Early Byzantine vases carved in Prokonnesian marble from ancient Halasarna (Kos Island, Dodecanese, Greece)

2023, 32, No. 1


Publication date

30.12.2023

Publishing model

open access

License type


Field

Humanities

Discipline

archeology

Language of publication

English

Downloads

PDF 2 MB

Article

Number of views:495

Number of downloads:101

Crossref citations:0

Altmetric score:0


Abstract

The paper stems from archaeometric provenance studies, which proved that some vases from excavations at Kardamaina, ancient Halasarna, of Kos had been carved in Prokonnesian marble. The items under consideration are four-handled bowls whose grips are decorated with incised motifs. The proven use of Prokonnesian marble not only for architectural members, but also for smaller artifacts indicates that vases were among the Prokonnesian marble products imported to Kos from Constantinopolitan workshops. These imports are dated to the 5th and 6th centuries AD, a time of intense building activity not only in the town of Kos, but also in the island’s seaside settlements (Kardamaina, Mastichari, Antimacheia, Kefalos, etc.). It remains, however, unclear if these vases were imported finished or semifinished from Prokonnesos, together with architectural members, aboard stone-carrying ships sailing across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Keywords:

Bibliography

Al-Bashaireh, K., Abudanah, F., and Driessen, M. (2020). Provenance analysis of marble ecclesiastical elements from the extra-mural Byzantine Church of Udhruh (South Jordan). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 12, 26.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00975-5

Al-Naddaf, M., Al-Bashaireh, K., and Al-Waked, F. (2010). Characterization and provenance of marble chancel screens, northern Jordan. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 10(2), 75–83

Asgari, N. (1978). Roman and Early Byzantine marble quarries of Proconnesus. In E. Akurgal (ed.), The proceedings of the Xth International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Ankara–Izmir 23.–30.IX.1973, I (pp. 467–480). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu

Asgari, N. (1990). Objets de marbre finis, semi-finis et inachevés du Proconnèse. In M. Waelkens (ed.), Pierre éternelle: du Nil au Rhin. Carrières et préfabrication (pp. 106–126). Brussels: Crédit communal

Asgari, N. (1994). Prokonnesos-1993 Çalışmaları. In 12. Arastirma sonuçlari toplantisi (pp. 99–121). Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlagi

Asgari, N. (1995). Proconnesian production of architectural elements in Late Antiquity, based on evidence from the marble quarries. In C. Mango, G. Dagron, and G. Greatrex (eds), Constantinople and its Hinterland. Papers of the Twenty-Seventh Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Oxford, April 1993 (=Publications of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies 3) (pp. 263–288). Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing

Asgari, N. and Drew-Bear, T. (2002). The quarry inscriptions of Prokonnesos. In J. Herrmann, N. Herz, and R. Newman (eds), ASMOSIA 5: Interdisciplinary studies on ancient stone. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1998 (pp. 1–19). London: Archetype

Attanasio, D. (2003). Ancient white marbles: Analysis and identification by paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (=Studia Archaeologica 122). Rome: “L’Erma” di Bretschneider

Bald Romano, I., Goette, H.R., Attanasio, D., and Prochaska, W. (2018). Two imperial monuments in Puteoli: Use of Proconnesian marble in the Domitianic and Trajanic periods in Campania. In D. Matetić Poljak and K. Marasović (eds), ASMOSIA XI: Interdisciplinary studies on ancient stone. Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference of ASMOSIA, Split, 18–22 May 2015 (pp. 267–273). Split: Arts Academy

Ballance, M., Boardman, J., Corbett, S., and Hood, S. (1989). Excavations in Chios, 1952–1955: Byzantine emporio (=British School of Archaeology at Athens Supplementary Volume 20). London: British School at Athens; Thames & Hudson

Barsanti, C. and Paribeni, A. (2016). La diffusione del marmo proconnesio nelle Marche in età classica e paleocristiana: il ruolo del porto di Ancona. Hortus Artium Medievalium, 22, 200–214

Bartoli, D.G. (2008). Marble transport in the time of the Severans: a new analysis of the Punta Scifo a shipwreck at Croton, Italy (Ph.D. diss.). Texas A&M University

Beykan, M. (1988). The marble architectural elements in export-form from the Şile shipwreck. In N. Herz and M. Waelkens (eds), Classical marble: Geochemistry, technology, trade (pp. 127–137). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic

Bliss, F.J. and Macalister, R.A.S. (1902). Excavations in Palestine during the years 1898–1900. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund

Bouras, Ch. (2002). Hēmierga architektonika melē se mesovyzantinous elladikous naous. In 22o Sympoosio Vyzantinēs kai Metavyzantinēs Archaiologias kai Technēs, Athēna, 17, 18 kai 19 Maiou 2002 (pp. 70–71). Athens: Christianikē Archaiologikē Etaireia

Bouras, C. (2011). La circulation des pierres et le port d’Éphèse. In P. Jockey (ed.), Leukos lithos: marbres et autres roches de la Méditerranée antique, études interdisciplinaires (pp. 495–508). Paris: Karthala

Brøndsted, J. (1928). La basilique des cinq martyrs à Kapljuc. In Recherches à Salone I (pp. 33–186). Copenhagen: Schultz

Carlson, D.N. (2006). a monumental cargo: The Roman column wreck at Kızılburun, Turkey. INA Quarterly, 31(1), 3–10

Chatzinikolaou, K. (2016). The “Rhaidestos Collection” at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. The sculptures. In P. Adam-Veleni, E. Tsangaraki, and K. Chatzinikolaou (eds), Rhaidestos – Thessaloniki: Antiquities in a refugee journey (pp. 177–187). Thessaloniki: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki

Cramer, T. (1998). Die Marmore des Telephosfrieses am Pergamonaltar. Berliner Beiträge zur Archäometrie, 15, 95–198

Cramer, T. (2004). Multivariate Herkunftsanalyse von Marmor auf petrographischer und geochemischer Basis (Ph.D. diss.). Technische Universität Berlin

Cramer, T., Germann, K., and Heilmeyer, W.-D. (2002). Petrographic and geochemical characterization of the Pergamon Altar marble in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. In L. Lazzarini (ed.), ASMOSIA 6: Interdisciplinary studies on ancient stone. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity, Venice, June 15–18, 2000 (pp. 285–291). Padua: A. Ausilio; Bottega d’Erasmo

Crawford, J.S. (1990). The Byzantine shops at Sardis (=Archaeological Exploration of Sardis Monographs 9). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Davidson, G.R. (1952). Corinth XII. The minor objects. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Dyggve, E. (1960). Lindos: fouilles de l’Acropole 1902–1914 et 1952, III.2. Le sanctuaire d’Athana Lindia et l’architecture lindienne. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter

Fant, J.C., Cancelliere, S., Lazzarini, L., Martinez, M.P., and Turi, B. (2002). White marble at Pompeii: Sampling the Casa dei Vettii. In L. Lazzarini (ed.), ASMOSIA 6: Interdisciplinary studies on ancient stone. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity, Venice, June 15–18, 2000 (pp. 309–315). Padua: A. Ausilio; Bottega d’Erasmo

Fischer, M. (2007). Marble imports and local counterparts: Luxury business in Roman Palestine. In M. Sartre (ed.), Productions et échanges dans la Syrie grecque et romaine: actes du colloque de Tours, juin 2003 (=Topoi Supplement 8) (pp. 249–269). Lyon: Maison de l’Orient Méditerranéen

Giacchero, M. (1974). Edictum Diocletiani et collegarum de pretiis rerum venalium: in integrum fere restitutum e latinis graecisque fragmentis. Genoa: Istituto di storia antica e scienze ausiliarie

Gwiazda, M. (2014). Marble vessels from Jiyeh (Porphyreon). Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, 23/1, 527–542

Harrison, R.M. (1986). Excavations at Saraçhane in Istanbul I. The excavations, structures, architectural decoration, small finds, coins, bones and molluscs. Princeton, NJ–Washington, DC: Princeton University Press; Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Hiesel, G. (1967). Samische Steingeräte (Ph.D. diss.). University of Hamburg

Hirt, A.M. (2010). Imperial mines and quarries in the Roman world organizational aspects, 27 B.C.–A.D. 235. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Hoepfner, W. (1997). The architecture of Pergamon. In R. Dreyfus and E. Schraudolph (eds), Pergamon: The Telephos Frieze from the Great Altar II (pp. 23–58). San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Kalopissi-Verti, S. and Panayotidi-Kesisoglou, M. (2020). Trianta chronia anaskafēs ston oikismo tēs prōimēs vyzantinēs periodou stēn Alasarna tēs Kō: syntomē episkopēsē. In G. Kokkorou-Alevras, S. Kalopissi-Verti, and M. Panayotidi-Kesisoglou (eds), Hē Archaia Alasarna tēs Kō: opseis tēs istorikēs diadromēs enos archaiou dēmou apo tēn proïstorikē eōs kai tēn prōimē vyzantinē periodo. Praktika diēmeridas “Archaia Alasarna tēs Kō”, Kōs, 21–22 Oktōvríou 2017 (pp. 189–208). Kos: Kentro Grafikōn Technōn.

Kapitän, G. (1961). Schiffsfrachten antiker Baugesteine und Architekturteile vor den Küsten Ostsiziliens. Klio, 39(1), 276–318

Kapitän, G. (1971). Esplorazioni su alcuni carichi di marmo e pezzi architettonici davanti alle coste della Sicilia Orientale. In Atti del III Congresso internazionale di archeologia sottomarina: Barcellona, 1961 (pp. 296–309). Bordighera: Istituto internazionale di studi liguri

Keay, S. (2012). The port system of Imperial Rome. In S. Keay (ed.), Rome, Portus and the Mediterranean (=Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 21) (pp. 33–67). London: British School at Rome

Kokkorou-Alevras, G. (2020). Anaskafē sto iero tou Apollōna Pythaiou-Pythaeōs stēn archaia Alasarna (sygchronē Kardamaina) tēs Kō. In G. Kokkorou-Alevras, S. Kalopissi-Verti, and M. Panayotidi-Kesisoglou (eds), Hē Archaia Alasarna tēs Kō: opseis tēs istorikēs diadromēs enos archaiou dēmou apo tēn proïstorikē eōs kai tēn prōimē vyzantinē periodo. Praktika diēmeridas “Archaia Alasarna tēs Kō”, Kōs, 21–22 Oktōvríou 2017 (pp. 43–58). Kos: Kentro Grafikōn Technōn

Kokkorou-Alevras, G., Kalopissi-Verti, S., and Panayotidi-Kesisoglou, M. (2010). Kardamaina – ancient Halasarna on the Island of Kos: a guide. Athens: Tasos Vagenas

Kokkorou-Alevras, G., Poupaki, E., Efstathopoulos, A., Kopanias, K., and Chatziconstantinou, A. (2005). Ta archaia latomeia Prokonnēsou stēn Propontida. Archaiognōsía, 13, 155–196

Lauffer, S. (ed.). (1971). Diokletians Preisedikt. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter

Lazzarini, L. and Malacrino, C.G. (2010). The white marble of Kos, its quarries and archaeometric characterisation. Marmora, 6, 57–70

Marano, Y.A. (2016). The circulation of marble in the Adriatic Sea at the time of Justinian. In J. Herrin and J.L. Nelson (eds), Ravenna: Its role in earlier medieval change and exchange (pp. 111–132). London: Institute of Historical Research, University of London

Minchev, A. (2012). From Proconnesos to Odessos: Unfinished Roman marbles from Odessos and Marcianopolis (2nd–3rd c. A.D.). Histria Antiqua, 21, 49–60

Niewöhner, P. (2006). Frühbyzantinische Steinmetzarbeiten in Kütahya: zu Topographie, Steinmetzwesen und Siedlungsgeschichte einer zentralanatolischen Region. Istanbuler Mitteilungen, 56, 407–473

Pensabene, P. (2007). Ostiensium marmorum decus et decor: studi architettonici, decorativi e archeometrici (=Studi Miscellanei 33). Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider

Poupaki, Eir. (2002). Lithina Loutēria, Perirrantēria kai Kardopoi tēs Klasikēs Archaiotētos. Archaiognōsía, 11, 273–306

Poupaki, Eir. (2011a). ALASARNA II. Lithina aggeia, cheiromyloi kai alla technerga apo to Iero tou ApollЕЌna kai tou Д’raklД“ kai ton Palaiochristianiko Oikismo. Athens: University of Athens

Poupaki, Eir. (2011b). Kōakoi lithoi kai Kōakē Lithoxoïa kata tēn klasikē archaiotēta: chrēsē topikōn lithōn, topoi exoryxēs, technikes kai diamorfōsē gnōrismatōn kōakēs lithoxoïas, mnēmeía (architektonikē, glyptikē, technerga) (Ph.D. diss.). University of Athens. Retrieved from https://phdtheses.ekt.gr/eadd/handle/10442/27083 (accessed: 05.07.2023)

Poupaki, Eir. (2017a). Ancient koan marble quarries and the distribution of koan marble in antiquity: Results of the recent archaeological research. In P. Triantafyllides (ed.), To archaiologiko ergo sta nēsia tou Aigaiou. Diethnes epistēmoniko synedrio, Rodos, 27 Noemvriou – 1 Dekemvriou 2013, III (pp. 205–222). Mytilene: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, General Secretary of Aegean and Island Policy

Poupaki, Eir. (2017b). Lithina aggeia, cheiromyloi kai alla antikeimena apo to iero tou Apollōna Pythaiou/Pythaeōs kai ton Prōimo Vyzantino Oikismo stēn archaia Alasarna (sīmerinē Kardamaina) tēs Kō. In G. Kokkorou-Alevras (ed.), ALASARNA VI. To iero tou Apollōna Pythaiou/Pythaeōs kai o oikismos prōimōn vyzantinōn chronōn stēn archaia Alasarna tēs Kō. Glyptikē, Lithotechnia, Epigrafes (pp. 67–118). Athens: University of Athens

Poupaki, Eir. (2019a). Early Byzantine marble vases from Kos Island, Dodecanese, Greece. In C. Diamanti, A. Vassileiou, and S. Arvaniti (eds), En Sofia mathēteusantes: Essays in Byzantine material culture and society in honour of Professor Sophia Kalopissi-Verti (pp. 157–170). Oxford: Archaeopress

Poupaki, Eir. (2019b). Marmarina kai alla lithina aggeia apo tē Spartē. Athens University Review of Archaeology, 2, 219–244

Poupaki, Eir. (2020a). Kos and the Roman marble trade network: Imported building material in Kos (Dodecanese, Greece) and possible exports of local architectural members during the Roman era. Thiasos, 9(2), 217–230

Poupaki, Eir. (2020b). Marmarina hēmierga skeuē apo ta aporrimmata enos Neoattikou ergastēriou stis ypōreies tēs Akropolēs tēs Athēnas. In K. Kopanias and G. Doulfis (eds), Technēs empeiria: nea Archaiologika Eurēmata kai Porísmata. Timētikos tomos gia tēn Kathēgētria Geōrgia Kokkorou-Aleura (pp. 345–360). Athens: Kardamitsas

Purpura, G. (1977). Un relitto con un carico di marmo a Capo Granitola (Mazara). Sicilia Archeologica, 33, 55–59

Purpura, V. (2008). I relitti con manufatti marmorei in Sicilia. Archaeologia Maritima Mediterranea, 5, 23–44

Quatember, U. (2003). Marmorinventar. In C. Lang-Auinger (ed.), Hanghaus 1 in Ephesos: Funde und Ausstattung (=Forschungen in Ephesos 8/4) (pp. 121–152). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Rickman, G. (2002). Rome, Ostia and Portus: The problem of storage. Mélanges de l’École française de Rome, 114(1), 353–362

Russell, B. (2013). The economics of the Roman stone trade. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Sherwin-White, S.M. (1978). Ancient Cos: An historical study from the Dorian settlement to the Imperial period. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

Sodini, J.-P. (2002). Marble and stoneworking in Byzantium, seventh–fifteenth centuries. In A.E. Laiou (ed.), The economic history of Byzantium: From the seventh through the fifteenth century (=Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39) (pp. 129–146). Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Strauss, E.J. (2006). Roman cargoes: Underwater evidence from the Eastern Mediterranean (Ph.D. diss.). University of London

Tambakopoulos, D. and Maniatis, Y. (2017). Determination of the marble source of sculpture and other objects found in Halasarna, Kos. In G. Kokkorou-Alevras (ed.), ALASARNA VI. To iero tou Apollōna Pythaiou/Pythaeōs kai o oikismos prōimōn vyzantinōn chronōn stēn archaia Alasarna tēs Kō. Glyptikē, Lithotechnia, Epigrafes (pp. 205–239). Athens: University of Athens

Tzitzibassi, A. (2000). Marble bowls for everyday use. Museum of Byzantine Culture, 7, 18–28

Verbrugghe, G., Jaccottey, L., and Boyer, F. (2019). Late Iron Age and Roman stone mortars and pestles from the oppidum of Bibracte and the city of Autun (Burgundy, France). Poster presented during the 3rd Meeting of the Association for Ground Stone Tools Research, Copenhagen, September 2019. Retrieved from https://inrap.hal.science/hal-02442166/document (accessed: 05.07.2023)

Waelkens, M., De Paepe, P., and Moens, L. (1988). Quarries and the marble trade in antiquity. In N. Herz and M. Waelkens (eds), Classical marble: Geochemistry, technology, trade (pp. 11–28). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic

Waelkens, M., De Paepe, P., and Moens, L. (1990). The quarrying techniques of the Greek world. In Marble: Art historical and scientific perspectives on ancient sculpture. Papers delivered at a symposium organized by the Departments of Antiquities and Antiquities Conservation and held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, April 28–30, 1988 (pp. 47–72). Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum

Walker, S. (1985). The marble quarries of Proconnesos: Isotopic evidence for the age of the quarries and for lenos-sarcophagi carved at Rome. In P. Pensabene (ed.), Marmi antichi: problemi d’impiego, di restauro e d’identificazione (=Studi Miscellanei 26) (pp. 57–65). Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider

Walker, S. and Matthews, K.J. (1997). The marbles of the Mausoleum. In I. Jenkins and G.B. Waywell (eds), Sculptors and sculpture of Caria and the Dodecanese (pp. 49–59). London: British Museum Press

Watson, J. (1916). British and foreign marbles and other ornamental stones: a descriptive catalogue of the specimens in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Similar publications