Understanding Costs, Time, and Renovation in Pergamon Houses
This research aims to answer several important questions about residential construction in ancient Pergamon:
How expensive was it to extract, collect, and move building materials?
How long did the different construction phases take?
Can we estimate the costs of later renovations and building changes?
By applying the method of architectural energetics, we hope to calculate the labor, time, and resources needed for building homes. This helps us understand the economic and social organization behind housing projects in ancient Pergamon. It also gives us clues about how people lived, how resources were managed, and how labor was distributed in a well-developed urban area Sofia City Tour.
Marble Use in Roman Miletus
How Geology, Environment, and Architecture Were Connected
Another part of this study focuses on the marble trade and usage in Roman Imperial Miletus, a key city in ancient Asia Minor. This research is part of the DFG-funded project “Marble Dynamics in Roman Imperial Miletus” (TO1102/1-1). The main goal is to understand how natural marble resources, landscape changes, and the need for construction materials influenced the city’s development.
Research Materials and Methods
The study is based on 440 samples, including:
194 geological samples taken from ancient marble quarries across the region (e.g., Miletus, Herakleia, Myus, Euromos, Magnesia, and Priene).
236 archaeological marble samples, collected from previous projects like the Didyma Temple of Apollo and buildings such as the Theater, Faustina Baths, and Serapeion in Miletus.
Key Findings
Local marble was used more than previously believed throughout antiquity.
The area known as Miletus West was probably the city’s first active quarry site. It may correspond to the Ioniapolis quarries, which are mentioned in early records from the Didyma Temple.
On the other hand, Herakleotic (Latmian) marble, which came from near Herakleia under Latmos, seems to have played a minor role in the city’s construction. Although it was once thought to have been important across the region during Hellenistic and Roman times, the evidence now shows that its interregional significance was likely overstated.
Insights from the Study
These results provide a better understanding of how resource availability, environmental changes, and urban demands shaped building practices in Roman Miletus. They also show that cities like Miletus relied mostly on nearby quarries and local materials, rather than importing stone from distant regions. This knowledge helps archaeologists and historians better understand the economic and environmental planning of ancient cities.
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