Published by De Gruyter

Urban Spaces

Edited by: Susanne Muth and Jennifer Trimble

ISSN: 2194-4857

e-ISSN: 2194-4865

Overview
Volumes

URBS is the first international series to provide the fields of classical archeology and the architectural history of antiquity with a specialized forum for the discussion of current questions in architectural history and urban studies. It aims to facilitate a fruitful dialog between architectural and urban studies and the sociology of space and architecture. The series focuses on publishing research in architectural and urban studies that explore the cultures of classical antiquity as well as their cultural antecedents. An additional topic of interest is the reception and transformation of related currents in neighboring antique cultures as well as in the subsequent cultures of late antiquity, Islam, the Middle Ages, and the modern era.
Published studies investigate a variety of topics, including individual buildings and spaces, urban complexes, as well as structural forms associated with varying public, religious, and economic functions. The relationship between the city and its surroundings as well as between individual cities is an additional topic of research. Urban spaces and buildings are investigated with reference to their functional purposes as well as the representational role they played in generating political power, social differentiation, and cultural identity. Individual spaces and spatial complexes are analyzed concerning their concrete construction as well as their impact on users and user perceptions.

Author / Editor information

Susanne Muth, Humboldt-Universität Berlin; Jennifer Trimble, Stanford University, CA, USA.

Topics

Book 2024

Villa Arianna at Stabiae

History, Art and Architecture of a Roman Villa in the Bay of Naples

Paolo Gardelli

Volume 10 in this series

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The archaeological investigation and the architectural survey conducted at Villa Arianna at Stabiae between 2010 and 2019 form the core of this book. The author's motivation to start on a large-scale study began with the wall constructions, paintings, and mosaics that have gradually been uncovered over the years. His book offers an in-depth comprehension of the history, the decorations, and the construction dynamics of the building from its foundation as country villa to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. For the first time it provides a synthesis of the archaeological evidence, the ancient texts and the journals of the Bourbon age excavations. The first part of the book is divided into four narrative chapters, which unearth essential environmental and historical-archaeological information. The second part consists of three chapters and the conclusion. They evaluate the results of the recent excavations and the evidence obtained from the study of the archaeological findings. The book offers a rare diachronic and synchronic biography of this unique villa. It offers students, scholars, and enthusiasts alike profound first-hand insights into Roman archaeology and one of its material manifestations, the Roman villa.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111343501
ISBN:: 9783111343501
ISBN:: 9783111338989
ISBN:: 9783111343792
Subject:: Architecture and Design
Subject:: Architecture
Subject:: Architects, Buildings
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2020

Polis, Platz und Porträt

Die Bildnisstatuen auf der Agora von Athen im Späthellenismus und in der Kaiserzeit (86 v. Chr. – 267 n. Chr.)

Silvio Leone

Volume 9 in this series

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The polis of Athens undergoes extensive changes in its political and social structure as well as in its appearance in the late Hellenistic age and during the Roman Imperial Age. The present study focuses on the portrait statues erected in these periods on the Athenian Agora and considers them as representative monuments which provide evidences of the historical aspects of the Athenian society.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110617405
ISBN:: 9783110617405
ISBN:: 9783110652833
ISBN:: 9783110617511
Subject:: Architecture and Design
Subject:: Architecture
Subject:: Urbanism
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2020

Hafenstädte im östlichen Mittelmeerraum vom Hellenismus bis in die römische Kaiserzeit

Städtebau, Funktion und Wahrnehmung

Stefan Feuser

Volume 8 in this series

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The study is devoted to the urban development of Mediterranean port cities. Focusing on the Eastern Mediterranean region between the early Hellenistic era and the late Roman Empire, it addresses how the coastal location of cities impacted their form and appearance. The monograph makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of ancient urban development in coastal areas.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110584257
ISBN:: 9783110584257
ISBN:: 9783110583465
ISBN:: 9783110580327
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: Classical Archaeology
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2019

Bauen zwischen Polis und Imperium

Stadtentwicklung und urbane Lebensformen auf der kaiserzeitlichen Peloponnes

Johannes Fouquet

Volume 7 in this series

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The Peloponnese urban landscape underwent a transformation during the advent of the Roman Empire. The ancient Greek poleis were confronted by the changed sociocultural world of the Imperium Romanum after the founding of the Roman coloniae Corinth and Patrai. This study seeks to examine how material conditions in cities and urban ways of life adapted to these new realities.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110569513
ISBN:: 9783110569513
ISBN:: 9783110569391
ISBN:: 9783110565096
Subject:: Architecture and Design
Subject:: Architecture
Subject:: Urbanism
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2018

Athen im 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr.

Räume und Funde der frühen Polis

Annarita Doronzio

Volume 6 in this series

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This volume for the first time systematically compiles the archaeological evidence of Athens from the late 8^th century to the early 6^th century BCE. It aims to classify the material within the context of the urban topography and to offer a religious, social, and political interpretation. It provides the story of birth of the Athenian polis with a new archaeological and historical basis.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110526264
ISBN:: 9783110526264
ISBN:: 9783110445206
ISBN:: 9783110524338
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2017

Stadtraum und Bürgerin

Aufstellungsorte kaiserzeitlicher Ehrenstatuen in Italien und Nordafrika

Cristina Murer

Volume 5 in this series

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This study addresses the key questions of where, when, and why statuary images were erected to honor female citizens in the imperial urban spaces of Italy and North Africa. Besides the primary archeological questions, the investigation focuses on issues of social history and urbanism. The volume includes a catalogue of all preserved honorific images of female Roman citizens from Italy and the Western provinces.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110410488
ISBN:: 9783110410488
ISBN:: 9783110410501
ISBN:: 9783110407563
Subject:: Architecture and Design
Subject:: Architecture
Subject:: Urbanism
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Classical Archaeology
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2015

The Emperor's House

Palaces from Augustus to the Age of Absolutism

Michael Featherstone, Jean-Michel Spieser, Gülru Tanman, Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt

Volume 4 in this series

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Evolving from a patrician domus, the emperor's residence on the Palatine became the centre of the state administration. Elaborate ceremonial regulated access to the imperial family, creating a system of privilege which strengthened the centralised power. Constantine followed the same model in his new capital, under a Christian veneer. The divine attributes of the imperial office were refashioned, with the emperor as God's representative. The palace was an imitation of heaven.
Following the loss of the empire in the West and the Near East, the Palace in Constantinople was preserved – subject to the transition from Late Antique to Mediaeval conditions – until the Fourth Crusade, attracting the attention of Visgothic, Lombard, Merovingian, Carolingian, Norman and Muslim rulers. Renaissance princes later drew inspiration for their residences directly from ancient ruins and Roman literature, but there was also contact with the Late Byzantine court. Finally, in the age of Absolutism the palace became again an instrument of power in vast centralised states, with renewed interest in Roman and Byzantine ceremonial.
Spanning the broadest chronological and geographical limits of the Roman imperial tradition, from the Principate to the Ottoman empire, the papers in the volume treat various aspects of palace architecture, art and ceremonial.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110331769
ISBN:: 9783110331639
ISBN:: 9783110331769
ISBN:: 9783110382280
Subject:: Architecture and Design
Subject:: Architecture
Subject:: Types, Functions
Subject:: Urbanism
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2015

Hellenistische Agorai

Gestaltung, Rezeption und Semantik eines urbanen Raumes

Barbara Sielhorst

Volume 3 in this series

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As the social, political, and economic center of public life in a polis, the agora underwent profound changes during the Hellenistic period. This study examines agorai as symbolically charged spaces; analyzing them sheds light on the societies they helped to shape. The findings show that during the Hellenistic period agorai had a crucial role in generating a polis-specific identity.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110345186
ISBN:: 978-3-11-034485-1
ISBN:: 978-3-11-034518-6
ISBN:: 9783110384451
Subject:: Architecture and Design
Subject:: Architecture
Subject:: Urbanism
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: Classical Archaeology
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book Print Only 2014

Zeitzeichen

Zur Entwicklung und Verwendung antiker Zeitmesser

Eva Winter

Volume 2 in this series

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Shaping, measuring and perceiving time has become crucial within the social fabric of most cultures. The book explores from the fifth century B. C. to late antiquity what types of chronometers came into use and how they measured time; when, where and why they became part of the societies of Greece and Rome; and by and for whom they were commissioned, designed and set up. For this purpose for the first time, some 500 chronometric instruments and their inscriptions from all over the classical world have been brought together to scrutinise questions such as form, typology, chronology, setting, function and context. Sundials constitute the majority of the material (c. 80%), followed by various types of chronometers, mainly water clocks. The particular contextual approach made it possible to define individuals and groups of people linked to time measurement; and, in consequence, to determine at least some of the primary functions of the chronometers set up in the societies of ancient Greece and Rome.

ISBN:: 9783110285529
Subject:: Architecture and Design
Subject:: Architecture
Subject:: Urbanism
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

Peristyl und Polis

Entwicklung und Funktionen öffentlicher griechischer Hofanlagen

Burkhard Emme

Volume 1 in this series

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Peristyle buildings fulfilled a range of public functions in Greek cities, serving as religious sites, banquet halls, gymnasiums, government offices, and markets. Yet all peristyle buildings are united in their spatial organization around a central courtyard. As a result, they are open toward the center but closed off to the outside. This observation forms the basis for the author's thesis that peristyle structures served in general to generate closed off spaces only accessible to exclusive groups. The investigation of this thesis is founded on a number of individual studies. These studies present us with the picture of a carefully planned system that allowed for the structures to appear hermetically closed from the outside while at the same time open to multiple rooms from a central courtyard on the inside. The author locates this design scheme within the broader scope of Classical architectural and social history. He shows that the development and rapid spread of the peristyle structures in the 4th century B.C. was closely related to a simultaneous process in which urban structures in Greek cities became more monumental and diverse. The work thus addresses a phenomenon of wide-reaching significance with detailed investigations of specific structures.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110280739
ISBN:: 978-3-11-028065-4
ISBN:: 978-3-11-028073-9
Subject:: Architecture and Design
Subject:: Architecture
Subject:: Urbanism
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter