''Spolia'' (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: 'spoils') is repurposed building stone for new construction or decorative sculpture reused in new monuments. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built structure is carried away to be used elsewhere. The practice is of particular interest to historians, archaeologists and architectural historians since the gravestones, monuments and architectural fragments of antiquity are frequently found embedded in structures built centuries or millennia later. The archaeologist
Philip A. Barker
Philip Arthur Barker (22 August 1920 – 2001) was a British archaeologist who was most famous for his work on excavation methodology.
Education
He left school with no qualifications and served in the RAF during the Second World War befo ...
gives the example of a late Roman period (probably 1st-century) tombstone from
Wroxeter
Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England, which forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury.
''Viroconium Cornoviorum'', the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was sited ...
that could be seen to have been cut down and undergone weathering while it was in use as part of an exterior wall and, possibly as late as the 5th century, reinscribed for reuse as a tombstone.
Overview
![Colosseum (131)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Colosseum_%28131%29.jpg)
The practice was common in
late antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
. Entire obsolete structures, including underground foundations, are known to have been demolished to enable the construction of new structures. According to Baxter, two churches in Worcester (one 7th century and one 10th) are thought to have been deconstructed so that their building stone could be repurposed by
St. Wulstan to construct a cathedral in 1084.
[ And the parish churches of ]Atcham
Atcham is a village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies on the B4380 (once the A5), 5 miles south-east of Shrewsbury. The River Severn flows round the village. To the south is the village of Cross Houses and ...
, Wroxeter
Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England, which forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury.
''Viroconium Cornoviorum'', the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was sited ...
, and Upton Magna
Upton Magna is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. (''Magna'' is Latin, meaning "great". Therefore, the translation of Upton Magna is "Great Upton".) Nearby are the villages of Uffington, Rodington and Withington, as well as the wo ...
are largely built of stone taken from the buildings of Viroconium Cornoviorum
Viroconium or Uriconium, formally Viroconium Cornoviorum, was a Ancient Romans, Roman city, one corner of which is now occupied by Wroxeter, a small village in Shropshire, England, about east-south-east of Shrewsbury. At its peak, Viroconium ...
.[
Roman examples include the ]Arch of Janus
The Arch of Janus is the only quadrifrons triumphal arch preserved in Rome. It was set up at a crossroads at the northeastern limit of the Forum Boarium, close to the Velabrum, over the Cloaca Maxima drain that went from the Forum to the River ...
, the earlier imperial reliefs reused on the Arch of Constantine
The Arch of Constantine ( it, Arco di Costantino) is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvi ...
, the colonnade of Old Saint Peter's Basilica
Old St. Peter's Basilica was the building that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, where the new St. Peter's Basilica stands today in Vatican City. Construction of the basilica, built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero, began durin ...
; examples in Byzantine territories include the exterior sculpture on the Panagia Gorgoepikoos
The Little Metropolis ( el, Μικρή Μητρόπολη), formally the Church of St. Eleutherios () or Panagia Gorgoepikoos (, "Panagia Who Grants Requests Quickly"), is a Byzantine church located at the Mitropoleos Square (Cathedral of Athens), ...
church in Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
); in the medieval West Roman tiles were reused in St Albans Cathedral
St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Normans, Norman times. It cease ...
, in much of the medieval architecture of Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
, porphyry columns in the Palatine Chapel in Aachen
The Palatine Chapel in Aachen is an early medieval chapel and remaining component of Charlemagne's Palace of Aachen in what is now Germany. Although the palace itself no longer exists, the chapel was preserved and now forms the central part of A ...
, and the colonnade of the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere
The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere); en, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and ...
. Spolia in the medieval Islamic world include the columns in the hypostyle
In architecture, a hypostyle () hall has a roof which is supported by columns.
Etymology
The term ''hypostyle'' comes from the ancient Greek ὑπόστυλος ''hypóstȳlos'' meaning "under columns" (where ὑπό ''hypó'' means below or un ...
mosques of Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by th ...
, Gaza and Cordoba. Although the modern literature on spolia is primarily concerned with these and other medieval examples, the practice is common and there is probably no period of art history in which evidence for "spoliation" could not be found.
Interpretations of spolia generally alternate between the "ideological" and the "pragmatic." Ideological readings might describe the re-use of art and architectural elements from former empires or dynasties as triumphant (that is, literally as the display of "spoils" or "booty" of the conquered) or as revivalist (proclaiming the renovation of past imperial glories). Pragmatic readings emphasize the utility of re-used materials: if there is a good supply of old marble columns available, for example, there is no need to produce new ones. The two approaches are not mutually exclusive, and there is certainly no one approach that can account for all instances of spoliation, as each instance must be evaluated within its particular historical context.
Spolia had apotropaic
Apotropaic magic (from Greek "to ward off") or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of supersti ...
spiritual value. Clive Foss has noted that in the 5th century crosses were inscribed on the stones of pagan buildings, as at Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
, where crosses were inscribed on the walls of the Temple of Augustus and Rome
Temple of Augustus and Rome is an augusteum located in Altındağ district of Ankara. It is thought to have been built around 25–20 AD. Besides being one of the most important Roman period ruins in the city, it is also known for ''Monumentum A ...
. Foss suggests that the purpose of this was to ward off the ''daimon
Daimon or Daemon (Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy.
The word ...
es'' that lurked in stones that had been consecrated to pagan usage. Liz James extends Foss's observation in noting that statues, laid on their sides and facing outwards, were carefully incorporated in Ankara's city walls in the 7th century, at a time when spolia were also being built into city walls in Miletus
Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...
, Sardis
Sardis () or Sardes (; Lydian: 𐤳𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣 ''Sfard''; el, Σάρδεις ''Sardeis''; peo, Sparda; hbo, ספרד ''Sfarad'') was an ancient city at the location of modern ''Sart'' (Sartmahmut before 19 October 2005), near Salihli, ...
, Ephesus
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...
and Pergamum
Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...
: "laying a statue on its side places it and the power it represents under control. It is a way of acquiring the power of rival gods for one's own benefit," James observes. "Inscribing a cross works similarly, sealing the object for Christian purposes".[James 1996, noting O. Hjort, "Augustus Christianus—Livia Christiana: ''Sphragis'' and Roman portrait sculpture", in L. Ryden and J.O. Rosenqvist, ''Aspects of Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium'' (Transactions of the Swedish Institute in Istanbul, IV) 1993:93–112.]
Gallery
THES-Heptapyrgion spolia 3.jpg, Fragments of Greek inscriptions in the masonry of the Ottoman Heptapyrgion (Yedikule) fortress (1431), Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
Iznik Wall at Lefke Gate 8254.jpg, Spolia in the city wall of İznik
İznik is a town and an administrative district in the Province of Bursa, Turkey. It was historically known as Nicaea ( el, Νίκαια, ''Níkaia''), from which its modern name also derives. The town lies in a fertile basin at the eastern end ...
, Turkey, at Lefke Gate
Bosra. Via colonnata - DecArch - 2-37.jpg, Ionic order
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...
column incorporated into a wall, Bosra
Bosra ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ, Buṣrā), also spelled Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra and officially called Busra al-Sham ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ ٱلشَّام, Buṣrā al-Shām), is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Dara ...
, Syria
Spolia - Baptistry of Neon - Ravenna 2016.jpg, Spolia at Ravenna Baptistery of Neon
The Baptistery of Neon (Italian: ''Battistero Neoniano'') is a Roman religious building in Ravenna, northeastern Italy. The most ancient monument remaining in the city, it was partly erected on the site of a Roman bath. It is also called the Orth ...
Beschadigd beeld en inscripties gemetseld in muur van kasteel in stad Gozo Belle statue mutilée & inscriptions encastrées dans le mur extérieur du Château de la Ville de Ghozo (titel op object) Voya, RP-T-00-494-10B.jpg, 18th-century illustration of a Roman statue and inscriptions reused in the walls of the Cittadella
Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...
, Gozo
Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...
, Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
. The statue has since been removed and it is now in the Gozo Museum of Archaeology
The Gozo Museum of Archaeology ( mt, Il-Mużew tal-Arkeoloġija ta' Għawdex) is a museum in the Cittadella of Victoria in Gozo, Malta. The museum of Archaeology was opened in 1960 as the first public museum in Gozo and was known as the Gozo Muse ...
.
Zadar Spolia St-Donatus.jpg, Roman Spolia in the foundation of Church of St Donatus in Zadar, Croatia
Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...
See also
*Crisis of the 3rd Century
The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis (AD 235–284), was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed. The crisis ended due to the military victories of Aurelian and with the ascensi ...
* Roman Empire#Tetrarchy (285–324) and Constantine the Great (324-337)
*Dominate
The Dominate, also known as the late Roman Empire, is the name sometimes given to the "despotic" later phase of imperial government in the ancient Roman Empire. It followed the earlier period known as the "Principate". Until the empire was reunit ...
*Palimpsest
In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...
, the practice of erasing old texts from scarce old vellum
Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...
to write new text
*Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace ( hr, Dioklecijanova palača, ) is an ancient palace built for the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD, which today forms about half the old town of Split, Croatia. While it is referred to as a "palac ...
, a Roman Imperial palace in Split, re-purposed by later inhabitants as a town
*Slighting
Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...
References
Further reading
There is a large modern literature on spolia, and the following list makes no claim to be comprehensive.
*J. Alchermes, "Spolia in Roman Cities of the Late Empire: Legislative Rationales and Architectural Reuse," ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'' 48 (1994), 167–78.
*S. Bassett, ''The urban image of late antique Constantinople'' (Cambridge, 2004).
*L. Bosman, ''The power of tradition: Spolia in the architecture of St. Peter's in the Vatican'' (Hilversum, 2004).
*B. Brenk, "Spolia from Constantine to Charlemagne: Aesthetics versus Ideology," ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'' 41 (1987), 103–09.
*B. Brenk, "Sugers Spolien," ''Arte Medievale'' 1 (1983), 101–107.
*R. Brilliant, "I piedistalli del giardino di Boboli
The Boboli Gardens ( it, Giardino di Boboli) is a historical park of the city of Florence that was opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the Medici, it represents one of the first and most important examples of the Italian garden, ...
: spolia in se, spolia in re," ''Prospettiva'' 31 (1982), 2–17.
* C. Bruzelius, "Columpnas marmoreas et lapides antiquarum ecclesiarum: The Use of Spolia in the Churches of Charles II of Anjou
Charles II, also known as Charles the Lame (french: Charles le Boiteux; it, Carlo lo Zoppo; 1254 – 5 May 1309), was King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1285–1309), Prince of Achaea (1285–1289), and Count of Anjou and Maine ( ...
," in ''Arte d'Occidente: temi e metodi. Studi in onore di Angiola Maria Romanini'' (Rome, 1999), 187–95.
*F.W. Deichmann, ''Die Spolien in der spätantike Architektur'' (Munich, 1975).
*J. Elsner, "From the Culture of Spolia to the Cult of Relics: The Arch of Constantine and the Genesis of Late Antique Forms," ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 68 (2000), 149–84.
*A. Esch, "Spolien: Zum Wiederverwendung antike Baustücke und Skulpturen in mittelalterlichen Italien," ''Archiv für Kunstgeschichte'' 51 (1969), 2–64.
*F.B. Flood, "The Medieval Trophy as an Art Historical Trope: Coptic and Byzantine 'Altars' in Islamic Contexts," ''Muqarnas'' 18 (2001).
*J.M. Frey, ''Spolia in Fortifications and the Common Builder in Late Antiquity'' (Leiden, 2016)
*M. Greenhalgh, ''The Survival of Roman Antiquities in the Middle Ages'' (London, 1989).
Available online
provided by author)
*M. Greenhalgh, "Spolia in fortifications: Turkey, Syria and North Africa," in ''Ideologie e pratiche del reimpiego nell'alto medioevo'' (Settimane di Studi del Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo 46), (Spoleto, 1999).
Available online
provided by author)
*M. Fabricius Hansen, ''The eloquence of appropriation: prolegomena to an understanding of spolia in early Christian Rome'' (Rome, 2003).
*B. Kiilerich, "Making Sense of the Spolia in the Little Metropolis in Athens," 'Arte medievale n.s. anno IV, 2, 2005, 95-114.
*B. Kiilerich, "Antiquus et modernus: Spolia in Medieval Art - Western, Byzantine and Islamic", in Medioevo: il tempo degli antichi, ed. A.C. Quintavalle, Milan 2006,135-145.
*D. Kinney, "Spolia from the Baths of Caracalla in Sta. Maria in Trastevere," ''Art Bulletin'' 68 (1986), 379–97.
*D. Kinney, "Rape or Restitution of the Past? Interpreting Spolia," in S.C. Scott, ed., ''The Art of Interpreting'' (University Park, 1995), 52–67.
*D. Kinney, "Making Mute Stones Speak: Reading Columns in S. Nicola in Carcere and S. Maria Antiqua
Santa Maria Antiqua ( en, Ancient Church of Saint Mary) is a Roman Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy, built in the 5th century in the Forum Romanum, and for a long time the monumental access to the Palatine Hill, Palatine imperial palaces.
Lo ...
," in C.L. Striker, ed., ''Architectural Studies in Memory of Richard Krautheimer
Richard Krautheimer (6 July 1897 in Fürth (Franconia), Germany – 1 November 1994 in Rome, Italy) was a 20th-century art historian, architectural historian, Baroque scholar, and Byzantinist.
Biography
Krautheimer was born in Germany in 1897, th ...
'' (Mainz, 1996), 83–86.
*D. Kinney, "Spolia. Damnatio and renovatio memoriae," ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'' 42 (1997), 117–148.
*D. Kinney, "Roman Architectural Spolia," ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 145 (2001), 138–161.
*D. Kinney, "Spolia," in W. Tronzo, ed., ''St. Peter's in the Vatican'' (Cambridge, 2005), 16–47.
*D. Kinney, "The concept of Spolia," in C. Rudolph, ed., ''A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe'' (Oxford, 2006), 233–52.
*L. de Lachenal, ''Spolia: uso e rempiego dell'antico dal III al XIV secolo'' (Milan, 1995).
*P. Liverani, "Reimpiego senza ideologia: la lettura antica degli spolia dall’arco di Costantino all’età carolingia," ''Römische Mitteilungen'' 111 (2004), 383–434.
*J. Lomax, "''Spolia'' as Property," ''Res Publica Litterarum'' 20 (1997), 83–94.
*S. Lorenzatti, ''Vicende del Tempio di venere e Roma nel medioevo e nel Rinascimento'', in "Rivista dell’Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e storia dell’Arte",13. 1990, pp. 119–138.
*C. Mango, "Ancient Spolia in the Great Palace of Constantinople," in ''Byzantine East, Latin West. Art Historical Studies in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann'' (Princeton, 1995), 645–57.
*H.-R. Meier, "Vom Siegeszeichen zum Lüftungsschacht: Spolien als Erinnerungsträger in der Architektur," in: Hans-Rudolf Meier und Marion Wohlleben (eds.), ''Bauten und Orte als Träger von Erinnerung: Die Erinnerungsdebatte und die Denkmalpflege'' (Zürich: Institut für Denkmalpflege der ETH Zürich, 2000), 87–98.
pdf
* M. Muehlbauer, "From Stone to Dust: The Life of the Kufic Inscribed Frieze of Wuqro Cherqos in Tigray, Ethiopia," ''Muqarnas'' 38 (2021), 1-34.
*R. Müller, ''Spolien und Trophäen im mittelalterlichen Genua: sic hostes Ianua frangit'' (Weimar, 2002).
*J. Poeschke and H. Brandenburg, eds., ''Antike Spolien in der Architektur des Mittelalters und der Renaissance'' (Munich, 1996).
*H. Saradi, "The Use of Spolia in Byzantine Monuments: the Archaeological and Literary Evidence," ''International Journal of the Classical Tradition'' 3 (1997), 395–423.
*Annette Schäfer, ''Spolien: Untersuchungen zur Übertragung von Bauteilen und ihr politischer Symbolgehalt am Beispiel von St-Denis, Aachen und Magdeburg'' (M.A. thesis, Bamberg, 1999).
*S. Settis, “Continuità, distanza, conoscenza: tre usi dell’antico,” in S. Settis, ed., ''Memoria dell’antico nell’arte italiana'' (Torino, 1985), III.373–486.
*B. Ward-Perkins, ''From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages: Urban Public Building in Northern and Central Italy A.D. 300–850'' (Oxford, 1984)
{{Authority control
Ancient Roman architectural elements
Recycling
Latin words and phrases
Building stone