RM 121: Evelyne Bukowiecki – Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt, I bolli laterizi delle residenze imperiali sul Palatino a Roma, RM 121, 2015, 311–482.
As part of the German Archaeological Institute’s “Palatin-Projekt”, a series of large-scale, systematic and architectural studies have been carried out in the southeast corner of the Palatine Hill, in collaboration with German and international universities. A comprehensive topographical survey of the four major monumental complexes in this area – the Domus Severiana, the Stadium, the Domus Augustana and the Domus Flavia – has allowed for an overarching and improved understanding of the development of the Imperial residences. The detailed archaeological analysis of the façade in opus testaceum made possible the identification of more than 400 epigraphic bricks stamps.
This article’s primary objective is the presentation of these brick stamps found in situ. For the sake of comprehensiveness, we also consider all the brick stamps identified in previous studies and mentioned by the bibliography, which cannot be found in situ anymore. Altogether, the current collection consists of 940 stamps, of which 599 were found in situ and 341 out of context: 160 in the Domus Severiana, 305 in the Stadium, 207 in the Domus Augustana and 268 in the Domus Flavia. This catalog has made possible detailed insight into the topographical repartition of the brick stamps on the Palatine, to establish a much more nuanced – and moreover modified – chronology of the building activities, and to study the supply mechanisms of building materials in the Imperial sites. Therefore, the article represents an important instrument for further research – not only on the Palatine, but also for the whole of Imperial Rome.
For each of the four monuments studied, the brick stamps mentioned by the bibliography will first be identified and then, considering all the stamps found in situ, their topographic repartition will be presented according to the five levels of circulation identified on the Palatine. For each monument, a subsection will subsequently be devoted to the interpretation of the construction phases (pre-Flavian, Flavian, Trajanic, Hadrianic, Antonine, Diocletian, Maxentian and Theodoric) according to predefined “chronological groups”.
These “chronological groups” reflect an arbitrary choice that, on the one hand, takes into account our interpretive assumptions of the succession of construction phases, and, on the other, considers the important historical phases of brick production in Rome:
... To make the brick stamp digital catalog in Arachne more user-friendly, two methods of access are provided: The brick stamps have been organized first by “chronological groups”, each divided according to the four sections of the Imperial palaces. The brick stamps are then also organized according to their topographic distribution within the four complexes, with subdivisions of brick stamps found in situ, brick stamps out of context, all the brick stamps, for the respective levels, as well as those mentioned in the bibliography whose precise location is unknown. The locations of the brick stamps found in situ and of those from the literature, which can be clearly assigned to a room, are marked on the floor plans of the different levels of the complexes. They are marked in different colors, according to their corresponding “chronological group”.
- Group 1: 1st century AD until 93/94 AD
- Group 2: end of Domitian’s reign to the beginning of Trajan’s reign (95–110 AD)
- Group 3: end of Trajan’s reign to the beginning of Hadrian’s reign (111–122 AD)
- Group 4: Hadrian’s reign after 123 AD (123–138 AD)
- Group 5: Antonine Dynasty after Hadrian (138–192 AD)
- Group 6: Severan Dynasty (193–235 AD)
- Group 7: Diocletian to Theodoric
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