flowers and garlands of the alsos, boreas 35 (2014)

Studies presented to Pontus Hellström

Edited by

Lars Karlsson Susanne Carlsson

and Jesper Blid Kullberg

ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS BOREAS. Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations 35 Series editor: Gunnel Ekroth Editors: Lars Karlsson, Susanne Carlsson and Jesper Blid Kullberg Address: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Box 626, SE-751 26, Uppsala, Sweden The English text was revised by Catherine Parnell Abstract Lars Karlsson, Susanne Carlsson and Jesper Blid Kullberg (eds.), . Studies presented to Pontus Hellström. Boreas. Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations 35, Uppsala 2014. 533 pp., with 231 ills., ISBN 978-91-554-8831-4 This volume contains studies on Classical Antiquity presented to Professor Pontus Hellström on his 75th birthday in January 2014. The 41 papers cover subjects ranging from the Etruscans and Rome in the west, to Greece, the landscape of Karia, and to the Sanctuary of Zeus at Labraunda. Many papers deal with new discoveries at Labraunda, but sites in the surrounding area, such as Alabanda, Iasos, and Halikarnassos are well represented, as well as Ephesos and Smyrna. Many architectural studies are included, and these examine both Labraundan buildings and topics such as masonry, Vitruvius, the Erechtheion, stoas, watermills, and Lelegian houses. Other papers deal with ancient coins, ancient music, Greek meatballs, and Karian theories on the origin of ancient Greece. Keywords: Pontus Hellström, Labraunda, Karia, Ancient Turkey, sanctuary, Ancient Greece, Hellenistic, Roman, Hekatomnid, archaeological excavations Jacket illustration: Pontus Hellström Collage by Jesper Blid Kullberg 2013. © Respective authors ISSN 0346-6442 ISBN 978-91-554-8831-4 Printed in Sweden by Edita Bobergs AB, 2014 Distributor: Uppsala University Library, Box 510, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden www.uu.se; [email protected]

Contents

To Pontus ................................................................................................... 7 Pontus Hellström, a dynamic exhibition curator at Medelhavsmuseet by Suzanne Unge Sörling .......................................................................... 9 LABRAUNDA Flowers and garlands of the alsos. Verdant themes in the architectural sculpture of Labraunda by Jesper Blid Kullberg ................ 19 The travels of Zeus Labraundos by Naomi Carless Unwin ..................... 43 Antae in the afternoon: notes on the Hellenistic and Roman architecture of Labraunda by Ragnar Hedlund ....................................... 57 Then whose tomb is that ? by Olivier Henry ........................................... 71 The Labraunda hydrophoroi by Lars Karlsson ....................................... 87 Coins from Labraunda in Ödemi by Harald Nilsson ............................. 93 Greek notes on Labraunda and Milas by Katerina Stathi ..................... 101 Quelques observations sur la forteresse de Labraunda par Baptiste Vergnaud ........................................................................... 107 A room with a view. Karian landscape on display through the andrones at Labraunda by Christina G. Williamson ............................. 123 ETRUSCANS AND ROME Ein kilikischer Sarkophag mit Sänftendarstellung im Museum von Adana von Eva Christof & Ergün Lafl ........................... 141 Tracking solidi—from Thessalonica to Hjärpestad by Svante Fischer .................................................................................. 153 Egyptian gods on Athenian lamps of the Late Roman period by Arja Karivieri ................................................................................... 163 The “Bearded intellectual” in the Villa of the Papyri: How about Cineas? by Allan Klynne ............................................................. 171 Some notes on an ivory diptych and the reputation of an emperor by Hans Lejdegård .................................................................. 179 The book and the building:Vitruvian symmetry by Johan Mårtelius ................................................................................ 187 Images of animals in Etruscan tomb paintings and on cinerary urns and sarcophagi by Charlotte Scheffer ............................................ 195 Early water-mills east of the Rhine by Örjan Wikander ....................... 205

ANCIENT GREECE A note on minced meat in ancient Greece by Gunnel Ekroth ................ 223 Marginally drafted masonry as an aesthetic element by Axel Frejman ..................................................................................... 237 The stone doors of the Erechtheion by Henrik Gerding ........................ 251 Rediscovery of a donator: FW Spiegelthal, Swedish consul at Smyrna by Anne-Marie Leander Touati ................................................ 271 Music, morale, mistresses, and musical women in Greece by Gullög Nordquist .............................................................................. 279 Looking (again) at the grave stelai from Smyrna by Eva Rystedt .......... 289 Karian theories: seeking the origins of ancient Greece by Johannes Siapkas .............................................................................. 301 The Greek oikos: a space for interaction, revisited and reconsidered by Birgitta L. Sjöberg ....................................................... 315 Was anything measured? by Thomas Thieme ........................................ 329 Why it should be obvious that Euhemerus did not write his Sacred History to bolster ruler cult by Marianne Wifstrand Schiebe .... 341 KARIA A marble head from Alabanda by Fatma Ba datl Çam ....................... 353 Culti orientali a Iasos: ipotesi interpretativa di un edificio di età romana di Daniela Baldoni .............................................................. 369 A monumental tomb complex from Thera in Karia by A. Baran .......... 387 A Lelegian house or a honey-tower by Gunilla Bengtsson ................... 405 The triad from Ephesos: The Mother Goddess and her two companions by Susanne Berndt-Ersöz ................................................... 415 Iasos e i Mente e by Fede Berti ............................................................. 427 Gladiators in ancient Halikarnassos by Jesper Carlsen ......................... 441 The desire for things and great tales by Anne Marie Carstens .............. 451 Dining rooms in the sanctuary: old and new epigraphic evidence from Halikarnassos by Signe Isager and Poul Pedersen ....................... 457 Tra natura e cultura: rocce-altari in ambiente ‘lelego’? di Raffaella Pierobon Benoit ................................................................. 467 A pilgrim flask from Halikarnassos by Birte Poulsen ........................... 479 Göktepe in Caria by Paavo Roos ........................................................... 497 Auf der Suche nach der diple stoa – nicht nur in Priene von Frank Rumscheid ............................................................................ 507 APPENDIX The published writings of Pontus Hellström. A bibliography 1965 2013 .................................................................... 527

Flowers and garlands of the alsos. Verdant themes in the architectural sculpture

of Labraunda by

Jesper Blid Kullberg

I spent countless hours over the last 10 years talking to Pontus Hellström about various aspects of ancient architecture. First as a supervisor for my MA and PhD theses, and then later as a senior colleague and close friend, Pontus has introduced me to a number of architectural excurses over the years for which I am very grateful. Lately, and perhaps most enjoyable, Pontus has brought the topic of anta-design into the discussion, based on the late Classical examples from Labraunda. Thus, in this tribute to Pontus, I find it suitable to try to put some of the preserved, Ionic anta capitals of Labraunda1 and their sophisticated floral designs under scrutiny. This paper will offer a diachronic, longue durée perspective in which the verdant themes from the age of the Hekatomnids are compared with later floral motifs of the Roman Imperial era and the local early-Christian sculpture of Late Antiquity.

My objective is to use the trends of floral designs on selected architectural members as a metaphor for shifting artistic, spiritual, and political influences at the sanctuary, as caused by both local and foreign agents. This artistic progress will also allegorically illustrate the architectural development of Labraunda from an open-air sanctuary of natural wonders to a highly developed “manscape” of built architectural features. In this search of a shift between wild nature and domesticated landscape, I will not imply that artistic idioms of floral marble decorations are in any way unique for the site. Yet, I find the aesthetic development very suitable for a generic parable of the Antique expansion of Labraunda.

The grove Either as he had coevally experienced the sanctuary himself or heard the tales from the relatively recent past, Herodotos (being a Karian himself) gives the first written account of the sanctuary of Zeus at Labraunda. In a passage on fierce fighting between the Karians and Persians at Labraunda,

1 F. Rumscheid classifies this particular type as “kleinasiatisch-ionisches Kapitell”; Rumscheid 1994, 325.


20 Boreas 35

Herodotos neither mentions a temple nor any other monumental structures, solely “a large and a holy grove of plane-trees”.2

The veneration at this particular sanctuary, like other, similar extra-urban temple sites, appears to have originated from natural features, such as springs, peculiar rock formations, and, of course, most notably, the vast grove of plane trees mentioned by Herodotos.3 In fact, while addressing the sanctuary’s close relation to nature, it should be pointed out that even the name “Labraunda” has been suggested to etymologically originate from the Hittite word laparsa, which is the name of a plant.4 This is once again a reference to the supposed bucolic character of the sanctuary in pre-Hekatomnid times. Be that as it may, however, some scarce remains of built architecture from pre-Classical periods may indicate that Labraunda was primarily an open-air sanctuary that was centred on natural, believed holy phenomena. It should perhaps be clarified that further remains of material culture suggest activity at the site prior to the Classical period, despite there being few architectural remains.

Pontus Hellström is currently working on a forthcoming publication on the Archaic and Early Classical architectural remains around the Temple Terrace of Labraunda.5 A preliminary conclusion of this work is that there were few buildings in this area, even in the fifth-century days of Herodotos. Two buildings that were present are the small, late Archaic in-antis temple and the so-called Propylon Y on the easternmost side of the Temple Terrace (it is, however, unclear what state these buildings were actually in after the local defeat against the Persians that is mentioned by Herodotos).6 The temple (presumably dedicated to Zeus) was linked with the propylon by means of a narrow walkway that was supported by a long terrace wall built in polygonal masonry.7 Even though the Hellenizing Archaic temple featured moulded members in marble, no floral decorations of the late sixth century BC have been discovered yet at the site.

New flowers of the “pan-Karion” Even though the Archaic temple displayed clear architectural features of eastern Greek origin—most likely diffusing from the neighbouring region

2 Herodotos 5.119. 3 On the early origins of the sanctuary; cf. Karlsson 2010, 58-61; Karlsson 2011. 4 Neumann 1988, 183−191. 5 Karia Arkhaia - forthcoming proceedings of a conference on pre-Hekatomnid Karia organized by the IFEA in Istanbul 14-16 of November 2013, and edited by Olivier Henry. 6 For a chronology and discussion on the earliest temple, cf. Hellström 2007, 111; Labraunda I:3, 40f; Thieme 1993, 47–55, pl. IX; see also Baran 2009, 301-304. Propylon Y has several building phases of which the Hellenistic and Roman periods are currently being published by the author and Ragnar Hedlund. For a previous discussion on this building, referred to as the “East House” by Westholm, see Labraunda I:2, 30f. (walls 1–4 & 6a), and p. 106, fig. 15. 7 Hellström 1991, 297. For further information on the polygonal, Archaic terrace wall (referred to by the Swedish archaeologists of the late 1940s and early 1950s as the “Omega wall”), which continues westwards from Propylon Y, cf. Labraunda 1:2, 30f., and 106. (Wall 6b), fig. 15.

Flowers and garlands of the alsos Verdant themes in the architectural sculpture of Labraunda

Boreas 35 21

of Ionia—it is in the time of the Hekatomnid satrap Maussollos (377-352 BC) that the sanctuary more clearly became subject to Hellenic aesthetic idioms. This is first noted at the monumental banquet hall (Andron B), which was built by Maussollos himself, as evidenced by a preserved dedication inscription cut into the Doric architrave of the building.8 Andron B was probably constructed in the 370s, thus during the early reign of Maussollos.9 According to Hellström, Andron B was an early part of a Hekatomnid building programme, and the annual feast at the site was also extended at this time. This was a family enterprise that would last for decades. According to Hellström, the efforts invested in Labraunda by the Hekatomnids were intended to enhance the prestige and legitimacy of the dynasty, and were principally commenced by Maussollos and his younger brother Idrieus (351-344 BC), and perhaps, as I will suggest, also by Ada—a later Hekatomnid ruler of the region.

The political climate in Karia during the reign of the Hekatomnids was complex, and divided between Persian, local Karian, and Greek culture. This Persian satrapy was, from the time of Maussollos, artistically (and linguistically) profoundly inspired by the neighbouring Greek-speaking territories, which paved the way for remarkable hybrids of art and architecture at Labraunda. The Andron of Maussollos is a clear example of this cultural fusion, both in terms of function and sculptural decoration.10 The Late Classical/Early Hellenistic floral designs that I wish to discuss in this first section are featured on four relatively well-preserved anta capitals originating from the Andron of Maussollos (Andron B): left side of capital B-AC1 (Fig. 1:1); right side of K1 of the South Propylon (Fig. 1:2); right side of AC1 of the fourth-century Temple of Zeus (Fig. 1:3); and right side of H18 of the East Propylon (Fig. 1:4).11

I argue that Labraunda is an excellent case-study for the development of Late Classical and Early Hellenistic floral designs owing to the relatively well-dated buildings and their close chronological relation to each other. This gives us the opportunity to analyse the evolution of a certain artistic morphology across a limited time span, and at a certain defined centre of the Karian political (and, therefore, presumably also the artistic) elite.

B-AC1, the capital of the south anta of Andron B, should, in accordance with Hellström’s dating of the building, have been crafted during the early years of Maussollos’ reign in the 370s. This makes it the oldest known floral motif cut in marble at Labraunda. The composition of the left cavetto-side of the capital consists of “… an unsymmetrical acanthus decoration, beginning 0.20 m to the right of the offset. From an acanthus calyx three stalks grooved in the centre curve to the right, ending in large 8 Hellström & Thieme 1981, 64f; Labraunda III:2, I.Labraunda 14. 9 Hellström 2011, 155. 10 Hellström 2011, 149–157; Carstens 2011, 121−131; cf. the discussion on the sphinx akroteria in Labraunda II:5, cat. nos. 2 & 3. 11 For photos, actual state drawings, and discussions concerning the chosen blocks, see: Hellström & Thieme 1981, 64, figs. 11–12; Labraunda I:1, 10–13, pls. IV:b & VII:3–4; Labraunda I:3, 72, fig. 25, pl. 14:1-2; Labraunda I:1, 36, pls. IV:a & VII:5–7.


22 Boreas 35

Fig. 1. I. Anta capital B-AC1 of Andron B (Blid Kullberg); II. anta capital K1 of the South Propylon (restored to proposed original phase, Blid Kullberg based on original by K. Jeppesen); III. anta capital AC1 of the fourth-century Temple of Zeus (Blid Kullberg after original by T. Thieme); IV. anta capital H18 of the East Propylon (restored, Blid Kullberg based on original by K. Jeppesen).


Boreas 35 23

spirals opposite the three registers on the front. Between the two upper stalks springs a tendril, out of which grows a four-petaled half-palmette. Above the rising left-hand part of the calyx, which has a leaf with forwards folded top in the centre, is a smaller calyx. The ends of both point left. From the upper calyx sprouts a fluted stalk curving to the left to end in a hanging closed seven-petaled flame palmette with arrow-shaped heart surrounded by curling tendrils. Several other tendrils grow from leaves on the same main stalk, one curving downwards to end in an open four-petaled flower, and two others curving upwards, both ending in seven-petaled open palmettes, one hanging, the other pointing up to the left. The last one has an arrow-shaped heart with tendril volutes on the sides. From tendrils near the end of the main stalk flower-buds sprout, one to the left, the other to the right. At the bottom, below the acanthus pattern, is a badly weathered, 0.022 m high bead-and-reel with an interaxial of 0.050-052 m”.12

A few noteworthy features should be highlighted: firstly, the asymmetry, both within the motif itself,13 and also in the slight tilting towards the front side (best seen on the central acanthus calyces), and, secondly, the location of the composition so as to cover only the anterior two-thirds of the side of the capital. The side (and front) mouldings are lavishly proportioned. This can also be seen on the abacus, which has a cavetto-moulding that covers the lower half.14 The ornamental repertoire seen on B-AC1 represents (allegorically) new flowers at the grove; this initial introduction stands out considerably in comparison to later examples that display more generic and regular florae.

K1 is a capital that originates from the south-western anta of the South Propylon. It represents a pertinent part in the evolution of anta-design at Labraunda. The sculptured decoration on the cavetto-shaped sides has an almost symmetrical disposition, and is composed of “…floral ornament consisting of double volutes with fluted stems rising from acanthus-calyces and joined together by pairs of palmettes in the centre; of these the lower has a simple fan with the ends of the leaves curling outwards, and the upper takes the form of two half-palmettes with the ends of the leaves curling inwards […]. The triangular space above each of the double volutes is filled by a bell-flower, in perspective view, and the outside volutes, which are little lower than the inner ones, branch off, above, into half-palmettes”.15 Both calyces have square cuts at the centres and in my opinion, they are secondary and used for attaching metal appliques, 12 From the forthcoming publication on the Andrones by P. Hellström and T. Thieme. 13 A feature which is also on a general stylistic basis considered to be older than the mirrored symmetry of the late Classical and Hellenistic periods; Rumscheid 1994, 325. 14 The cavetto-feature on the abacus is paralleled by only one other capital fragment, which likely belongs to Andron A, nr. A-AC 1. This capital will not, however, be further discussed in this article. As for a regional comparandum, a capital fragment of unknown provenience (however, most probably from ancient Mylasa) has been published by Baran. Using stylistic criteria, Baran dates it to earlier than Andron B, which may indicate that similar capitals existed on a local basis before the Hekatomnid building programme began at Labraunda, cf. Baran 2009, 304 and 306, fig. 4:b. 15 Labraunda I:1, 12.


24 Boreas 35

presumably shaped as acanthus leaves. These cuts are, however, not included in Fig. 1:2.

Even though the cavetto-side decorations contain a mirrored composition of parallel components, asymmetry is caused by the different mouldings on the front- and back sides of the capital. Due to these separate mouldings, there is a disturbance in the proportions of the sculptural formula. Whereas the left side has to be extended, in concordance with the author’s reconstruction, in order to match the flank of the mouldings of the front side. Furthermore, the strong curvature of the cavetto side ought to have shaded the upper register of the side composition, a practical problem that seems to have been solved on the later anta capitals of the site.

On the evidence of a preserved dedication inscription, the South Propylon was built by Idrieus, using the ethnic Mylaseus.16 According to Hellström’s hypothesis, this should be understood as a dedication made before the death of Maussollos in 352 BC.17 The same argument is valid for the construction date of the Temple of Zeus, which was commissioned by Idrieus Mylaseus, again according to a dedication inscription.18 The temple was likely planned and built by Pytheos, the renowned architect of the later Temple of Athena Polias at Priene, and the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos.19 It involved the restructuring of the Archaic in-antis temple, and the addition of an Ionic peristasis, which encircled the older naiskos.20 However, judging from the stylistic evolution of the anta capitals that (in my opinion) occurred between the South Propylon and the Temple of Zeus, I would suggest that the South Propylon was one of Idrieus’ initial projects at Labraunda, and that the more formalized composition of the temple’s architectural components were formed later in the workshop of Pytheos.

AC1 (original position unknown to the author) has a well-preserved lower register, which displays “(…symmetrical acanthus decoration; above two horizontal calyces, stems of two double spirals; in centre, inverted palmette; below, bead-and-reel…).”21 The front- and back side mouldings of the capital have been less accentuated than on B-AC1 and K1, presumably to form a more uniform, symmetrical appearance that is well-balanced by the completely regular floral decoration. This floral ornamentation is, however, denser and displays a sense of horror vacui when compared to the lighter formulae of B-AC1 and K1. Furthermore, in my opinion, the more stylized helices without grooves give an impression of a different workshop tradition than the previously addressed capitals. In comparison to the general selection of capitals, it could perhaps be

16 Labraunda III:2, I.Labraunda 18. 17 Hellström 2011, 154f. 18 Labraunda III:2, I.Labraunda 16. 19 Hellström 2007, 117. 20 Labraunda I:3, 39–43. 21 Labraunda I:3, 72. I have chosen Thieme’s reconstruction of the upper register of the capital in Fig. 1:3, while Rumscheid has made an alternative reconstruction; cf. Rumscheid 1994, pl. 115.9:2.


Boreas 35 25

described in similar terms as A.W. Lawrence’s quote on the temple as a whole: “…delightful but rather eccentric…”22

H18 is the final anta capital to be addressed. It is also chronologically the last of the samples. It belongs to the East Propylon, and has an identical design to a second anta block, R9, which also comes from the same building, but was found inside the adjacent East Church, directly to the south (K. Jeppesen does not specify the original location of the capital, H18 within the East Propylon). The correspondence between H18 and R9 shows that the antae of the East Propylon all followed the same aesthetic formula. This is in contrast to the previous buildings addressed, where the capitals most likely display an individual, non-identical morphology. Yet, the overall dimensions of H18 are identical to the antae of the South Propylon. The side decoration of H18 consists of “… one central acanthus-calyx with doubled leaves, from which rise two fluted stems; each stem bears two volutes, the upper of which branches off into a half-palmette above. Between the two volutes of a pair is inserted a lily flower with six petals, in perspective view, and above the calyx are two stems curving inwards, with a palmette of nine leaves hanging down between them; the space beneath each of the fluted stems is filled by a bell flower in perspective view”.23

H18—as shown in Fig. 1:4 (partly restored by the author based on comparisons with R9)—displays a new step in anta-evolution at Labraunda. The motif has been centralized into a single acanthus calyx, from which the whole of the remaining composition rises, covering the full surface of the cavetto-shaped sides. The stems, sprouting from the calyces on the temple-anta AC1, are directed upwards. In H18, however, they are oriented sideways towards the front and rear of the capital, which is a more effective way of covering the cavetto-surface, yet using less ornamental elements. The perfect symmetry between the front- and back-side mouldings on H18 also completes the mirrored regularity of the floral composition. H18 achieves equilibrium between floral design and architectural mouldings. This capital was one of the first of its kind and offers an aesthetic concept that later became a “canonized” practice that was found both regionally and outside the limits of Karia.24

The East Propylon does not have a preserved dedication inscription, unlike its southern counterpart. However, Rumscheid stylistically dated the anta capitals to the third quarter of the fourth century.25 The construction of the East Propylon at this particular time would, in my opinion, find a reasonable explanation in the coeval political situation of Karia. Following the death of Idrieus in 344 BC, his wife and younger 22 Lawrence 1983, 258. 23 Labraunda I:1, 36. 24 Cf. Rumscheid 1994, 79. For close regional parallels following the East-Propylon tradition, I refer to a contemporary or slightly later pillar capital from ancient Mylasa; see K z l & Rumscheid 2006, 207-213; and, for example, the anta capital of the late third or early second-century Temple of Zeus Sosipolis at Magnesia; Humann 1904, fig. 158; Bingöl 2007, 110f; and the Temple of Asklepios or Olympian Zeus at Priene; Priene, 119. 25 Rumscheid 1994, 79.


26 Boreas 35

sister, Ada, resided in the inland city of Alinda, c. 16 km north-east of Labraunda. After the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great in 334 BC, Ada was reinstalled as solemn ruler over Karia. It seems reasonable that the sacred way, which continues eastwards from Labraunda (presumably bound for Alinda),26 and the East Propylon, its monumental terminus at the sanctuary, would have been planned by Ada at this time when Alinda became one of the most important political centres of the region.

Flowers of Rome Fragments of floral ornaments in marble from the supposed later Hellenistic era have been found at Labraunda, but I would like to focus instead on the continuation of the Classical and Hellenistic traditions seen with the coming of Rome. Architectural features, which are generally considered to be Roman, appear relatively late at Labraunda. The earliest known example is the East Bath, which was constructed between the South and East Propylaea during the reign of Claudius in the mid-first century AD.27 Even though floral friezes were already present at several sites in the region at this time,28 no architectural fragments of interest for this study were found at the East Bath. In fact, floral architectural sculpture does not appear on a larger scale at Labraunda until the early second century. This seems to have been a contemporaneous trend within the region and Anatolia at large. This is, for instance, well documented at the neighbouring city of Iasos, which received monumental colonnaded porticoes encircling the agora, and carrying epistyles with remarkable floral friezes, at about the same time as Labraunda.29 The selected cases at Labraunda were unearthed on the major terrace in front of the previously mentioned Temple of Zeus. During the Swedish excavations of this area in the late 1940s and early 1950s, architectural members were unearthed from a number of Roman buildings encircling the Temple Terrace. These blocks are all unquestionably different from the anta-capitals of the Hekatomnid period in terms of execution and disposition. Yet, the floral motifs seen in the Late Classical period still influlenced these later Roman friezes in many ways.

Firstly, I will scrutinize two architrave/frieze blocks and one cornice block originating from a supposed colonnaded hall, the M-Building, on the southern side of the Temple Terrace (labelled from top to bottom in

26 Baran 2011, 51; Hellström 2007, 81; Hellström 2009, 270. 27 Labraunda III:2, I.Labraunda 20 & I.Labraunda 65; The East Bath, in its current state of excavation, has been published by the author in Blid 2012, 175–183. 28 Fully developed examples of the type of floral friezes (that originate from earlier Hellenistic predecessors), which will be the most common in the Roman period, can be seen already at the early first-century Temple of the Augusti at Stratonikeia, cf. Tirpan 1998, 62–64, 66, 98f, pls. 31–36b; Mert 2008, 215–220, pls. 171-190. 29 For the case of Iasos, see Pagello 1985; for a review of the general Anatolian development of colonnaded agoras, see Cavalier 2012.


Boreas 35 27

Fig. 2:5; B195 [multiplied by two], B168, and B54).30 These archi-trave/frieze blocks (which were referred to as “Type B” during the old excavations) can be dated to the Trajanic period based on a preserved dedication inscription on the block B35 (not included in the drawing).31 A number of cornice blocks of the same type as B195 can be related to the architrave/frieze blocks of Type B owing to the stylistically coherent sima-decoration and the blocks’ dimensions.

B195 is a marble cornice block, which has a 7 cm high sima-decoration, a kyma recta, consisting of alternating lotuses and palmettes flanked by waterspouts shaped like a lion’s head. The frieze has a cut depth of about 1-2 cm. The lotuses and palmettes are centred between the waterspouts and joined to them by slender rinceaux (scrolls) that curve into spirals (helices), both upward and downward between each major feature. The rhythm of the frieze is rather unusual in this area in the Roman period and seems, interestingly enough, to be influenced by earlier predecessors like Classical and Hellenistic sima-decorations, which can, for instance, be observed at nearby Priene.32 The sima-frieze would have originally started 4.15 m above the stylobate level of the M-Building.

B168 is a fully preserved architrave/frieze block with a 12-13 cm high frieze and with a relief depth of c. 1-2 cm. The composition radiates from a centred palmette (moving right), a waving acanthus stalk, which is partly grooved and splits the composition into semi-oval segments.33 The full frieze of B168 is preserved; this consists of three segments radiating on each side of the centred palmette, and is 2.20 m in length in total (the whole frieze is not featured in Fig. 2:5). The wavy stalk, which constitutes the spine and syntax of the frieze, sprouts into acanthus foliage at the bottom and top of each new segment. Next to the centred palmette, the stalk breaks up into segment 1, which contains two helices of different sizes and with diverse orientations. Thereafter, the stalk branches off into a small tendril, which ends in a circular four-petaled flower, below; a larger helix is ending in a flower with four pointed petals. Segment 2: following the upper acanthus foliage, the stalk branches off into a small helix, followed by acanthus foliage and an upwards-oriented helix that ends in a circular four-petaled flower with heart-shaped leaves. Segment 3: the second segment that has two helices of differing sizes, which end in flowers, is repeated in the third and final segment (not included in Fig. 2), 30 For further information on this building, see preliminary reports in Karlsson et al. 2012, 85 and Henry et al. 2013, 327–336. 31 Labraunda III:2, I.Labraunda 24A. 32 E.g. Priene: long sides of the fourth-century Temple of Athena, the main façade of the second-century Sacred Stoa (Heilige Halle), and also on the long sides of the third-century Temple of Zeus (or Asklepios); Rumscheid 1994, 46, pls. 146:1–148:5, 163:2–4, 165:1; Priene, 64, 67, 94, 114, 116f. 33 The composition finds a close parallels among architrave/frieze blocks belonging to the late first-century Nymphaeum at Miletos; cf. Milet VII:1, 65, e.g. pl. 41:8, pl. 42:3. Similarities can also be witnessed on slightly later architectural sculpture, for instance at the so-called Hadrianischer “Tabernakelbau” at Didyma; Pülz 1989, 164–168, pls. 26:7–8, 27:1–8.


28 Boreas 35

Fig. 2. V. Cornice block B195, architrave/frieze blocks B168 and B54 all believed to originate from the M-Building; VI. Architrave/frieze block B94 of the North Stoa (Blid Kullberg after original by P. von Schmalensee).


Boreas 35 29

and the frieze ends in a half-acanthus calyx that connects to a mirrored equivalent on the neighbouring architrave/frieze block. This calyx would function as the source of the rinceaux radiating on both sides, in the same way as in H18 of the East Propylon.

B54 is a partly preserved architrave/frieze block, which demonstrates the inconsistency in composition that is seen in the carved frieze decoration of the Type-B blocks. Instead of three segments radiating on each side of the central motif, this frieze probably featured four or even five segments. The character of the sculpture and the dimensions of the frieze, however, leave no doubt that it should be attributed to the same series, and thus the same building, as B168. The centre palmette seen in B168 has here been substituted by two mirrored flowers encircled by helices with divergent small, lower tendrils. An oval bud fills the triangular space between the helix and the lower tendril. Like B168, a stalk constitutes the core of the rinceaux, and this sprouts into foliage at the shift of each segment. The first segment, following the mirrored central flower spirals, consists of a half three-petaled palmette. Apart from acanthus foliage, the second segment features a four-petaled flower with pointed leaves (of the same type as on B168). Both the palmette of the second segment and the four-petaled flower sprout from small leaves and tendrils. The third and last preserved segment lacks the acanthus foliage but features instead a large three-sectioned stock flower oriented towards the centre of the block.

The friezes on the blocks B168 and B54 would have started 3.81 m above the stylobate level of the M-Building and the sima-frieze, as previously mentioned, would have started at 4.15 m. Yet, the relief depth of these friezes is only 1-2 cm. This would, in my opinion, make the ornamentation very difficult to observe without the use of strong colours, especially when the projecting cornice shaded the lower part of the epistyle. As such, I have tried to reconstruct such a colourful scenario on the block, B54. Although the colour scheme is completely hypothetical, it is made in accordance with previous studies on depicted architectural sculpture of the Roman period.34 The background of the frieze is monochrome dark blue on which the stalks, helices, and smaller tendrils are painted in different nuances of green. Flowers and half-palmettes are coloured with shifting tones of yellow, and whitish yellow.

The final block of the Imperial period to be addressed, B94 (Fig. 2:6), is also found on the Temple Terrace and was classified as “Type A” by the early excavators. The block originates from the so-called North Stoa, which has more recently been published by P. Liljenstolpe and P. von Schmalensee.35 The North Stoa is also of Trajanic date, more specifically dating to somewhere between AD 102 and 114, and built by a local ex-priest, Poleites (the ex-priests of the sanctuary appear to have built most of

34 For a reconstructed colour scheme of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, see: Rossini 2010, 20–25; and for studies on the coloured epistyle of the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine, Rome, see: Zink & Piening 2009, 109–122. 35 Liljenstolpe & von Schmalensee 1996.


30 Boreas 35

the Roman buildings flanking the Temple Terrace).36 The North Stoa has been reconstructed as a building of the Corinthian order accompanied by an epistyle that differs in some ways from that of Type B. The North Stoa has a taller frieze (c. 15 cm), deeper relief, and a slightly convex pulvinus-frieze. The cornices of the North Stoa, however, lack decorated sima, but, apart from this missing detail, the Type-A blocks represent a more careful and well-executed craftsmanship than other Roman architectural members found on the Temple Terrace.

B9437 was probably made by the same workshop as the Type-B blocks but with far more time and effort dedicated to the friezes. The hypothesis of a common workshop is based on the many similarities between the friezes of Type A and B, such as, for instance, the shape of the flowers, acanthus foliage, and also the rhythm and general composition of the decorative formula. The architrave/frieze block, B94, is chosen because of one unique design in comparison to the rest of the epistyle blocks of the North Stoa and the previously addressed blocks of Type B.

Like the previous examples, the composition consists of two mirrored sections starting off from a central motif: in this case, two bell-shaped flowers growing from a grooved stalk. Moving right, we may observe that each segment of the frieze has a more circular composition than the rather elliptical shape seen on most equivalents from the M-Building. The result is a dense, heavier composition that is more in line with the previously mentioned B54. However, since this more complex composition with dense, circular segments in fact also occurs on some of the B-blocks, it may be suggested that the work on the friezes of the M-Building started with the ambition of executing them in a similar way to those of the North Stoa (which, I believe, is slightly earlier than the M-Building), but lack of time and funds may have gradually resulted in the completion of the B-frieze with a lighter and shallower relief to save labour. Returning to the outline of the frieze of the North Stoa and block B94, the first segment (moving right from the central motif) displays a circular flower with four heart-shaped petals and acanthus foliage below (which is identical to the counterparts on the Type-B friezes). The next segment shows a star-shaped flower with five petals and foliage above. The third segment features a centred flower with four pointed petals and foliage below. The final three segments repeat the first three, and end in a half-acanthus calyx in the same way as block B168. In total, the frieze thus contains 12 circular segments flanked by the central motif with bell-shaped flowers, and the corner-motifs of half-acanthus calyces. The frieze of the North Stoa would have started at a slightly higher level above the stylobate than the blocks, B54 and B168.

36 Labraunda III:2, I.Labraunda 23. 37 Cf. Liljenstolpe & von Schmalensee 1996, fig. 18.


Boreas 35 31

Verdant themes of monotheism From the early fifth century AD it seems that official polytheistic cult at Labraunda had been abolished and a new and different religious community—the Christians—had resettled the old “pan-Karion”. Two churches were established during the late fourth and early fifth centuries, directly south of the old temenos enclosure.38 The site likely continued to be a centre of Christian (local) sacred movement throughout the sixth century with a revival in the Middle Byzantine period. The aesthetic preferences of this new religious faction at Labraunda still included the representation of nature, but now perhaps in a more believed, celestial character. The rôle of Labraunda as drawing spiritual credibility from natural phenomena, for instance water, also seems to have been present within the Christian cult practices.39

The representation of floral themes appears to have been the most favoured in the early Christian period at Labraunda (fifth and sixth centuries). The appearance of these are, however, rather different from the previously addressed samples from the site and exhibit a clear deviation from the Graeco-Roman morphology. The object chosen for this study is the fifth- or sixth-century marble ambo, which originates from the West Church. Even though the church was constructed during the first quarter of the fifth century, the date of the ambo is uncertain since it could be a later addition. Yet, in my opinion, the ambo does probably date from before the Justinianic period, which is usually considered to hold the genesis of this regional, Karian and south-Ionian type. The ambo at Labraunda can be reconstructed from 14 diagnostic fragments (Z07-1, 2, 3 & 4; WEC10-M2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 & 12; WEC11-M3 & 5), all of which are included in Fig. 3:7, although not individually marked. The reconstruction offered here is a free interpretation of what the ambo originally looked like. For more detailed documentation and critical analysis, I refer the reader to the recent publication by the author.40 The hypothetical features, which mainly consist of the zoomorphic themes, are inspired by regional comparanda from Bargylia, Bodrum, Milas, and Peçin.41 These cases feature, for instance, birds (usually peacocks and smaller unidentifiable species) and hares. The floral themes are mainly represented on the staircases leading up to the raised, octagonal platform. There are also rinceaux-patterns on the low parapet enclosing the raised platform.

Like on the previously addressed second-century blocks, a stalk constitutes the leading theme of the composition; this can be seen on both the staircases and the parapet slabs. The stalk is generally considered to be vine, not acanthus, and is sometimes entwined with ivy (seen on the heart-shaped leaves). On the staircases, the stalks largely follow the outlines of the semi-circular niches at the lower sections. The stalks branch off into 38 Blid 2012, 93–224. 39 Blid 2012, 265–268. 40 Blid 2012, 136f, figs. 100–103. 41 Bargylia: Falla Castelfranchi 2005, 429, 432–439; Bodrum: Feld 1975, 199; Peçin: Feld 1975, 199; Bargylia, Bodrum, Milas, and Peçin: Ruggieri 2005, 227–241, figs. V/13, V/15–16, V/19–20, V/33.


32 Boreas 35

clusters of grapes, helices, and vine/ivy leaves, and there are often animals inhabiting the lush compositions, eating the grapes. Unlike previously addressed floral designs at Labraunda (perhaps apart from the anta capital of Andron B: B-AC1), this composition does not comprise symmetry, nor in any way mirrored arrangements. It presents fully organic growth without any obvious beginning or end; there are, for instance, no calyces giving rise to the floral themes. The relief is executed in the champlevé technique, which is only about 1-2 cm deep. Similar to my opinion that polychromy was fundamental in order to perceive the second-century friezes on the Temple Terrace, I also believe that the shallow reliefs of the early Christian period would have been elaborately coloured. Yet, there is no extant evidence at hand to verify this hypothesis. Owing to the lack of comparanda known to the author, the ambo in Fig. 3 is reconstructed solely in grisaille.

From wild nature to marble flowers – some thoughts on the perception of floral designs It appears that, in the time of Herodotos, Labraunda was simply a rural temple site, comprising of a small in-antis naiskos, a propylon, and perhaps a handful of ancillary stoas and dwelling quarters amidst a great grove of supposedly holy plane trees. Most of the cultic activities must have been kept outdoors and have had a clear focus on natural phenomena. A half millennium later—in the heyday of the Roman Imperial period—nature had been substituted by monumental architecture, even though the fresh-water spring of Zeus, and the fish that dwelled there, apparently gave the sanctuary great fame.42 In the transformation of Labraunda from an open-air sanctuary to a dense architectural landscape, starting with the Hekatomnids and lasting throughout the Roman period, wild flowers gradually gave way to flora cut in marble. However, how was this artificial flora composed and perceived, and in what way did this man-made nature relate to wild nature?

This issue will be scrutinized on a general level by attempting to discern some aesthetic attitudes to natural beauty as expressed by a number of Graeco-Roman intellectuals, and from recent analyses of secondary sources. For instance, in Philebus Plato emphasises measure and proportion as central concepts within beauty; through the words of Sokrates, he states: “So now the power of the good has taken refuge in the nature of the beautiful; for measure and proportion are everywhere identified with beauty and virtue”.43 Also, later Roman writers like Cicero, Vitruvius, and Galen mutually advocated symmetry /commensurability and principles of measure as fundamental aspects of

42 Cf. Aelian 12.30; and Pliny 32.16. For a discussion on the rôle and function of the spring and fish/eels at Labraunda; cf. Blid 2012, 27f. 43 Plato, Philebus 64e.


Boreas 35 33

Fig. 3. The ambo of the West Church (restored, Blid Kullberg).


34 Boreas 35

beauty.44 Cicero, Vitruvius, and Galen exemplify beauty by referring to corporal beauty, which in their minds seem to have been considered the highest quality of nature. As demonstrated from the previous quote by Plato, the Roman fascination with symmetry/commensurability and arithmetic principles was no doubt a vestige from older traditions. In fact, this view previously come to the fore in the Pythagorean concept of cosmos as controlled by order and mathematical rules. Cosmos (order) naturally held a spiritual meaning to the Pythagoreans, and I would argue that the qualities of symmetry and order, which are emphasized by later writers, bridged this spirituality with aesthetic theory and practices, and formed in many ways a general Graeco-Roman approach to monumental elite art.

In Vitruvius’ opinion, symmetry derived from proportion, and the perfect composition demanded both of these virtues.45 Symmetry could be considered the more easily accessible component of the equation since it can be seen with the eye, while more sophisticated theoretical compositions, which relied on the virtues of measure, for instance a temple plan, “…lay beyond optical perception”.46 The perfect composition was, however, not always bound to a static formula. One recent interpretation of ancient citations of Polykleitos’ now lost fifth-century canon, is that beauty, in the mind of this famous sculptor, was achieved by “…small exceptions to the rule […] from precise arithmetical relationships…”47 As such, a composition does indeed depend on symmetry and proportion (by virtue of tradition and spirituality), but, to reach perfection, artistic genius is necessary. In the minds of more conservative reviewers, however, this artistic liberty could be drawn too far, which is apparent from Vitruvius’ sharp criticism of un-naturalistic representations in the manner of painting of his day. “But these paintings (made in the old, naturalistic tradition that had previously been addressed by Vitruvius), which had taken their models from real things, now fall foul of depraved taste. For monsters are now painted in frescoes rather than reliable images of definite things. […] Now these things do not exist nor can they exist nor have they ever existed, and thus this new fashion has brought things to such a pass that bad judges have condemned the right practise of the arts as lack of skill. […] Neither should pictures be approved that are not likenesses of the truth, nor, if they are elegant through art, is that any reason why favourable judgement should immediately be passed on them, not unless their subjects follow sound principles without interference”.48 The Vitruvian formula is thus clear: a

44 Cf.; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 4.13; Vitruvius, Ten books on architecture 3.1.1–9; Galen, On the doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato 5.48. 45 Vitruvius, Ten books on architecture 3.1.1. It is also possible to interpret Pliny the Younger as celebrating realistic representations within art. This can be deduced from a vivid description of his Tuscan country villa that he compares with the beauty of a painting; Pliny the Younger, 5.6.13. 46 Senseney 2011, 176. 47 See the discussion on the subject in Senseney 2011, 178. 48 Vitruvius, Ten books on architecture 7.5.3–4.


Boreas 35 35

work of art/architecture must be founded on the nature of definite things and it needs to be composed of appropriate symmetry/commensurability.49

As we have seen, the rules set up by Vitruvius reflected a long tradition of (aesthetic) theory, which is also apparent from his many allusions to earlier architects and sculptors. Several hypotheses on Graeco-Roman designs, for instance on sculpture, and mosaic- and opus sectile decorations have been demonstrated by M. Wilson Jones.50 It is, in my opinion, convincingly shown how many complex works of art are built up by combining advanced combinations of geometric features. However, putting more complex, metrical aspects aside (such as Egyptian and Greek canons, Pythagorean triangles, etc.), I now wish to focus on the visual aspect of regularity and mirrored symmetry, which is often striking in the art of the Greeks and Romans.

With regards to anthropomorphic sculpture, the genre possessed an inherent symmetry by nature; after all, one side of the body is generally similar to the other side. The Graeco-Roman fascination with this corporal regularity has already been addressed. However, what about representations of wild nature, which in itself often lacks even the slightest notion of regularity? Again, Vitruvius addresses the topic, this time in his account of the genesis of the Corinthian capital: “Delighted by nature and form of this novelty, he (the sculptor Kallimachos) began to fashion columns for the Corinthians on this model, and he set up symmetries, and thus he drew up the principles for completing works of the Corinthian type”.51 Accordingly, when imitating an object without the expected inherent proportions, symmetry needed to be established during the mimetic process.

According to the Vitruvian legend, Kallimachos, by virtue of his artistic freedom, transformed something wild and untamed that fascinated him into a systematic architectural member composed of commensurable parts that formed a widely accepted equilibrium. Even though the development of the Corinthian capital was most probably different from what Vitruvius tells us,52 the legend conveys a fair idea of the view of floral ornamentation. It seems that marble flowers (or verdant themes in general) in the minds of the Greeks and Romans could be best compared with the domesticated plants of a systematized garden: something wild that is pacified and perfected by the civilized man.

I suspect that the Vitruvian concept may not always have been quite so rigid within artistic practice; I doubt, for instance, that every petal within a Greek or Roman floral composition had to be commeasurable to their flowers and the overall arrangement. Nonetheless, the symmetric regularity was obviously essential even if there was no “Vitruvian man” behind every floral composition.

49 See also Vitruvius, Ten books on architecture 5.1.3. 50 Wilson Jones 2000, 52–54, 96–98, figs. 3.7, 5.21–23. 51 Vitruvius, Ten books on architecture 4.1.10. 52 The Corinthian capital may, however, according to Scahill’s hypothesis, originate in funeral customs; Scahill 2009, 40–53.


36 Boreas 35

The floral designs on the anta capitals of Andron B were the first known cases of such on the architecture of the sanctuary at Labraunda. As I argue, this decoration displays an example of a Greek artistic vocabulary that, at the time, was still incongruent with Hellenic aesthetic syntax. These anta ornaments may, for instance, have been a result of mixed ethnic traditions among the artisans. This could also be feasibly noticed on the Ionic capitals of Andron B that have 29 eggs for 24 flutes on the columns.53 I propose, therefore, that the Karians that visited and shaped Labraunda before and during the initial coming of Hellenic aesthetic ideals were not as concerned with symmetry/commensurability and the qualities of measure. The initial lack of congruence between these Karian and (probably) Ionian ateliers may be evidenced by the above-mentioned irregularities seen in the first examples of Hekatomnid floral decorations.

The fascination with Greek architectural designs and graphic paradigms may have been a measure of Maussollos’ ambitions within international politics,54 and over the course of the coming decades Labraunda would become more and more Hellenized. An advancing input of Greek artistic influences, like that of Pytheos’ atelier, can be clearly distinguished in the evolution of anta capitals at the sanctuary. The capitals of the South Propylon, which post-date those of Andron B, marked a progression towards a more regular composition, both in terms of the cavetto-side decorations and the disposition of the architectural mouldings. The temple, which in my opinion was built later than the South Propylon, had a fairly symmetrical disposition but the floral decoration displayed a denser appearance than the previous examples (rather similar to the antae of the Temple of Athena at Priene, which was built by the same architect).55 This horror vacui was finally adjusted on the East Propylon, where the relation between mouldings and floral decoration reached ultimate regularity: shallower mouldings in combination with a light, long-spun floral design sprouting from a single source, a calyx, in the centre of the composition. Metaphorically, it seems that the Hekatomnid building programme and the development of the bucolic sculptural representations had turned the wild grove of Labraunda into a fully controlled garden of stone: a formalized floral narrative displayed on the monumental architecture of the hieron.

Over the coming centuries, this Hellenic verdant manner continued to blossom at the sanctuary. The second century AD architectural programme in and around the Temple Terrace again highlighted this tradition, although on a larger scale than ever before seen at the site. The architectural development at this time could perhaps be described as in the words of Quintilian: “We cannot be so elegant; let us be more forceful. They (the Greeks) win in terms of refinement; let us excel in weight…).56 According to the analysis by J. Onians, Quintilian here gives a definition 53 Thieme 1989, 89. It should also be noted that the general layout of the plan also displays considerable irregularities. For instance, the doorway is off-axis; this was adjusted in the later Andron of Idrieus (Andron A). 54 Cf. Hellström 1996, 133–138. 55 Cf. Priene, 95. 56 Quintilian Institutio Oratoria 12.10.36.


Boreas 35 37

of an independent Roman aesthetic style in contrast to their Greek heritage.57 This Quintilian parable seems in many ways accurate for the case of Labraunda in the Roman Imperial period, where quantity (and mass) seems to have been preferred more than delicate, free-standing buildings, which was the Hekatomnid approach.

The ornamental themes seen in the Roman friezes, simas, and the decorations on Corinthian, Blattkelch, and Ionic capitals were all hortulan. This was probably even further highlighted by rich coloration. In a way, the sculptural repertoire was a celebration of domesticated nature. The virtue of the ornaments, however, appears to have been their regularity, and not their tendency towards organic irregularity. The motifs consequently return and may be repeated several times on a single frieze or sima block. The floral decorations were thus envisaged more as looping geometric patterns than representations of wild nature. It is difficult to determine if the different floral elements, such as stock flowers and lilies, were imbued with allegorical qualities, and what their relation was to the bucolic origin of the sanctuary.

The shared Graeco-Roman view that I have tried to put forward may be synonymous in parts with later, literary Byzantine notions. This viewpoint was recently described by A. Littlewood as follows: “So in Byzantium the greater control of nature the greater triumph, and the emphasis in descriptions of gardens, whether real or fictional, is always on their man-made objects […]. Needless to say, writers dwell on success over nature rather than the failure that must often have befallen them”.58 As it comes to the Late Antique (Early Byzantine) aesthetic ideals at Labraunda, I nonetheless see a rather different attitude to nature than emphasised by Littlewood. Unlike the earlier Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman obsession with systematic and fully regular representations of nature, the sculptural decoration on the ambo of the West Church portrays nature as organic and irregular. Given the complete absence of mirrored symmetry, it seems that the quality of the composition is connected with the allegorical abilities of the featured elements. Vine has traditionally been believed to be an early Christian symbol of the vintage of the Lord and of Holy Communion;59 ivy, like the pomegranate, a symbol of everlasting life; and peacocks (here fully hypothetical) symbolizing the grace of sacrament, heavenly glory, and resurrection.60 The composition is, therefore, a conveyer of celestial qualities rather than ornamental geometric patterns. I have earlier suggested that the symmetry/commensurability and geometric qualities of Graeco-Roman aesthetics may have embodied spiritual meanings, yet, in the Christian sense, decorations take on a more obvious theological character. This shift is striking when comparing the samples, but what may have caused the early Christian artisans to break an aesthetic tradition that had lasted for almost a millennium?

57 Onians 1990, 1–9. 58 Littlewood 2013, 32. 59 Grabar 1968, 34. 60 Thankappan Nair 1974, 166.


38 Boreas 35

Influential early Christian writers like St. Augustine conformed to a traditional aesthetic apparatus that followed on from the previous ideas of Cicero: “All bodily beauty consists in the proportion of the parts”.61 Thus, in essence, he relied on older conventions (which, however, were modified and developed in several aspects). St. Augustine’s opinions on art did not seem to have been shared in the provincial confines of Late-Antique Karia. It seems instead that the view on wild nature was upgraded in this period as, according to the scripture, it was created by one almighty God with an unquestioned sense of perfection (in contrast to the supposed, shifting virtues of the previous polytheistic Graeco-Roman pantheon). The physical, organic, mundane nature may, therefore, in my opinion, have been given a novel quality since it emulated the ideal celestial realm created by God, just like man was made in the image and likeness of God.

Fig. 4. Modern flowers of the alsos, Labraunda in February 2008 (Blid Kullberg).

Furthermore, with the coming of Christianity, it seems that Labraunda returned to the state of a sanctuary that was centred on natural, “God-given” resources and not a man-made garden of marble flowers. Consequently, in the ecclesiastical art of the site, symmetria was an ideal of the past. To rest one’s case here, I simply propose that early Hellenic intellectualism and religiosity gave rise to a Graeco-Roman aesthetic ideal, which may have been shared partly by early Christian writers, but not necessarily by practising artisans. Wild nature became, within this provincial milieu, an artistic quality, perhaps by the virtue of its believed divine origin.

* * *

61 St. Augustine, City of God 22.19.


Boreas 35 39

Bibliography

Ancient sources Aelian. On the characteristics of animals, transl. A.F. Scholfield (Loeb Classical

Library), London 1959. Cicero. Tusculan Disputations, transl. J.E. King, (Loeb Classical Library),

London 1971. Galen. On the doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato = De placitis Hippocratis et

Platonis, transl. P. de Lacy, Berlin 1981. Herodotos. Books 5-7, transl. A.D. Godley, (Loeb Classical Library), London

1971. Plato. ‘Philebus’, in Plato in Twelve Volumes, 9, transl. by H.N. Fowler, London

1925. Pliny. Natural History, transl. W.H.S. Jones, (Loeb Classical Library), London

1963. Pliny the Younger. Letters, Books 1-7, transl. B. Radice, (Loeb Classical Library),

London 1972. Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, transl. H.E. Butler, London 1922. St. Augustine. ‘The city of God’, in Fathers of the Church 24, transl. G.G. Walsh,

S.J. Honan & D.J. Honan, Washington D.C. 1954. Vitruvius. Ten Books on Architecture, eds I.D. Rowland & T. Noble Howe,

Cambridge 1999.

Modern sources Baran, A. 2009. ‘Karian architecture before the Hekatomnids’, in Die Karer und

die Anderen: Internationales Kolloquium an der Freien Universität Berlin 13. bis 15. Oktober 2005, ed. F. Rumscheid, Bonn, 291–313.

Baran, A. 2011. ‘The Sacred Way and the spring houses of Labraunda sanctuary’, in Labraunda and Karia, 51–98.

Bingöl, O. 2007. Magnesia on the Meander/Magnesia ad Meandrum: an archaeological guide, Istanbul.

Blid, J. 2012. Felicium temporum reparatio: Labraunda in Late Antiquity (c. AD 300-600), PhD. diss., Stockholm University.

Carstens, A.-M. 2011. ‘Achaemenids in Labraunda. A case of imperial presence in a rural sanctuary on Karia’, in Labraunda and Karia, 121–132.

Cavalier, L. 2012. ‘Portiques en bordure des agoras d’Asie Mineure à l’époque hellénistique et à l’époque impérial’, in Basiliques et Agoras de Grèce et d’Asie Mineure, eds. L. Cavalier, R. Descat & J. des Courtils, Bordeaux, 241–256.

Falla Castelfranchi, M. 2005. ‘Il complesso ecclesiale di Bargylia’, in Iasos e la Caria – nuovi studi e ricerche, ed. R. Pierobon Benoit, PP 60:2–6, 419–464.

Feld, O. 1975. ‘Christliche Denkmäler aus Milet und seiner Umgebung’, IstMitt 25, 197–209.

Grabar, A. 1968. Christian iconography: a study of its origins, Princeton. Hellström, P. 1991, ‘The architectural layout of Hekatomnid Labraunda’, Revue

archéologique, 297–308. Hellström, P. 1996. ‘Hecatomnid display of power at the Labraynda sanctuary’, in

Religion and power of the ancient Greek world: proceedings of the Uppsala Symposium 1993, eds. P. Hellström & B. Alroth (Boreas. Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations, 24), Uppsala, 133–138.

Hellström, P. 2007. Labraunda. A guide to the Karian sanctuary of Zeus Labraundos, Istanbul.


40 Boreas 35

Hellström, P. 2009. ‘Sacred architecture and Karian identity’, in Die Karer und die Anderen: Internationales Kolloquium an der Freien Universität Berlin 13. Bis 15. Oktober 2005, ed. F. Rumscheid, Bonn, 267–290.

Hellström, P. 2011. ‘Feasting in Labraunda and the chronology of the Andrones’, in Labraunda and Karia, 149–157.

Hellström, P. & T. Thieme 1981. ‘The andrones at Labraunda: a preliminary account of their architecture’, Medelhavsmuseet, Bulletin 16, 58–74.

Henry et al. 2013. O. Henry, L. Karlsson, J. Blid, R. Hedlund, B. Vergnaud, P. Hellström, T. Thieme, A. Freccero, E. Durusoy, A. Gu�liz Bilgin-Aalt nöz, F. Ba datl -Cam, A. Frejman & P. Lebouteiller, ‘Labraunda 2012 – rapport préliminaire’, Anatolia Antiqua 21, 285–355.

Humann, C. 1904. Magnesia am Maeander: Altar und Tempel der Artemis Leukophryene, Berlin.

Karlsson, L. 2010. ‘Labraunda: the Sanctuary of the Weather God of Heaven’, in Mylasa Labraunda: archaeology and rural architecture in the southern Aegean region, eds. F. Kuzucu & M. Ural, Istanbul, 10–62.

Karlsson, L. 2011. ‘Zeuskult i Labraunda. Från naturhelgedom till persisk paradeisos’, in Annales Societatis litterarum humaniorum regiae Upsaliensis, 15–29.

Karlsson et al. 2012. L. Karlsson, J. Blid & O. Henry, ‘Labraunda 2011. A preliminary report on the Swedish excavations with an appendix by Ragnar Hedlund’, Opuscula 5, 49–87.

K z l, A. & F. Rumscheid 2006. ‘Ein neu gefundenes Pfeilerkapitell aus dem frühhellenistischen Mylasa’, IstMitt 56, 207–213.

Labraunda I:1. K. Jeppesen, Labraunda, Swedish excavations and researches, I:1. The Propylaea (ActaAth-4º, 5:1:1), Lund 1955.

Labraunda I:2. A. Westholm, Labraunda, Swedish excavations and researches, I:2. The architecture of the Hieron (ActaAth-4º, 5:1:2), Lund 1963.

Labraunda I:3. P. Hellström & T. Thieme, Labraunda, Swedish excavations and researches I:3. The Temple of Zeus (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul), Stockholm 1982.

Labraunda II:5. A. Gunter, Labraunda, Swedish excavations and researches, II:5. Marble sculpture (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul), Stockholm 1995.

Labraunda III:2. J. Crampa, Labraunda, Swedish excavations and researches, III. The Greek inscriptions, part 2: 13-133 (ActaAth-4º, 5:3:2), Stockholm 1972.

Labraunda and Karia. An international symposium commemorating 60 years of Swedish archaeological work in Labraunda, The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters History and Antiquities, Stockholm, November 20-21, 2008, eds. L. Karlsson & S. Carlsson (Boreas. Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations, 32), Uppsala 2011.

Lawrence, A.W. 1983. Greek architecture (revised by R.A. Tomlinson), Middlesex 19834.

Liljenstolpe, P. & von P. Schmalensee 1996. ‘The Roman stoa of Poleites at Labraynda. A report on its architecture’, OpAth 21, 125–148.

Littlewood, A. 2013. ‘Gardens of the Byzantine world’, in Byzantine gardens and beyond, eds. H. Bodin & R. Hedlund (Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia 13), Uppsala, 31–113.

Mert, I.H. 2008. Untersuchungen zur Hellenistischen und Kaiserzeitlichen Bauornamentik von Stratonikeia, (IstForsch 50), Tübingen.

Milet VII:1. R. Köster, Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen seit dem Jahre 1899, 7. Die Bauornamentik von Milet, 1. Die Bauornamentik der frühen und mittleren Kaiserzeit, Berlin 2004.

Neumann, G. 1988. ‘Beobachtungen an karischen Ortsnamen’, in Studi di storia e di filologia anatolica decicati a G. Pugliese Carratelli, ed. F. Imparati, Firenze, 183–191.

Onians, J. 1990. ‘Quintilian and the idea of Roman art’, in Architecture and architectural sculpture in the Roman Empire, ed. M. Henig, Oxford, 1–9.


Boreas 35 41

Pagello, E. 1985. ‘Il foro romano imperiale’, in Studi su Iasos di Caria. Venticinque anni di scavi della Missione Archeologica Italiana (BdA, Suppl. al nr. 31-32), Roma, 137–150.

Priene. (Hellenic Studies 5), ed. Nikos A. Dontas, Cambridge Mass. 2005. Pülz, S. 1989. Untersuchungen zur Kaiserzeitlichen Bauornamentik von Didyma

(IstMitt BH 35), Tübingen. Rossini, O. 2010. ‘I colori dell'Ara Pacis. Storia di un esperimento’,

Archeomatica 3, 20–25. Ruggieri, V. 2005. La Caria bizantina: topografia, archeologia ed arte,

Catanzaro. Rumscheid, F. 1994. Untersuchungen zur kleinasiatischen Bauornamentik des

Hellenismus, Mainz. Scahill, D. 2009. ‘The origins of the Corinthian capital’, in Structure, image,

ornament: architectural sculpture in the Greek world, eds. P. Schultz & R. von den Hoff, Oxford, 40–53.

Senseney, J.R. 2011. The art of building in the Classical world: vision, craftsmanship, and linear perspective in Greek and Roman architecture, Cambridge.

Thankappan Nair, P. 1974. ‘The peacock cult in Asia’, Asian folklore studies 33:2, 93–170.

Thieme, T. 1989. ‘Metrology and planning in Hekatomnid Labraunda’, in Architecture and society in Hekatomnid Caria, eds. Tullia Linders & P. Hellström (Boreas. Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations, 17), Uppsala, 77–90.

Thieme, T. 1993. ‘The architectural remains of Archaic Labraunda’, in Les grand ateliers d’architecture dans le monde égéen du VIe siècle av. J.-C., eds J. des Courtils & J.-Ch. Moretti (Varia Anatolica, 3), Istanbul, 47–55.

Tirpan, A.A. 1998. Augustus – imparatorlar tap na , Konya. Zink, S. & H. Piening 2009. ‘Haec aurea temple: the Palatine Temple of Apollo

and its polychromy’, JRA 22, 109–122.

flowers and garlands of the alsos, boreas 35 (2014)

Documents