DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45927#0044
42
2. BUILDING DESCRIPTION
House during the reign of Augustus, but was converted into an “Odeion” in the 2nd century and provided with
a scenic apparatus.74 This is only partially correct. Close observation will show that only the central portions of
the four broad pedestals were built with the walls they front, and that these were then truncated and extended
laterally during a subsequent renovation which added the two smaller pedestals 1 and 6 occupying the corners
adjacent to the projecting piers at the entrances to the parodoi. All six pedestals in the final phase supported a
crown course forming surfaces 1.50 m above the pulpitum paving. All but the two central crown blocks have
survived, preserving dowel holes, setting lines, and pry holes for both column and statue bases (plan 4) which
provide vital evidence for a reconstruction of the scaenae frons,75
The broad pedestals, which supported paired columns, are built of roughly shaped blocks arranged in three
vertical segments (plan 4; pl. 36, 3). The central segments resemble the piers in the parodoi, to which they are
identical in width, surface treatment, and in the level of their horizontal joints. The lateral segments are coarser.
Smaller blocks are occasionally set in vertically as space fillers. The wide joints and irregular gaps between the
segments were filled with mortar containing small stones and pieces of terracotta roof tiles.
The crown slabs resting on these cores were 0.255 m thick with molded edges and were connected to tall
base moldings by sheets of marble ca. 0.06 m thick held in place at the top and bottom by iron pins (pl. 36, 2).
Base moldings and revetment were also secured directly to the stonework they masked, and pink hydraulic
mortar poured in behind.
It is clear at a glance that the buttresses projecting into the corridor were built with the walls they supported,
but the relationship between the walls and the broad pedestals fronting them is more subtle. A key to the original
design lies in the marble string course (plan 4; pl. 36, 3) which ran all along the south wall of the parodoi sepa-
rating the two wall zones and carrying the finely dressed upper walls and a columnar architecture which fronted
them. The stretch of wall behind pedestal 5 has preserved four blocks and most of a fifth belonging to this course.
They were joined by a single row of clamps, each ca. 0.19 m long, that were set ca. 0.20 m in from the northern
face. The bar channels are 0.026 m wide and 0.005 m deep, the holes 0.03-0.035 m wide and 0.025 m deep.
A single cutting for a much larger clamp which ran north-south is preserved at the north face of the block on
the central axis of the pedestal. The clamp hole and channel are 0.04 m and 0.03 m deep respectively and are
both 0.04 m wide. This clamp was, in any case, substantial, and seen in conjunction with the elevation of the
scene wall, its function is clear. It must have anchored a northern extension of the string course which rested
on a narrower pillar, represented today by the two large blocks of the central segment of pedestal 5. The blocks
of the string course are missing in the stretches of wall behind pedestals 2, 3 and 4, but judging again from the
scene elevation they must have had the same arrangement. The extensions of the string course would have been
1.00 m wide, or equal to those carried by the piers of the parodos.
The builders seem to have had a very specific idea about how high the new pedestals were to be as they
removed a block from the top of each of the original pillars and replaced them with slabs only 0.10 m high.
Additional blocks were then added at the sides to support the broad crown blocks (plan 4; pl. 36, 3). In order to
secure both the crown and the lateral segments which helped to support them, the wall was cut back as much
as 20 cm to form shelves into which clamp holes and their channels were sunk (pl. 42, 2). The lateral clamps
for the pillar shafts were quite long, measuring 28-43 cm in length. One end was let into its cutting in the top
of the crown block, and the other swung down into a hole carved in the wall opposite. It should be noted that
the blocks of the central segments which comprised the original, narrow pillars, follow the coursing of the wall
and, like the buttresses, must have been bonded to it. The lateral segments, added later, had an independent
coursing and thus required clamping.
In contrast to the four broad pedestals are the two corner ones which are constructed of very irregular stones
squared only at their corners and set with greater amounts of mortar that contained large pebbles and pieces of
brick and tile (plan 4; pls. 38, 1-2). They abutted the pre-existing piers with which they clash both in scale and
technique. The string course, well-preserved behind the eastern corner pedestal 6, bears only a dowel hole in
its upper surface near the north face but had no clamps, indicating clearly that these did not belong to the initial
system of high pedestals. A single block of the string course preserved in the west corner has cuttings for a
pair of clamps which connected it to an adjacent block on its east side. Its north face, like that of the rest of the
74 Fossel 1967, 72-81.
75 See below chap. 4.
2. BUILDING DESCRIPTION
House during the reign of Augustus, but was converted into an “Odeion” in the 2nd century and provided with
a scenic apparatus.74 This is only partially correct. Close observation will show that only the central portions of
the four broad pedestals were built with the walls they front, and that these were then truncated and extended
laterally during a subsequent renovation which added the two smaller pedestals 1 and 6 occupying the corners
adjacent to the projecting piers at the entrances to the parodoi. All six pedestals in the final phase supported a
crown course forming surfaces 1.50 m above the pulpitum paving. All but the two central crown blocks have
survived, preserving dowel holes, setting lines, and pry holes for both column and statue bases (plan 4) which
provide vital evidence for a reconstruction of the scaenae frons,75
The broad pedestals, which supported paired columns, are built of roughly shaped blocks arranged in three
vertical segments (plan 4; pl. 36, 3). The central segments resemble the piers in the parodoi, to which they are
identical in width, surface treatment, and in the level of their horizontal joints. The lateral segments are coarser.
Smaller blocks are occasionally set in vertically as space fillers. The wide joints and irregular gaps between the
segments were filled with mortar containing small stones and pieces of terracotta roof tiles.
The crown slabs resting on these cores were 0.255 m thick with molded edges and were connected to tall
base moldings by sheets of marble ca. 0.06 m thick held in place at the top and bottom by iron pins (pl. 36, 2).
Base moldings and revetment were also secured directly to the stonework they masked, and pink hydraulic
mortar poured in behind.
It is clear at a glance that the buttresses projecting into the corridor were built with the walls they supported,
but the relationship between the walls and the broad pedestals fronting them is more subtle. A key to the original
design lies in the marble string course (plan 4; pl. 36, 3) which ran all along the south wall of the parodoi sepa-
rating the two wall zones and carrying the finely dressed upper walls and a columnar architecture which fronted
them. The stretch of wall behind pedestal 5 has preserved four blocks and most of a fifth belonging to this course.
They were joined by a single row of clamps, each ca. 0.19 m long, that were set ca. 0.20 m in from the northern
face. The bar channels are 0.026 m wide and 0.005 m deep, the holes 0.03-0.035 m wide and 0.025 m deep.
A single cutting for a much larger clamp which ran north-south is preserved at the north face of the block on
the central axis of the pedestal. The clamp hole and channel are 0.04 m and 0.03 m deep respectively and are
both 0.04 m wide. This clamp was, in any case, substantial, and seen in conjunction with the elevation of the
scene wall, its function is clear. It must have anchored a northern extension of the string course which rested
on a narrower pillar, represented today by the two large blocks of the central segment of pedestal 5. The blocks
of the string course are missing in the stretches of wall behind pedestals 2, 3 and 4, but judging again from the
scene elevation they must have had the same arrangement. The extensions of the string course would have been
1.00 m wide, or equal to those carried by the piers of the parodos.
The builders seem to have had a very specific idea about how high the new pedestals were to be as they
removed a block from the top of each of the original pillars and replaced them with slabs only 0.10 m high.
Additional blocks were then added at the sides to support the broad crown blocks (plan 4; pl. 36, 3). In order to
secure both the crown and the lateral segments which helped to support them, the wall was cut back as much
as 20 cm to form shelves into which clamp holes and their channels were sunk (pl. 42, 2). The lateral clamps
for the pillar shafts were quite long, measuring 28-43 cm in length. One end was let into its cutting in the top
of the crown block, and the other swung down into a hole carved in the wall opposite. It should be noted that
the blocks of the central segments which comprised the original, narrow pillars, follow the coursing of the wall
and, like the buttresses, must have been bonded to it. The lateral segments, added later, had an independent
coursing and thus required clamping.
In contrast to the four broad pedestals are the two corner ones which are constructed of very irregular stones
squared only at their corners and set with greater amounts of mortar that contained large pebbles and pieces of
brick and tile (plan 4; pls. 38, 1-2). They abutted the pre-existing piers with which they clash both in scale and
technique. The string course, well-preserved behind the eastern corner pedestal 6, bears only a dowel hole in
its upper surface near the north face but had no clamps, indicating clearly that these did not belong to the initial
system of high pedestals. A single block of the string course preserved in the west corner has cuttings for a
pair of clamps which connected it to an adjacent block on its east side. Its north face, like that of the rest of the
74 Fossel 1967, 72-81.
75 See below chap. 4.
