Edmund Thomas

Durham University, Department of Classics and Ancient History, Faculty Member

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Papers by Edmund Thomas

The Architectural Descriptions of Lucian of Samosata

Oxford University Press eBooks, Nov 15, 2007

In addition to public speeches, rhetors of the second century also composed shorter, less formal ... more In addition to public speeches, rhetors of the second century also composed shorter, less formal exercises, ‘introductions’, prolaliai, or, more generally, dialexeis, ‘discourses’, as initial remarks on a topic or substitutes for longer orations. One writer who favoured this medium was the sophist Lucian, who flourished during the 160s and 170s. But his examples of the genre are not straightforward, since, as John Dryden observed, ‘[n]o man is so great a master of irony as our author’. Even that may be an oversimplification. Perhaps more accurate is the recent claim, about one of Lucian’s works, that it ‘treads along a knife-edge line between sincerity and irony’. Because of the satirical position he adopts, Lucian’s works provide a valuable source of contemporary social attitudes. On repeated occasions in his dialogues and stories, this Hellenized Syrian, sufficiently detached from the assumptions of Greek and Roman sophistic culture to be able to offer an independent perspective, observes how individuals regarded as innately superior could provoke speechless awe (thauma) in their ignorant audiences, whether at wonderful objects, like the possessions of the rich, or at abstract concepts and admirable philosophical principles, like the prize of happiness, political proposals, poetic fictions, or intellectual ideas. The amazement often rests on the achievement of a paradox. Architecture too was an object of wonder. The science of geometry, on which architects like Nicon prided themselves, seemed ‘miraculous’ to the ignorant. Nicon’s model Socrates was the archetype of these shaman-like characters, who, after creating aporia as a result of an impressive paradox, left their companions expressing disbelief. In matters of philosophy, science, religion, or higher culture, the layman could only address the expert as ‘O wondrous one’ (ō thaumasie). The satirical Lucian sees through such conventions, which are invariably betrayed by hypocritical behaviour, but this did not prevent their being taken seriously by contemporary audiences. In short, the picture that Lucian paints of these performances by sophists and sensationalists is one of an elite group or culture using their superior education or supposed access to hidden secrets to pull the wool over the eyes of those outside their group.

Curia Ordinis. Recherches d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme Antiques sur les Curies Provinciales du Monde Romain

Journal of Roman Studies, 1995

Animals in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: A Select Bibliography

Constructing reconstruction: claim and reality of Roman rebuilding inscriptions from the Latin west [together with Edmund Thomas]

by Christian Witschel and Edmund Thomas

Papers of the British School at Rome 60, 1992, 135-177, 1992

For misconceptions about reconstruction and, particularly, vetustas: Curchin, 241; Frezouls, 46-8... more For misconceptions about reconstruction and, particularly, vetustas: Curchin, 241; Frezouls, 46-8. Blagg, 27 is best, but refuses to concede the key point of non-denotative reference ('a phrase [vetustate collapsum] which should not always be taken too literally, since it may tactfully conceal the results of structural defects or enemy action'-our italics). "Cf. Waldherr, cil. (n. 7), 94: 'Die Wendung vetustate conlapsas ... kc'mnte an eine gewis.se wirtschaftliche Stagnation odersogarRegression... denken lassen'. 'S.H.A. Ant. Pi. 8.2 (instauratum ... templum Agrippae); cf. H. Bloch, / bolli lalerizi e la storia edilizia romana (Rome, 1947), 116 (two brickstamps), pace Guey, cil. (n. 4), 239 n. 1 (three).

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Creating Form: Architects in the Antonine Age

Monumentality and the Roman Empire

At Miletus we saw a distinction between the workmen contracted to construct the arcades and the a... more At Miletus we saw a distinction between the workmen contracted to construct the arcades and the architect who designed them. Ancient building projects were usually dominated by architects, who directed a large number of subordinate workmen. Whereas the workmen sometimes challenged an instruction, the architect at the top identified more with the project, and his opportunity for social prestige was greater. Since Aristotle, architects were considered to be both ‘wiser’ and ‘more valued’ than manual workers, because they knew the ‘causes’ of a building project. At Patara it was not only the Velii Proculi as patrons who gained glory from new architectural forms. In the odeion stood a statue to the architect Dionysius of Sardis. He is described as ‘skilled in all works of Athena’, which recalls the mention of this goddess at Miletus; but the ‘future fame’ that his statue commemorated was for a work of architecture and engineering of which any Roman would have been proud: the great roof ...

The Cities and the Emperor

Monumentality and the Roman Empire

Monumental architecture, then, strengthened a sense of public or civic identity in Antonine citie... more Monumental architecture, then, strengthened a sense of public or civic identity in Antonine cities. But, because a public building could assert the political power of a city and, in so doing, challenge the aspirations of a rival city, it was potentially destabilizing in the context of the Empire as a whole. A balance had to be struck between the development of urban forms that reinvigorated a city’s urban identity and promoted the power of local elites loyal to Rome, and the consolidation of the unity of the Empire. Public buildings were the symbols of their city’s separate identity, but they could also represent the power of Rome and its ruling dynasty. Although provincial public buildings were mainly funded by the largesse of local elites, they could also be the result of imperial initiatives or a combination of local funding and imperial support. How far was this involvement of the emperor and his staff motivated by the attempt to control or ‘harmonize’ the architectural appearan...

Building the Monuments of the Future

Monumentality and the Roman Empire

The preservation of ancient structures like the house of Alexander at Thebes not only reinforced ... more The preservation of ancient structures like the house of Alexander at Thebes not only reinforced Romans’ sense of the passing of time, but also encouraged them to aspire to make their monuments last as long or even longer as legendary examples of the past. But the primary influence of historical archetypes was not on monuments’ precise architectural design, but on their identification as monuments by name and the implication of this for their memorializing function. This can be seen most clearly through those buildings that preserved the remains of human beings for future generations, in other words, tomb structures. It has often been argued that the purest form of building is funerary architecture, intended to commemorate and to endure, and not distracted by any social functions. This was the view of the early twentieth-century Moravian architect Adolf Loos, who wrote in his 1910 essay ‘Architektur’ that: ‘Nur ein ganz kleiner Teil der Architektur gehört der Kunst an: das Grabmal u...

Experiencing and Responding to Architecture

Monumentality and the Roman Empire

Up to now, this book has been concerned with the attitudes of builders and architects towards arc... more Up to now, this book has been concerned with the attitudes of builders and architects towards architecture, and with the political, religious, social, and cultural factors that helped to form those attitudes. The desire to present a political or family identity through architectural form led builders to create monuments which were intended to have an effect on those who used or observed them. To achieve this effect, however, the forms of buildings had to have meaning for the individuals who experienced them. ‘Monumentality’ in architecture required the possession of certain qualities that appealed to the viewer. To study this concept fully, we therefore need to take into account, not only the intended meanings of buildings, but also their aesthetic impact. In the Roman world, response was an important component of ‘monumentality’ in two respects: first, the monumentality of large public spaces such as baths and theatres lay in their celebritas, or ‘density of use’, which means that ...

The Symbolic Significance of Architectural Form

Monumentality and the Roman Empire

In the Roman Empire, where the vast majority of inhabitants were either illiterate or had only a ... more In the Roman Empire, where the vast majority of inhabitants were either illiterate or had only a very basic literacy, it was natural to communicate ideas and beliefs visually. For some groups, even the Christians, for whom religion had a strong textual basis, visual symbols played a large role in addition to more direct forms of expression, as they propagated hidden meanings which could be recognized by the faithful alone. Historians of ancient art have recently begun to study more closely the ways in which forms of art served to conceptualize the divine. There is still little investigation of architectural form itself as a field for symbolism in the same way as representative arts like painting and sculpture. As the late Richard Krautheimer wrote, over sixty years ago, ‘symbolic significance’ in architecture had ‘a more or less uncertain connotation which was only dimly visible and whose specific interpretation was not necessarily agreed upon’. Yet the visibility of the basic geome...

General Conclusion

Monumentality and the Roman Empire

Lucian’s architectural descriptions reveal the moral and cultural pressures that were exerted on ... more Lucian’s architectural descriptions reveal the moral and cultural pressures that were exerted on new building in the age of the Antonines. Legendary archetypes such as the Persian king’s golden plane tree and the palaces of Homeric epic offered a yardstick by which the monumentality of future buildings could be measured. But they also warned builders of the limits to be avoided. On the one hand, to make its mark in history, monumental architecture needed to exhibit a grandeur, exuberance, and brilliance that would inspire spectators with awe; on the other hand, there was perceived to be something ‘uncivilized’ about buildings which set out only to impress and which reduced viewers to irrational beings. Antonine architecture wanted to be seen as more ‘cultivated’ than that, and to appeal to viewers’ humanity and culture. There was a real dilemma here, one which has preoccupied many subsequent periods of architectural history: if the architecture of the past set the standard of monume...

Principles of Monumental Form in Antiquity

Monumentality and the Roman Empire

Roman buildings are among the most impressive and conspicuous legacies of the ancient world. To t... more Roman buildings are among the most impressive and conspicuous legacies of the ancient world. To the millions who visit their ruins and reconstructed forms every year they are an absorbing and fascinating sight, not only because of their physical size and beauty as works of art, but for their historical value as a suggestive reminder of the past. For Edward Gibbon, these architectural remains were evidence of cultural and economic prosperity and supported his conclusion that: ‘[i]f a man were called to fix the period during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would without hesitation name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian [AD 96] to the accession of Commodus [AD 180].’ Since Gibbon’s time, excavation and scholarly analysis have reinforced this impression. Most regions within the Roman Empire have produced archaeological evidence of imposing buildings from this period. Foundations, scattered finds of building materials and architectural ...

Performance Space

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2017

This chapter explores how public speakers of the second and third centuries ce, accustomed to ext... more This chapter explores how public speakers of the second and third centuries ce, accustomed to extravagant physical demonstrations of their art, exploited the architectural spaces where they performed. Theaters, temples, and smaller roofed assembly buildings were all locations for oratorical performances and adapted to achieve stronger oral expression through sharper acoustics. As the demand for public speaking increased, halls were built specially, their materials chosen to enhance the voices of orators. With the vast wealth they accrued from their teaching and public speaking, “sophists” sponsored ambitious building projects, particularly gymnasia, which included spacious auditoria, as from the later second century the palaestra became an intellectual and cultural arena instead of an athletic space. Private houses too had lavishly decorated halls for public speaking, as both literary accounts and archaeological evidence attest. At Rome, the emperors’ projects, not only bath-gymnasi...

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6. Movement through Ruins: Re-experiencing Ancient Baalbek with Jean de la Roque

A SURVEY OF ROMAN ARCHITECTURE - (F.) Yegül, (D.) Favro Roman Architecture and Urbanism. From the Origins to Late Antiquity. Pp. xvi + 897, ills, maps, colour pls. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Cased, £230, US$240. ISBN: 978-0-521-4707-1

The Classical Review, 2022

Fifty years after the last major monograph in English surveying the breadth of Roman architecture... more Fifty years after the last major monograph in English surveying the breadth of Roman architecture, Etruscan and Roman Architecture by J. Ward-Perkins and A. Boëthius in the Pelican History of Art (1970) – subsequently two separate volumes, Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture (1978) and Roman Imperial Architecture (1981) – this new work by Yegül and Favro follows a similar structure. Resisting the alternative ordering by building type adopted by P. Gros (L’architecture romaine, 2 vols. [1996–2001]), they present the architecture of Rome chronologically, with chapters on building technology and residential architecture, that of her empire geographically, to illustrate their conviction that regions are ‘cultural and contextual wholes’ (p. 410), and a final chapter on late antiquity, which controversially includes the Severan period. Only the accounts of peninsular Italy and Asia Minor are typologically arranged. The book’s positive message about the cultural impact of ‘Romanisation’ on architecture and its proficiency despite the economic hardships of late antiquity (p. 858) is mitigated only by occasional reminders that its reach was urban and its success unfelt by most inhabitants, who lived in rural poverty (p. 496). Although a short section notes the flaws in some designs (pp. 179–82), the authors foreground the Romans’ confidence in ‘the structural abilities of different materials’ (p. 613), admiring the ‘seemingly effortless and creative fusing of utilitarian charm and classical presence, of which the Romans, at their best, were complete masters’ (p. 145). Even the Asclepieion at Cos is subsumed within this ‘Roman’ achievement (p. 110); the House of the Faun in pre-colonial Pompeii is regarded as ‘a wholly Roman’ experience (p. 254). The work differs from Ward-Perkins and Boëthius in its greater emphasis on buildings in their urban context. If its structural model is Ward-Perkins and Boëthius, its spirit comes from William MacDonald (The Architecture of the Roman Empire, 2 vols [1965–86]), whose influence is visible on virtually every page. Buildings are highlighted for functionality and ‘spatially articulated design’, for their dramatic settings and the experience of users (p. 176). The sanctuary of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina is said to have boasted the ‘first underground “shopping center” of antiquity’ (p. 103). The authors frequently applaud the manipulation of physical materials, comparing modern buildings such as Meier’s Getty Center (p. 89). They imagine how the volcanic basalt of northern Syria, ‘king of stones’, creating ‘a hard, crisp polished surface almost oily in appearance that might as well be in black titanium’, would ‘win the approval of Frank Gehry’ (p. 792). Typologies and taxonomies have no place in this account of works of individual inventiveness, from the THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 279

Imperial Architecture

Monumentality and the Roman Empire, 2007

From ancient Egypt to the present day, the colossal size of buildings has been considered to refl... more From ancient Egypt to the present day, the colossal size of buildings has been considered to reflect political power. For Herodotus, architecture was an expression of dominion; the Periclean monuments of Athens seemed visibly to encourage the Athenians to reclaim their Aegeanwide political ascendancy, since, as Isocrates remarked, ‘democracy had so adorned the city with temples and sacred images that even today visitors think it is worthy to rule not only the Greeks, but also all other peoples’. The Circus Maximus, rebuilt by Trajan, was ‘a seat worthy of the nation that conquered the world’. The correspondence between Trajan and the younger Pliny, his appointed legate in Bithynia, reveals the ideological purpose of provincial architecture. Pliny pointed out such meanings, although Trajan himself modestly affected to address only practicalities. For instance, Pliny remarks that a proposed canal near Nicomedia was ‘worthy of your greatness and your concern’. Architecture was as impor...

Buildings, Politics, and the Monumentality of Antonine Cities

Monumentality and the Roman Empire, 2007

We have seen how the forms of individual buildings under the Antonines reflected the desires of p... more We have seen how the forms of individual buildings under the Antonines reflected the desires of patrons or architects to achieve what we might call ‘monumentality’, often at the expense of other, less imposing buildings around them. But as these were public buildings they also reflected on the dignity of the city. Every town in the Roman Empire was an amalgam of many different single constructions that each represented the aspirations of their builders. So how far did entire Roman cities possess ‘monumentality’ in their own right, and how much did individual monumental buildings contribute to it? Did the monumentality of the city amount to more than the sum of its parts? And to what extent did monumental architecture, which for individual patrons and architects involved self-assertion and rivalry with others, express a spirit of inter-city rivalry that threatened the unity of Empire? Buildings have political meaning in many ways. Various facets of the political aspect of architectur...

Movement through Ruins

Translating Roman architecture into Greek regional identities

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“Animal Literacy” and the Greeks: Philoctetes the Hedgehog and Dolon the Weasel Kenneth F. Kitchell “Animal Literacy”

Interactions between Animals and Humans in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 2017

Human-Animal Interactions in Plutarch as Commentary on Human Moral Failings

Interactions between Animals and Humans in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 2017

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