Provenance of marble sculptures and artifacts from the so-called Canopus and other buildings of “Villa Adriana” (Hadrian's villa – Tivoli, Italy)

Pensabene, Patrizio; Antonelli, Fabrizio; Lazzarini, Lorenzo; Cancelliere, Stefano

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.01.015

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…When used together, these methods enable most marbles to be identified, if not with absolute certainty then at least with a fully acceptable degree of reliability (e.g. see the papers recently published by Pensabene et al 2012;Columbu et al 2014;Antonelli and Lazzarini 2013a, b;Antonelli et al 2003Antonelli et al , 2014a; this could only be acquired via the establishment of a good reference database from the analysis of a large number of samples taken from known ancient quarries. What follows is a much updated version of the so far published petrographic and isotopic reference database (Gorgoni et al 2002;Attanasio et al 2006Attanasio et al , 2009Attanasio et al , 2015 for the 10 most used pure white marbles of the antiquity (Pentelic, Hymettian, Naxian, Thasian, Parian, Göktepe, Docimean, Aphrodisian, Proconnesian and Carrara marbles; Fig.…”

Section: The New Petrographic and Isotopic Reference Databasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An updated petrographic and isotopic reference database for white marbles used in antiquity

Antonelli

Lazzarini

2015

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

101

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The identification of the quarry of provenance of ancient marble artefacts is, on the one hand, of the utmost interest to archaeologists and art historians, on the other hand, one of the most debated problems of petro-archaeometry. Scholars of different disciplines (geosciences, chemistry, physics) have been trying for more than a century such identification by means of a unique or multiple laboratory analysis without totally positive results in absence of non-destructive techniques. To date, the best probabilities of success are obtained by combining together at least two analytical methodologies and jointly processing all the data obtained. In particular, the detailed minero-petrographic examination of a thin section and the determination of the C and O stable isotopic ratios on the same sample is currently the most widely used and reliable combination. Such a combination takes advantage of the most updated existing databases for the main Mediterranean marbles very commonly used in classical antiquity. On the basis of a complete scrutiny of the recent literature data published from 2002 to 2012, we propose here an upgrade and reorganization on a geographic base of the petrographic and isotopic databanks based on hundreds of analyses relative to the marbles from the major and some minor quarries active in Greek and Roman times. These new data allow to increase the statistical significance of the whole database and draw new global reference isotopic diagrams related to the maximum grain size (MGS) of the different marbles proving very useful to better determining the provenance of a given archaeological/historical marble objects

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Section: The New Petrographic and Isotopic Reference Databasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An updated petrographic and isotopic reference database for white marbles used in antiquity

Antonelli

Lazzarini

2015

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

101

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“…Hadrian's Villa has been the subject of several archaeological and architectural studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Some of these were also on the characterization of raw materials, especially the marbles of various colours, used in the floors and walls, and their origin from the Mediterranean ancient quarries [9][10][11][12][13][14]. This research aims to characterize the Roman mortars and the pyramidal volcanic stone elements (i.e.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mineralogical, petrographic and physical-mechanical study of Roman construction materials from the Maritime Theatre of Hadrian's Villa (Rome, Italy)

et al. 2018

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This paper presents the study of various Roman materials used in the construction of the Maritime Theatre, one of the main buildings in the Hadrian's Villa complex, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Tivoli (Rome, Italy), dating to the first half of the II century A.D. The plaster layers (arriccio and intonachino) and overlying original Roman paintings that form the concave wall of the portico as well as some bedding mortars of the pyramidal stone elements (i.e. cubilia) of the circular masonry have been studied in particular. In addition, the acid volcanic rocks of the cubilia have been investigated, aiming to understand their state of alteration and geological origin. By mineralogical-petrographic microscopy (OM), diffractometry (XRPD), Raman spectroscopy, Point Load Tests (PLT), helium pycnometry, and particle size analysis, the composition and granulometric distribution of the aggregate, type and characteristics of the binder, and various physical-mechanical properties (density, porosity, water absorption, imbibition and saturation indices, mechanical resistance) of mortars and stones were defined. In addition, through digital image analysis of thin sections, the binder/aggregate ratio and some geometric characteristics of the aggregates (e.g. circularity) were determined. The research aims to improve the knowledge of the constructive technologies of the Maritime Theatre through the analysis of its materials.

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“…Another column was from the quarries of Euboea, as well as a repair patch probably made at the same quarry (Rodríguez Gutiérrez, 2008). This leads to the conclusion that diverse types of stones from different provenance areas were employed simultaneously in this building and that the refurbishment was not an act of imperial evergetism but undertaken by the local elite, as the custom was in these buildings (Pensabene, 2006; Pensabene, Antonelli, et al, 2012). However, a recent approach sustains that the refurbishment of the theatre would have been a personal project of Emperor Septimius Severus (Padilla, 2018), an interesting hypothesis, but for which there are currently no solid arguments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marmora of the Traianeum of Italica (Santiponce, Seville, Spain): New data provided by archaeometric analysis

2021

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This article aims to identify a series of stone materials used in the ornamentation of the Traianeum of Italica (Santiponce, prov. Seville, Spain), the imperial cult shrine commissioned by Hadrian in honour of his adoptive father, Trajan, from a petrographic, mineralogical, and geochemical point of view. The study highlights the simultaneous use of local and, above all, foreign marbles. Local marbles from Almadén de la Plata (prov. Seville) and Hill of Mijas (prov. Malaga) were used particularly for wall coverings and pavements, whereas Luni‐Carrara marble stands out as the preferred ornamental foreign marble used in column shafts, bases, capitals, balustrade finishes, and so forth. In addition, cipollino marble was mainly used for the column shafts of the hecatostylon portico, but the analysis has not been able to specify its exact provenance, whether it is from Euboea or local, possibly the area of Almadén de la Plata. However, given that this was a construction promoted by the emperor, it might be possible that it would have come from Greece.

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Provenance of marble sculptures and artifacts from the so-called Canopus and other buildings of “Villa Adriana” (Hadrian's villa – Tivoli, Italy)

Cited by 30 publications

References 5 publications

An updated petrographic and isotopic reference database for white marbles used in antiquity

An updated petrographic and isotopic reference database for white marbles used in antiquity

Mineralogical, petrographic and physical-mechanical study of Roman construction materials from the Maritime Theatre of Hadrian's Villa (Rome, Italy)

Marmora of the Traianeum of Italica (Santiponce, Seville, Spain): New data provided by archaeometric analysis

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