This session investigates the impact of cross-cultural exchange on the architecture and decoration of public and private spaces in the central and eastern Mediterranean. The papers examine the material record as a key to understanding the influence that cultural, religious, social or economic contact can have on the development of particular architectural solutions or construction practices. The session seeks not only to showcase methodologies for the interpretation of the material evidence, highlighting the continued importance of comparative approaches, but also to challenge current interpretations on the nature of cultural exchange through a range of ancient structures. From the artefactual record of Alexandria and Heracleion, through the creation of interior decoration to the construction of religious spaces, this session seeks to forefront multi-level interaction as a prime motivator behind both changes and continuity visible in the material record. It coincides with the theme of the conference by focusing on the expression these meetings between cultures took, and how we might identify and interpret them on the basis of the surviving archaeological remains.
- Friederike Hoebel (University of Cottbus, Germany)
Das Heiligtum im so genannten Venusareal in Heliopolis / Baalbek – Entwicklung vom lokalen Kult zum romanisierten Kultkomplex
- Daniel Lohmann (University of Cottbus, Germany; German Archaeological Institute)
Giant strides towards Monumentality – The Architecture of the Jupiter Sanctuary in Baalbek/ Heliopolis
- Jonathan Cole (University of Oxford)
Questions of origin and influence: investigating the evidence from the ports of Alexandria and Heracleion
- Peter Stewart (Courtauld Institute of Art)
Totenmahl Reliefs and the Study of Roman Provincial Sculpture
- Rubina Raja (Aarhus University, Denmark)
Religious spaces and traditions between east and west: the sanctuary of Zeus in the decapolis city of Gerasa
- William Wootton (King’s College, London)
Imitation and innovation: tracking technological exchange in hellenistic mosaics