Nicomedia and the Marble Trade

Abstract

The paper that follows calls for a brief preliminary word of explanation. In a characteristically stimulating note published over 20 years ago M. Louis Robert called attention to a number of inscriptions which attest the existence of an organisation of marble workers based on Nicomedia, an organisation of which he promised a fuller study in the near future. For a number of years I have myself been independently concerned with the archaeological and art-historical aspects of the same phenomenon, and although I had hoped to be able to publish the results of that work with the full benefit of M. Robert's unique knowledge of the epigraphic evidence, I am reluctant to delay publication further simply for that reason. In acknowledging my debt, I feel confident that M. Robert will correct, with his customary thoroughness, any errors of interpretation which I may commit.

AN EPR AND ISOTOPIC STUDY OF THE MARBLES OF THE TRAJAN's ARCH AT ANCONA: AN EXAMPLE OF ALLEGED HYMETTIAN PROVENANCE*

“…This a key point, because information of this type may support a precise model of operation for the quarries—a model which, on different grounds, has already been suggested for this and other important sites (Asgari 1978; Ward‐Perkins 1980; Fant 1985).…”

Ben Russell. The Economics of the Roman Stone Trade (Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy 6. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, 449pp., 97 b/w figs., 6 tables, hbk, ISBN 978-0-19-965639-4)

“…Chapter 7 deals with sarcophagus production and trade, reconstructed by Ward-Perkins as dominated by 'overseas agencies' which supplied not just the standardized chests and lids from production centres (Prokonnesos, Dokimeion, and Attica most of all), but also the craftsmen to complete them. These 'overseas agencies' left few options for individualization on the part of the customer (Ward-Perkins, 1980). However, the wide array of forms characterizing the partly-finished sarcophagi recovered at the quarries and in shipwrecks reflects the variety of demand for sarcophagi and shows that different modes of production coexisted at the same site, where a number of workshops responded to their customers' requests.…”

Marble origins by isotopic analysis

“…Their forms are well understood and much studied (Andreae 1981;Koch and Sichtermann 1982). The trade in sarcophagi produced in different quarries has also been the focus of much research (Andreae 1981:55;Ward-Perkins 1980). The repertoire of workshops thought to be associated with particular quarries is well known through analysis of shapes, decorative elements and iconography (Koch and Sichtermann 1982).…”

“…Isotopic analysis suggested correspondance with samples from the Marmara (Proconnesian) quarries. It has been suggested that contractors in stone (lithemporoi) from Nicomedia in Bithynia were responsible for much of the trade in Proconnesian marble in the Roman empire (Ward-Perkins 1980). There is indeed epigraphic evidence for a Nicomedian ship-owner who died at Gytheion who was also a resident of Kyzikos, the city responsible for Downloaded by [McGill University Library] 1978:468).…”

“…like their Roman and medieval counterparts they were itinerant (Walker 1979:104). In the Roman empire, white and coloured marbles were shipped all over the Mediterranean (Ward-Perkins 1980. Many architectural elements and sculptures were cut roughly to shape in the quarries (Asgari 1978:478).…”