion and the three orders (mainly from Marmar tepe and thiounta quarries), and (iv) the distribution of white and coloured marbles (both local and imported) aimed at emphasising the central section of the scaenae frons.