From Concept to Monument: Time and Costs of Construction in the Ancient World

21 papers focus on modelling the costs of construction over the course of 2,500 years, from Bronze Age Greece to the early Middle Ages. They discuss both broader issues of methodology and particular case studies, with particular attention to the exploitation of raw materials (e.g. quarries), transport, and construction processes on b

From Concept to Monument: Time and Costs of Construction in the Ancient World celebrates Janet DeLaine’s seminal work on Roman architecture and construction. One of the foremost scholars of the last decades, her pioneering research has offered important insights not only into individual structures in central Italy but also into the processes involved in creating ancient buildings. Her approach has provided important conceptual frameworks that have allowed scholars to understand Roman buildings in their proper social and economic contexts. The volume collects papers from an international conference held in Janet’s honour at Wolfson College, Oxford, in January 2020. The various contributions focus on modelling the costs of construction over the course of 2,500 years, from Bronze Age Greece to the early Middle Ages. They discuss both broader issues of methodology and particular case studies, with particular attention to the effort needed in the different steps of architectural creation, such as the exploitation of raw materials (e.g. quarries), transport, and the construction processes on building sites. The papers not only cover a wide chronological and geographical area of the ancient world but also take up many of the themes explored by Janet throughout her career on Roman architecture, urbanism, building technologies, materials, and the principles of design. The wide range of papers reflects the scope and vibrancy of Janet’s scholarship on Roman architecture and her enormous contribution to the discipline.

Preface. Visionary and Pragmatic: Studying the Nuts and Bolts of Roman Architecture - Simon Barker and Dominik Maschek 1. From Tenney Frank to Janet DeLaine: Roman Architecture and Economic History - Dominik Maschek 2. Beyond Labour Figures: The 'Hidden' Costs of Stoneworking and their Application in Architectural Energetics - Simon J. Barker and Ben Russell 3. Reconstructing the Construction Process in Hispania: Epigraphy as a Source - Santiago Sanchez de la Parra Perez 4. Issues Arising from Inheritance Tax Applied to Testamentary Legacies: Legal Aspects of Estimating the Value of Roman Construction Projects - Grzegorz Jan Blicharz 5. Demolitions, Collapses, and the Control of the Housing Market in Rome - Marguerite Ronin 6. La construccion del poder omeya. Recursos, costes y ciclo productivo arquitectonico de Madinat al-Zahra' (The Construction of the Umayyad Power. Resources, Costs and Architectural Production Cycle of Madinat al-Zahra') - Eneko Lopez-Marigorta and Christopher Courault 7. How to Define the 'Status' of Stonemasons Employed in a Rock-Hewn Worksite in the Medieval Period: Reflexions and Hypotheses - Anais Lamesa and Michael Gervers 8. The Energetics of Earth and Turf Construction in the Roman World - J. Riley Snyder, Ben Russell, Tanja Romankiewicz, Christopher T.S. Beckett 9. Quarrying Megaliths in Heliopolis Baalbek (Lebanon) The Jupiter Temple and the Hajjar al Hibla Quarry - Jeanine Abdul Massih 10. Quarrying at Mons Claudianus Costs and Time as Organisational Concerns (?) - Alfred M. Hirt 11. From Extraction to Transport: Technical and Management Aspects of Quarries of Building Stone - Anna Gutierrez Garcia-M. 12. L'evoluzione costruttiva della "parte alta" di Tarraco in epoca romana: alcune osservazioni sulla costruzione del cosiddetto Foro Provinciale - Maria Serena Vinci 13. Labouring and Its Costs During the Aegean Late Bronze Age - Ann Brysbaert 14. Building Accounts, Monumental Construction Projects and Labour Rates in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods - Jari Pakkanen 15. On Toolmarks, Sequence of Carving and Labour Quantification in Roman Stone Carving: The Case of Heroon III at Miletus - Natalia Toma 16. Il Peristilio Inferiore della oDomus Augustanao sul Palatino: organizzazione del lavoro e calcolo dei costi di un'impresa imperiale - Francesca Caprioli, Alessandro Mortera, Patrizio Pensabene, Javier A. Domingo 17. Quantifying the Forum of Pompeii: Building Economics, Material, and Labour - Cathalin Recko 18. Pompeian Wall Painting in Figures: Labour and Materials - Francesca Bologna 19. The Amphitheatres of Regio X -Venetia et Histria: The Impact of Stone Supplying Cost on Ancient Construction Processes - Caterina Previato 20. Templi romani giganteschi in Asia Minore: Problemi di costi e di finanziamento - Paolo Barresi 21. Diocletian's Mausoleum in the Imperial Palace of Split. A Review of Its Architecture and an Estimate of Its Financial Cost. - Javier A. Domingo and Daniela Matetic Poljak, Preface. Visionary and Pragmatic: Studying the Nuts and Bolts of Roman Architecture – Simon Barker and Dominik MaschekDominik MaschekSimon J. Barker and Ben RussellHispania: Epigraphy as a Source – Santiago Sánchez de la Parra Pérez the Value of Roman Construction Projects – Grzegorz Jan BlicharzMarguerite Ronin al-Zahrā’ (The Construction of the Umayyad Power. Resources, Costs and Architectural Production
Cycle of Madīnat al-Zahrā’) – Eneko Lopez-Marigorta and Christopher CouraultAnaïs Lamesa and Michael GerversJ. Riley Snyder, Ben Russell, Tanja Romankiewicz, Christopher T.S. Beckett al Hibla Quarry – Jeanine Abdul Massih ;