Spolia, giving stones a second life

Spolia most commonly appear as simple stone blocks or column drums used to quickly and cheaply build larger walls at a later date. 

Ruins from antiquity are readily available quarries used in the construction of city walls, houses, or larger buildings. Basically, and beyond the best-known examples, everything goes from bits of statues, capitals, and reliefs to inscriptions. 

Strolling through the remains from antiquity, we often come across monuments that have been partially dismantled. The larger or heavier pieces are left behind to trigger our imagination to mentally reconstruct the buildings. I have encountered many such examples, mostly in remote regions with little or no control by the authorities. 

Spotting spolia is always very rewarding. One of my first artifacts was a statue of Aegle, the Greek goddess of radiant good health, and an adjacent head in the Byzantine city wall of Dion in Greece. 

Another striking spolia was a list of Greek gods in the back of the mosque of Dodurga, a settlement sitting on top of ancient Sidyma in Lycia. The mosque had been carefully plastered and covered in soft yellow paint, but the marble slab, although inserted sideways, was kept in its pristine white marble. Some reverence to the ancient gods, I wonder? 

Recently, a spolia in the west facade of the Church St. Anna in Oleveni near Bitola and Florina in the Republic of Macedonia was brought to my attention. It carries a seriously weathered but still readable inscription that has been recognized as a letter by Philip II of Macedonia, dated from June 345 BC. It was addressed to the Katlestai, either a military unit or a small mountain community in Illyria. Philip’s whereabouts at that time are obscured by his intense transpopulation of peoples aiming to subdue them and secure his own borders. Hence, it is unclear who the Katlestai exactly were. 

The inscription reads: to those of the Katlestai who stood in battle with Philip the king against the Dardanians and conquered. Here too, a pagan text has been used in a Greek-Orthodox church. 

Especially in the cases of Dodurga and Oleveni, the builders either could not read the inscription on the spolia or, if they could, they did not understand it. 

Anyway, precious information is being saved this way for posterity as it is of particular interest to historians and archaeologists alike.

Roman “Villa of Alexandros” in Northern Greece

No, the villa did not belong to Alexander the Great, but to his namesake who lived in Amyntaio near Florina.

With a total of 96 rooms, this majestic villa whose construction started in the 2^nd century AD is one of the largest and most luxurious ever found in the area. The inscriptions with the names of Alexandros and Memmia refer to the successive owners who occupied the premises in the middle of the 3^rd century AD. The town of Amyntaio, which covered 25 hectares, flourished around that time since it was strategically situated along the ancient Via Egnatia.

The owners are thought to be wealthy Roman officials with a pronounced preference for everything Greek. The numerous floor mosaics cover an area of some 360 m2 and have much to tell about Greek mythology. The mosaics of the Europa Hall are the best preserved and include scenes like the Abduction of Europa, the Abduction of Dione, Pan with the Nymphs, and Apollo on a Griffin.

The so-called Nereids Hall is with its 90m2 the largest room and served as a reception hall for the guests. They must have been impressed by the elaborate mosaics arranged around a central fountain picturing sea nymphs seated on sea horses, cupids riding dolphins, a number of fishing scenes among birds and fish, and framed with the personification of the four seasons in the corners. This room also featured statues of the gods that did not survive in the best condition but are still recognizable as Hermes, Athena, and Poseidon. The remains indicate that these statues were of exceptional quality for Roman copies of Greek originals made in Attica.

A number of smaller items were also recovered from this room, such as statuettes, bronze and silver jewelry, and fragments of clay, bone, and glass objects.

Another room has been labeled as the Beast Warrior Hall after the floor mosaic showing a male figure being attacked by a lion. It is thought that the subject could refer to an actual fight that celebrated the emperor.

Excavations are still ongoing since only one-third of the complex has been exposed so far. Work will continue this summer and hopes are high to make more fascinating discoveries.

[Picture Credit: Thessaloniki Ephorate of Antiquities]

Via Egnatia, a road to remember

During my first visit to Philippi (Greece), I noticed the inscription “Via Egnatia” next to what appeared to be a Roman road running a couple of meters below the modern road and parallel to it.

Till then, I only knew about the main roads of Italy, like the Via Appia, the Via Emilia, Via Aurelia, Via Flaminia, the Via Trajana, and the Via Ostiensis, to name only a few, but the Via Egnatia?

Since it bordered the Roman Agora at Philippi, it must have been important, and I soon found out that it ultimately connected to Rome. Built in the 2nd century AD, it started back in Byzantium, running through Thracia, Macedonia (Philippi, Kavala, Amphipolis, Thessaloniki, Pella, Edessa, Florina) over the mountain passes to Lake Ohrid; from there, over a difficult stretch along the Genusus River to the Adriatic Sea at Dyrrachium (originally Epidamnos), today’s Durrës in Albania opposite the port of Brindisi on the Italian Peninsula; hence the connection to Rome. Like most Roman roads, it was about six meters wide, and in many places, it was covered with large stone slabs. In total, it covered a distance of 1,120 kilometers. According to Strabo, it was named after Gnaeus Egnatius, proconsul of Macedonia, who seems to have initiated its construction, although that has not been proven yet. The road was expanded and improved many times, and for centuries, it remained Rome's vital link with its eastern provinces.

[picture from Wikipedia]

The Via Egnatia made history when Julius Caesar and Pompey marched over it, fighting for supremacy during the Great Roman Civil War that lasted from 49 to 45 BC. Leading to the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, the armies of Marc Antony and Octavian pursued Cassius and Brutus along the same road, and several milestones have been recuperated, recording the many crucial events of its life span. By the fifth century AD, large sections fell into disrepair, especially at its western end, and the Via Egnatia became more of a name than an actual highway.

The modern version, called Egnatia Odos, now links Igoumenitsa on the Adriatic coast to Greece’s eastern border with Turkey - a distance of 670 km and a worthy ode to the ancient Via Egnatia.

[Egnatia Odos]

Many portions of the antique highway have survived, and the best known, I think, is to be found in Philippi. But this soon may change with the discovery of a marble-paved road at a depth of three meters during the construction works for the metro in Thessaloniki. Many tombs and graves from the fourth century BC to the fourth century AD once lined this road and yielded many offerings that accompanied the dead. So far, 1,500 pieces of silver, gold, and copper jewelry have been unearthed, as well as gold coins from Persia, glass perfume bottles, terracotta vessels, and even eight golden wreaths.