The Afterlife of Roman Sculpture # 3: Spolia

The term spolia is commonly used to refer to parts of monuments that have been re-used in later buildings. This kind of recycling was practised extensively in both the late antique and medieval periods, and has been the topic of a wide range of studies, including a recent doctoral dissertation by Maria Fabricius Hansen at […]

Continuity of Pagan Cult: The Shrine of Liber Pater at Cosa

Last week, I was discussing the work of Richard Rothaus and the question of continuity of pagan cult in the early Christian period. In Corinth, most of the sites that show continuity are extraurban, and at many rural sites in Greece (especially caves) non-Christians continue to give votives. An example of urban continuity of pagan […]

The Archaeology of Late Antique Korinthia

In terms of iconoclasm-related literature that I read over the break, the most interesting was without a doubt Richard M. Rothaus’ Corinth: First City of Greece. He deals with the archaeology of late antique religion in the Korinthia in a most admirable way, while continually challenging common assumptions and too eagerly made links between literary […]

Early Christians in the Attic Countryside: The Case of Marousi

Following up on the other day’s post on late antique countrysides and staying in the same geographical area as my earlier posts on Athens, this will be the last part of my ‘Attic trilogy’. One of the problems of dealing with the late antique period, and especially when you try to work with social aspects […]

Late Antique Countrysides and Rural Iconoclasm

Although most studies of late antiquity have concentrated on urbanism, the recent upsurge of interest in landscapes and countrysides has also left its mark on late antique archaeology. The recent volumes edited by William Bowden et. al. and Neil Christie are good examples of this shift. In the former there’s a really good paper by […]