The Use of Marble in Roman Pula

Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2013

The results of an archaeometric study concerning the coloured stones and 14 white marble sculptures found in the ancient city of Urbs Salvia (Urbisaglia, Macerata) -one of the main Roman archaeological sites of the Marche region (east central Italy) -are presented here. Data show the presence of the most important decorative stones used by the Romans, originating in all of the Mediterranean provinces, from Egypt and North Africa to Asia Minor, Greece, Gallia, Iberia and Italy. Thirty-one different coloured lithotypes have been identified, including red and green porphyries as well as marmor phrygium and numidicum, namely the four most expensive stones cited in Diocletian's edict. Crustae of marmor chium, taenarium, chalcidicum, scyreticum, lucullaeum and sagarium also feature. Another significant presence is that of coloured stones that are generally rare, even in Rome and Ostia, such as cipollino mandolato (which is very abundant at Urbs Salvia, more than anywhere outside Gallia), broccatello di Spagna, alabastro a pecorella, lapis ophytes, brecciated facies of marmor iassene and cottanello antico. Worthy of mention, too, is the abundant presence of so-called Roman breccia from Lez (Upper Garonne valley, French Pyrenees), a stone never reported outside Gallia. The 14 marble sculptures analysed come from public and private buildings of the Roman city and are now exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Urbisaglia. Our petrographic and isotopic analyses show that they are made of Lunense (five), Pentelic (three), Parian lychnites (three), Thasian (three) and Proconnesian (one Corinthian capital) marbles. The quality of the coloured stones identified, together with the presence of sculptures made of precious imported white marble varieties, reveals an opulent town and a local patronage wishing to decorate public buildings and rich houses with the most sought-after marbles of Rome. APPENDIX

ASMOSIA XIII. 13th International Conference. Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity, 2022

Studies on production centres of Roman sculptures are more favorable in large ensembles, as happens in Tarraco, capital of Hispania citerior. Various parameters allow proposals about workshops and production centers. These parameters are mainly: - Degree of accuracy with respect to the copied or reworked model. - Raw materials used. - Observation of technical aspects such as the assembly system or the markings of the roughing and sculptural modeling process. - Stylistic quality of the pieces. - Comparison with sculptures produced in known production centers. In this conference the results of a study applied to the Roman sculptures of Tarragona will be presented. The aim is to distinguish between local productions and imported works, at various stages of production. Attention will be paid to the various sculptural typologies, considering the type of representation (divinities or portraits), the dimensions and the qualitative aspects of the marbles used. The original contexts for which the sculptures were intended will also be considered. The results of the study show that a large part of the statues had to be made in workshops in Tarraco. However, I have also detected several sculptures that were most likely sculpted in workshops in Rome or Italy, and others that may be related to production centers in the eastern Mediterranean. This study provides new data on the production process of Roman marble sculptures in this important city of Hispania. Keywords: White Marbles; Local Production; Importation.

Proceedings of the X Asmosia Conference - Roma, 21-26 May 2012

Journal of Cultural Heritage , 2019

This paper presents the results of the characterisation, provenance determination, quantification (by count and weight) and contextualisation of the white and coloured marbles used for decorating the Roman theatre of Urbino (Marche region, Italy). The main goals of the paper are to contribute to a better understanding of the trade and use of marble in the region of central Adriatic Italy in Roman times, and to demonstrate the socio-cultural importance of architectural décor in Roman society, especially through comparison of the Urbino case with contemporary theatres in the Western Mediterranean. Macroscopic characterisation of white and coloured marbles was followed by thin section petrography, X-ray diffrac-tion and stable isotopic analysis (∂ 18 O and ∂ 13 C) for eight marble samples. In total, twenty-six marble varieties have been identified in the Urbino theatre assemblage. Mineralogical-petrographic and archaeo-metric analysis shows the presence of white marbles from Carrara (Italy) and Proconnesos (Asia Minor), and greco scritto from Hasanç avuslar (Ephesos, Turkey). Coloured marbles, mainly africano, breccia di sciro, breccia medicea, cipollino verde, pavonazzetto and giallo antico, as well more prestigious lithotypes as granito misio, porfido rosso and serpentino, can be traced back to Italy, Greece (mainland and Aegean islands), Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa. Particularly important is the earliest Roman in situ identification of breccia medicea. Compared to other Roman theatres in the Western Mediterranean, the Urbino theatre stands out for the sumptuousness of its marble renovation, especially in terms of the number of marble varieties. Like other Roman towns in central Adriatic Italy (e.g. Suasa, Trea and Urbs Salvia), Urvinum Mataurense shows a strong integration in the Roman Mediterranean marble trade, with a clear connection with the Greek/Eastern world.

The results of an archaeometric study concerning the coloured stones and 14 white marble sculptures found in the ancient city of Urbs Salvia (Urbisaglia, Macerata) -one of the main Roman archaeological sites of the Marche region (east central Italy) -are presented here. Data show the presence of the most important decorative stones used by the Romans, originating in all of the Mediterranean provinces, from Egypt and North Africa to Asia Minor, Greece, Gallia, Iberia and Italy. Thirty-one different coloured lithotypes have been identified, including red and green porphyries as well as marmor phrygium and numidicum, namely the four most expensive stones cited in Diocletian's edict. Crustae of marmor chium, taenarium, chalcidicum, scyreticum, lucullaeum and sagarium also feature. Another significant presence is that of coloured stones that are generally rare, even in Rome and Ostia, such as cipollino mandolato (which is very abundant at Urbs Salvia, more than anywhere outside Gallia), broccatello di Spagna, alabastro a pecorella, lapis ophytes, brecciated facies of marmor iassene and cottanello antico. Worthy of mention, too, is the abundant presence of so-called Roman breccia from Lez (Upper Garonne valley, French Pyrenees), a stone never reported outside Gallia. The 14 marble sculptures analysed come from public and private buildings of the Roman city and are now exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Urbisaglia. Our petrographic and isotopic analyses show that they are made of Lunense (five), Pentelic (three), Parian lychnites (three), Thasian (three) and Proconnesian (one Corinthian capital) marbles. The quality of the coloured stones identified, together with the presence of sculptures made of precious imported white marble varieties, reveals an opulent town and a local patronage wishing to decorate public buildings and rich houses with the most sought-after marbles of Rome. APPENDIX

The marble-clad surfaces of the numerous bars or shops (so-called thermopolia) of Pompeii and Herculaneum are a vast and hitherto untapped source of information about marble use beyond the confines of public building and élite houses. Four field seasons of survey work have documented 49 bars at Pompeii and eight at Herculaneum with over 8,000 pieces of stone, mainly marble. This paper discusses the results of this project: first, the types of stone used on these bars and how they were displayed; second, what their quantities and distribution, within these cities and on individual bars, reveal about the pervasiveness of the wider pan-Mediterranean marble trade; third, what we can say about where these materials came from and how they were acquired, and what this in turn reveals about the economics of reuse of architectural materials in the Vesuvian cities.

This article attempts to understand the nature of the market that supported Rome's earliest marble architecture in the 2nd century BC. I begin by presenting scientific analysis of white marble from two temples in Rome (The Temple of Neptune in Circo and that probably dedicated to Mars underneath S. Salvatore in Campo) and comparing those results to data previously obtained for the first phase of the Round Temple in the Forum Boarium. All three temples show a unique provenance for their white marble of the Aspra Marmara quarry section of Mount Pentelikon in Athens. Notably, while this entailed a use of Greek material and belongs generally to the absorption of Hellenistic forms in Republican Italy, neither of the two temples discussed was built by magistrates celebrating Greek triumphs. This requires explanation, and in the second half of the paper, I highlight the importance of entrepreneurial agents active at various stages of the marble supply system who were essential in conditioning the market in architectural marble and delivering that stone to the city of Rome.