Speaking through spolia: The language of architectural reuse in the fortifications of late Roman Greece

Spolia---architectural fragments of earlier buildings incorporated in later structures---first became a topic of academic discussion with the invention of the term in the early sixteenth century. For Renaissance scholars, the demolition and reuse of earlier, much finer examples of a long-lost classical tradition was a clear sign of artistic and cultural decline and for centuries architectural recycling served as a clear example of the fall of Rome.; More recently, a new generation of scholars has challenged this interpretation of spolia, creating in the process a new field of study in its own right. At the same time though, few have acknowledged that the majority of recent work tends to concentrate on a small set of monuments mainly located on the Italian peninsula. The present project is directed at correcting this oversight.; As a careful analysis of recycled architecture in a select set of fortifications in late Roman Greece, this dissertation contributes to the growing body of research concerning spolia use in late antiquity. Yet more importantly, it serves as an important test-case for more recent ideas concerning spoliation based largely on the overtly religious buildings of the West. The results are surprising: the three case studies presented below demonstrate that spolia use varies not only at the level of the region, but even at the level of the individual construction project itself. Evidence for such varied use of spolia not only sounds a note of caution concerning the universal applicability of "rules" of spoliation, but also supports the idea that the building traditions of late antiquity exhibited a vitality and strength commonly attributed to a much earlier era.; The introduction places this work in the larger context of discussions of classical continuity. The first two chapters present the history of spolia studies. The third chapter concerns the fortifications at Aigina, the fourth, the walls at Sparta, and the fifth, the fortress at Isthmia. The conclusion argues that the clear evidence for regional diversity presented here should encourage scholars to be much more sensitive to the variety of spolia use in Late Antiquity, both in terms of the type and location of monuments considered.