Archaeological Exploration of Sardis Reports
2 total works
The Temple of Artemis at Sardis, one of the largest Greek temples in the world, is documented in detail in this lavishly illustrated two-volume monograph by architectural historian Fikret K. Yegul. Begun in the century after the death of Alexander the Great, this delightful and complex building has been admired by travelers, depicted by artists and architects, and studied by scholars for hundreds of years. Yegul provides a wide-ranging overview of the building, treating such topics as early travelers, excavation history, inscriptions, construction techniques, the colossal Roman imperial portraits from the temple cella, religion and cult, and comparisons to other temples and buildings throughout Asia Minor.
Yegul's block-by-block description of the extant elements of the building, accompanied by hundreds of drawings and photographs, elucidates the two primary phases in the temple's design and construction, which date to the Hellenistic and the Roman imperial periods. All elements of the building are illustrated in their recently conserved state, with centuries-old discoloration now removed to reveal the original marble.
The text volume is accompanied by a series of twenty-four foldout plates with detailed state plans and elevations of the temple.
The Bath-Gymnasium at Sardis is the most important known example of a complex that combines the gymnasium, a Greek institution, with the Roman bath, a unique architectural and cultural embodiment comparable in size and organization to the great Imperial thermae of Rome. The restoration by the Harvard-Cornell Expedition of the “Marble Court” or Imperial cult hall provides a rare opportunity to appreciate firsthand the scale and elegance of the major Imperial monuments.
In this fully illustrated volume Fikret Yegül describes the complex from the palaestra of the east through the richly decorated Marble Court to the vast swimming pool, lofty halls, and hot baths, including analysis of the excavation, evidence for structural systems, roofing, vaulting, and decoration, and the significance of building inscriptions. The author traces the building history from its completion in the second century through five centuries of renovation and redecoration. Mehmet Bolgil, a practicing architect who was in charge of the restoration at Sardis, contributes a clear description of the reconstruction process.