The Sculptor’s Workshop

Kurze Beschreibung

Carved marble was a major part of the economy of Roman cities. The material was supplied by local and regional quarries but little is known of the workshops in which the carving was carried out. The Sculptor’s Workshop at Aphrodisias is a uniquely well-preserved facility of this kind supplied by a nearby local quarry. The workshop was located behind the Council House in the centre of town, and when excavated in 1967-1969 it contained remarkable remains from a high-end sculpture business. The monograph offers a complete publication of the archaeology of the workshop itself and of the finds – they include a set of stone-carving tools, a large quantity of sculpture in various states of completion, well-preserved statues (both portraits and mythological figures), and several practice pieces carved by apprentice sculptors as part of their training.

Reihentext

The series is dedicated to the publication of archaeological research at the ancient site of Aphrodisias. Aphrodisias was a prosperous city of the Roman period, well known for its cult of Aphrodite and its marble-carvers, and it has remarkably preserved remains from the second century BC to the sixth century AD. The archaeology of the city is especially well-suited to the study of public art and monuments in their ancient contexts and to the investigation of the elaborate architectural mise-en-scène of urban political life in the Eastern Roman empire.