Stone and the built landscape on Roman Cyprus: case studies of Kourion and Amathus
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Date
11/07/2022Author
Astolfi, Martina
Metadata
Abstract
The study of stone and built landscape in Roman cities is an emerging field which is
currently expanding through the surge of new interest. Cyprus is one of the regions of
the eastern Mediterranean that has been completely overlooked from this perspective
until now. The reason for this lies in the issues related to the study of Roman buildings
on Cyprus. Primarily, the relative low state of preservation of the buildings themselves
as well as the fact that the cities have not been completely excavated, and they have
not always followed systematic methods. Therefore, for the purpose of the study of the
built landscape the selection of two cities with surviving Roman building evidence was
necessary. The two medium-sized Roman cities of Kourion and Amathous, on the
south coast of the island, have been subsequently considered. Different from the
majority of studies which focused on single structures or well-preserved remains, here
the entire landscape of public buildings is analysed in order to explore differences in
masonry styles, stone requirements based on the different structures as well as the
human labour involved in their construction. The methodology used to achieve the
understanding of the stone landscape at Kourion and Amathous combines different
approaches such as site-based survey, geological assessment, architectural analysis
and energetics. Through the application of these methods it will be possible to evaluate
where the primary stone material was sourced from, how this was manufactured, in
which context and masonry type it was used, finally revealing the decision-making of
the agents involved. The specific use of architectural energetics in relation to the
surviving structures will enable the identification of the building processes and the
labour invested in them by the two urban communities.
This analysis is discussed in six chapters. The first one is an overview of the
general and more specific studies applied to Roman architecture, stone use and
architectural energetics. In Chapters 2 and 3 a geological assessment combined with
an analysis of the stone exploitation is followed by a discussion of the public buildings
surveyed and a description of their main walls, floors and architectural elements
investigated at the two sites. Chapter 4 discusses what the data presented in the
previous chapters reveal about stone-use and distribution at the two sites. Chapter 5
subsequently shows how architectural energetics can be used for the understanding of
the building processes and the wider workforce invested in the creation of the built
landscape. The final chapter brings all the several topics discussed in the course of the
thesis together with specific attention to emerging patterns and comparisons with other
case studies.
This multiple approach shows that trends in the utilisation of stone and building
techniques existed at Kourion and Amathous. Moreover, the application of the
architectural energetics to the masonry structures of the building contexts investigated,
outlines the level of investment, in terms of labour costs, in the construction of public
buildings. As consequence, we can assess the level of stone consumption, labour
organisation and the socio-economic impact of building projects from these two
Cypriot cities. The success of the methodology applied to the building of Kourion and
Amathous demonstrates that the same approach could serve as a model for future
analysis of other Cypriot cities and beyond.