palace complexes Flashcards
(22 cards)
framework to categorise ancient palaces
royal palaces
governors palaces
private palaces or palatial houses
define basileia
a royal compound that has both residential installations and public administrative and religious features
palace at vergina - background on area
in ancient Aigai - founded in mythic period as chief city of the macedonians
continued to serve as ceremonial capital and. royal burial grounds even after transfer of official administrative capital to Pella in 400 BC
extant palace in lifetime of philip II, alterations and editions until it was destroyed by fire after arrival of the romans
palace built from local limestone - visible surfaces coated with marble stucco - marble itself preserved for thresholds
basic layout of the Vergina palace
occupies space roughly three times the size of the parthenon, on levelled plateau of sloping acropolis with view of the lower city
large peristyle courtyard, smaller of centre peristyle at the rear
north side is retaining wall built to support open veranda - likely neither columns nor parapet
eastern facade - currently restored as two story propylon
ante chamber with space for 40 seated individuals
peristyle of 16 doric columns on a side - courtyard could accommodated 3000 seated people
humorous androns (dining rooms) - many embedded in tripartite configuration with central room accessible from peristyle
potential uses of spaces in palace of vergina
largest tripartite grouping (M1-3) - long unsupported roof - central chamber - possibly a form of throne room for 500 seated. paved in marble opus sectile laid in red plaster with black pebble mosaic border
set off from peristyle by 5 double sided pillar columns
unclear whether other generous spaces serve legal or administrative capacity but this is the theory
religious activities in tholos off the eastern courtyard - epigraphically connected to heracles patroos - mythic origin of macedonian kings
necessary infrastructure such as storage and kitchen with hearth - wooden peristyle at rear
decoration in the vergina palace
ornate pebble mosaic floors - one room with floral and vegeform females in corners, another with the abduction of europa surrounded by dolphins and sea monsters
background on the palace at pella
pella - residence ad training space for aristocratic youths
Alexander’s mobile palace
‘the tent of one hundred couches’
alexander - captured the furnished tent left by a fleeing darius iii
even before leaving home, alexander held court in tent-pavilion at Dion to mark his departure on eastern expedition
palace at alexandria (background)
city founded on the nile delta by alexander (332 BC)
supposedly city laid out by master architect Deinocrates - ptolemaic successors built into dominant city of the eastern med
Palace complex is spread over ancient cape Iochias - mostly inaccessible due to modern city over the top
excavation of alexandria palace
mostly revealed greek style architecture together with foundations of late third century monumental building
doric and ionic colonnades
doric stoa
corinthian style in parts of interior
literary sources on the palace at alexandria
Strabo 17.18 - describes complex as city within a city - contains temples, banqueting halls, mouseion and library, residences, parks with pavilions and gardens, royal burial grounds
Lucan in 48 BC - temple-like appearance of palace - beams clad in gold, walls of marble, floor of alabaster, doors of ebony with touches of ivory - but this sounds quite homeric poetic
combines elements of persian, pharaonic and macedonian - hybrid funerary architecture with ‘alexandrian’ features
ptolemaic river boat palace
‘thalamegos’ - type of house boat for river nile
spacious entry with propylon, roofed area resembling stage building, antechambers opening into corinthian peristyle made from wood with touches of gold and ivory
20 enclosed klinai (banqueting still centred)
bedrooms, andron, women’s quarters
one andron in egyptian style - lotus type capitals on tapered columns
tholos of aphrodite and peristyle
the palace of demetrias (background)
magnesian city in the gulf of volos - founded in 293 BC as ‘synoecism’ (unification of independent settlements) of earlier communities
strategically located base from which he hopes to rule Aegean empire - didn’t happen but city flourished under antigonid successor
substantial portions of palace unexplored - interpretation tentitive at best
palace underwent several building phases - suffers from erosion as well as being quarried for materials later
layout of palace of demetrias
complex upon several terraces - above agora,m aligns decently with cities orthogonal grid system
central two storied peristyle
36 rooms around 4 sides of courtyard
tripartite configuration on each side (like vergina) - side rooms only accessible through central space - many rooms appropriate shape for klinai
location of residence unclear
clay sealings discovered at the site - activities under royal or public authority
palace at pergamon (background)
founded in 281 BC by Philestairos - first of attalid dynasty
fortified acropolis sits on high mountain ridge (selected for security)
subsequent occupations by romans, byzantines etc complicates understanding the size of the site
layout of the palace at pergamon
6 building units along eastern side of the acropolis - some underwent renovation which disguises original purpose
two standard peristyle houses with rooms appropriate for entertaining and dining
another building of unknown purpose containing a lower marble altar on mosaic floor (private sanctuary)
another much larger great altar in next building - cistern lies uinderneath west portico - wall thickness suggests a second story - altar room contains tessellated pictorial mosaic
potential barracks
eumenes II additions to Pergamon palace complex
palace 5, great altar, expanded terrace, reconfiguration of upper agora
sanctuary of athena nikephoros - enhanced with porticos and propylon
features of the palace at aigai for public purposes
never planned to house the private family of philip II
stoas with tablets and benches in facade of aegae palace were locations where macedonian king exercised his ancestral judicial power
stoas much larger than any attic forerunners
combined with the monumental propylon of the palace suggest a form of sanctuary - interior of the building the idea of a temple is reversed -> pteron becomes the peristyle, position where a cult statue of a god would reside is where the king takes the lead
free, unstructured space of open gathering place (agora subject to laws of logos - flawless geometric form)
shift from the open agora to the courtyard or court of king due to implementation of the peristyle
palace of Jebel Khalid
(3rd century BC)
seat of local seleucid governor - macedonian in origin
macedonian features: peristyle at centre, formation of long spaces between peristyle and rooms to north and south, androns flanking vestibule, outdoor cult space (like south west corner alter at vergina)
garden within a peristyle is very persian (gardens of pasargadae)
citadel palace in dura europos
city founded around 300 BC by macedonians of the seleucid kingdom
presence of peristyle in southern section of building and reception rooms with flanking spaces to western and southern wings
north wing: narrow corridors beside long open spaces
hybridisation as a means to legitimise power - palace functioning as a spectacle of unity
COMPARANDA: Iraq Al Amir - same attention to symmetry and geometric cohesion as philip II macedonian but expressed in an achaemenid manner
why is pergamon not more persian?
same proximity (geographically) to persian culture as Dura Europos and Jebel Khalid - so what gives?
ideological association with athens and centralised classical greek indentity (sculptural programme with the dying gaul is almost praxitelean)
palace arranged around a peristyle, room arranged around courtyard
more explicit separation of residential and official function - served by IV and V
how can we tell what a dining room is?
klinai bands: marked on the floor to denote where the klinai would be positioned
drains can also be a hint - although they can be in other rooms
