La ‘Lex Sacra von der Hallenstrasse’ proveniente dall’Asklepieion di Pergamo è uno dei regolament... more La ‘Lex Sacra von der Hallenstrasse’ proveniente dall’Asklepieion di Pergamo è uno dei regolamenti sacri meglio noti e più citati del mondo antico. Di essa si preservano due esemplari, il primo, più completo, rinvenuto nel 1965, durante gli scavi della via colonnata monumentale che conduceva al propylon del santuario, il secondo costituito invece da frammenti noti dagli anni ’30, ma identificati solo all’atto della pubblicazione del monumento. Mentre il primo esemplare si presenta come una stele (0.63 x 0.40 x 0.13 m), dunque, originariamente collocata in posizione stante su un apposito supporto; il secondo, pur nella sua frammentarietà, appare piuttosto come una tabula con cornice modanata, sviluppata in senso orizzontale e dallo spessore tale (0.05 m) da dover originariamente essere affissa ad un muro o edificio. La pubblicazione del monumento, ad opera di Michael Wörrle, chiarisce in maniera esemplare le caratteristiche generali del testo e la sua collocazione cronologica. La dat...
This study consists in the examination of the sculptural material found in the Asklepieion of Leb... more This study consists in the examination of the sculptural material found in the Asklepieion of Lebena at the time of the earliest excavation campaigns (1900 and 1911), as recorded in two photographs taken by Federico Halbherr and Luigi Pernier respectively. Most of these sculptures are presently lost, but the identification of their iconographic types allows interesting insights on the Hellenistic and Roman phases of the cult at Lebena. The statue of Artemis confirms a role of the goddess as figure auxiliary to Asklepios and is completely understandable on the basis of the comparison with the sanctuary at Epidauros. The herm of Pan and the possible representation of a Nymph link with a pre-existing cult devoted to deities presiding over nature and water – the Nymphs,Acheloos and Hermes – and attests its survival even in the Roman imperial phases of the sanctuary. Finally, the presence of the statue of a boy provides a welcomed addition to the dedicatory pattern from Lebena, since the...
Il progetto Plutonium di Villa Adriana : prime considerazioni a margine del nuovo rilievo e prospettive di ricerca, 2020
Nel corso del 2016 e 2017 la missione congiunta delle universit\ue0 di Oxford e Pavia ha condotto... more Nel corso del 2016 e 2017 la missione congiunta delle universit\ue0 di Oxford e Pavia ha condotto una serie di campagne di ricognizione, rilevamento (georadar e geomagnetico) e rilievo architettonico nell'area nota dalla letteratura archeologica come pertinente al Plutonium e Inferi di Villa Adriana. Il complesso, situato nella sona nord-orientale della Villa, in corrispondenza di un rilievo naturale e ai margini della propriet\ue0 demaniale \ue8 costituito da tre elementi principali: 1) una grotta artificiale/ninfeo, collocata all'estremit\ue0 di una valletta artificiale, interamente scavata nel tufo (gli Inferi); 2) un grosso edificio costruito su alte sostruzioni concamerate (il Plutonium); 3) una rete di passaggi sotterranei ad esso connessi e solo parzialmente noti. Le recenti indagini non solo hanno rivelato la discrepanza dell'area con le piante storiche (e.g. Piranesi), ma hanno confermato la stretta connessione tra l'edificio e l'adiacente paesaggio artificiale. L'edificio del Plutonium ha, infatti, una pianta complessa, articolata intorno ad un cortile centrale porticato, sul quale si aprono stanze con decorazione parietale e pavimentale di dimensioni diverse e a quote diverse. Esso si configura come una struttura elevata provvista di numerose aperture, che offriva scorci panoramici sul paesaggio circostante. L'ingresso avveniva dal lato sud-orientale, mentre la parte pi\uf9 importante del complesso si ergeva nella parte sud-occidentale, al di sopra di un sistema di sostruzioni che lo elevava di alcuni metri rispetto al terreno circostante e al resto dell'edificio. Verso E e SE, esso continuava tramite una struttura muraria circolare o semicircolare, mentre a SW si estendeva verso gli inferi, tramite una serie di apprestamenti sotterranei e non. Le strutture affioranti facevano probabilmente parte di un complesso paesaggio artificiale, in quanto sia Inferi che Plutonium vennero realizzati contemporaneamente (la valletta degli Inferi venne infatti usata come cava per la produzione dei tufelli utilizzati per la costruzione del Plutonium), godono dello stesso orientamento e sono verosimilmente connesse dallo stesso network di tunnel e passaggi sotterranei, come rivelato dall'indagine geofisica.In the Spring and Summer of 2016 and 2017, the Universities of Oxford and Pavia carried out a series of non-invasive investigations of the area of Hadrian's Villa traditionally interpreted, fro the 16th century onward, as a reproduction of the Underworld. The little-studied and never published site is located on one of the highest rises of the complex, in the Eastern part of the Villa and it consists of: i) the Inferi, a Grotto/cave/nymphaeum connected to an artificial canal where water was channeled to evoke the river Styx in the land of the dead; ii) The Plutonium or Temple of Pluto/Hades, Lord of the Underworld, known from the first travellers' accounts as a large building on a high podium; iii) a network of underground passages, partially connecting to the known routes running under the villa. The campaigns of surveys and documentation demonstrated that the plan of the building does not entirely corresponds with that recorded by the historical maps of the area (e.g. Piranesi), and the complex is closely connected to the surrounding landscape. The building known as "Plutonium" or "temple of Pluto" is a large structure on high podium, with a central courtyard surrounded by a series of rooms, with wide windows and balconies, providing vistas on the surrounding landscape by exploiting its elevated position (this area is known as the "higher ground" because it occupies the only elevated hill of the Villa). Except from its NW side, where a series of rooms, one of which with a temple-like facade, are located, it appears as a large garden pavillion, surrounded by columns in the Ionic order, the monumentale entrance of which was embellished with a circular or semi-circular structure. The walls were lavishly decorated with coloured marbles and floors with polychromatic mosaics. The buildings was probably part of an artificially landscaped area, since both "Inferi" and "Plutonium" were made t the same time (the valley of the Inferi being used as a quarry for the construction of the Plutonium), enjoy the same orientation and are possibly connected by a pattern of ditches and tunnel revealed by the geophysical survey
Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st-4th centuries AD) have for a long time been oversha... more Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st-4th centuries AD) have for a long time been overshadowed by those dating back to so-called 'classical' times. The first four centuries of our era have, however, produced a cornucopia of works in Greek and Latin dealing with questions of philosophy, ethics, and religion that continue to be relevant even today. The series SAPERE (Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia, 'Writings of Later Antiquity with Ethical and Religious Themes'), now funded by the German Union of Academies, undertakes the task of making these texts accessible through an innovative combination of edition, translation, and commentary in the form of interpretative essays. The acronym 'SAPERE' deliberately evokes the various connotations of sapere, the Latin verb. In addition to the intellectual dimension-which Kant made the motto of the Enlightenment by translating 'sapere aude' with 'dare to use thy reason'-the notion of 'tasting' should come into play as well. On the one hand, SAPERE makes important source texts available for discussion within various disciplines such as theology and religious studies, philology, philosophy, history, archaeology, and so on; on the other, it also seeks to whet the readers' appetite to 'taste' these texts. Consequently, a thorough scholarly analysis of the texts, which are investigated from the vantage points of different disciplines, complements the presentation of the sources both in the original and in translation. In this way, the importance of these ancient authors for the history of ideas and their relevance to modern debates come clearly into focus, thereby fostering an active engagement with the classical past. 16 ST 4.14. 17 ST 2.2. 18 ST 4.14-29. 19 ST 4.16-18. 20 As suggested by Jones 2013. The case for placing Or. 24 here is that it refers to the earthquake of ca. 140 AD as a past event (24.3) and that at the time of writing, Aristides himself is too ill to travel (24.1). Or. 32 refers back to the visit to Rome as a past event (32.39) and also makes reference to Aristides's own physical weakness (32.41). But these are clearly not decisive indications; Behr 1968, 76 places Or. 32 in ca. 150 AD. 21 According to its subscription, Or. 30, the Birthday Speech to Apellas, was "read" during the kathedra, in 146 ("when he was twenty-nine"); it is an open question whether this means that Aristides performed the speech in person, or simply sent it for someone else to read at the festivities. 22 ST 5.26-46. 27 Compare the analysis of sequence of Aristides's orations offered by M. Korenjak, "Conversing with posterity: Hermogenes, Aristides and Sophistic φιλοτιµία", in: Roskam / De Pourcq / Van Der Stockt 2012, [253-266] 262-265. 28 See Or. 1.25, 26 and 30, which contrast Athenian autochthony with the status of the Romans as migrants from abroad, and invite speculation on what this says about the value of Roman citizenship.
The Universities of Pavia and Oxford continued their investigations in Villa Adriana,1 in the are... more The Universities of Pavia and Oxford continued their investigations in Villa Adriana,1 in the area called Plutonium, traditionally interpreted as a reproduction of the Underworld, and located on one of the highest rises of the complex, in the east part of the Villa.2 The excavations took place from 1 to 21 July 2019.3 A team of 12 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers took part in the project, both from Oxford and Pavia Universities (S. Andronio, I. Bossolino, E. Casarotti, A. Dalgkitsi, E. Di Virgilio, V. Jukic Buca, A. Poldi Allai, G. Restaino, T. Runeckles, A. Verde). Dr Gilberto Montali, from the University of Palermo, supervised the architectural survey and documentation of the archaeological structures. Two trenches were opened: 1) Trench A (continuation of last year) aimed at investigating the semi-circular wall projecting SE of the front of the Plutonium building. 2) Trench C, aimed at understanding whether and how the semi-circular structure projecting SW of the fr...
Figure 2 of Gorrini, M., and Melfi, M. (2019) has been replaced with a revised figure, in order t... more Figure 2 of Gorrini, M., and Melfi, M. (2019) has been replaced with a revised figure, in order to protect the integrity of the excavation site.
Gorrini, in collaboration with the British School at Rome and the Geophysic Lab of the University... more Gorrini, in collaboration with the British School at Rome and the Geophysic Lab of the University of Camerino, carried out non-invasive investigations of the area of Hadrian's Villa traditionally interpreted, from the 16 th century onwards, as a reproduction of the Underworld. The little-studied and never published site (for a discussion of the previous research in the area cf. Gorrini-Melfi-Montali-Schettino in press, with full bibliography), is located on one of the highest rises of the complex, in the East part of the Villa (fig.1) and it consists of: i) the Inferi, a Grotto/cave/nymphaeum connected to an artificial canal wherewater was channeled to evoke the river Styx in the land of the dead; ii) The Plutonium or Temple of Pluto/Hades, Lord of the Underworld, known from the first travelers' accounts as a large building on a high podium; iii) a network of underground passages, partially connecting to the known routes running under the villa.
The UNESCO World Heritage Hadrian’s Villa lies over the Colli Albani volcanic district near... more The UNESCO World Heritage Hadrian’s Villa lies over the Colli Albani volcanic district near Rome. Magnetic, paleomagnetic, radar, and electric resistivity surveys were performed in the Plutonium–Inferi sector to detect buried buildings and outline a segment of the underground system of tunnels that link different zones of the villa. In particular, a paleomagnetic analysis of the bedrock unit allowed to accomplish an accurate geomagnetic field modelling and characterize the archaeological sources of the magnetic field anomalies. We used a computer-assisted forward modelling procedure to generate a structural model of the sources of the observed anomalies. The intrinsic ambiguity of the magnetic field modelling was reduced with the support of ground penetrating radar amplitude slices and an analysis of radar and electric resistivity profiles. The bedrock lithology in this area is an ignimbrite tuff characterized by abundant iron oxides. The high-amplitude magnetic anomalie...
Remote Sensing Volume: 11 Issue: 15 , MDPI AG , pp. 1739 - 1739, 2019
Hadrian’s Villa is an ancient Roman archaeological site built over an ignimbritic tuff and charac... more Hadrian’s Villa is an ancient Roman archaeological site built over an ignimbritic tuff and characterized by abundant iron oxides, strong remnant magnetization, and elevated magnetic susceptibility. These properties account for the high-amplitude magnetic anomalies observed in this site and were used as a primary tool to detect deep archaeological features consisting of air-filled and soil-filled cavities of the tuff. An integrated magnetic, paleomagnetic, radar, and electric resistivity survey was performed in the Plutonium-Inferi sector of Hadrian’s Villa to outline a segment of the underground system of tunnels that link different zones of the villa. A preliminary paleomagnetic analysis of the bedrock unit and a high-resolution topographic survey by aerial photogrammetry allowed us to perform a computer-assisted modelling of the observed magnetic anomalies, with respect to the archaeological sources. The intrinsic ambiguity of this procedure was reduced through the analysis of ground penetrating radar and electric resistivity profiles, while a comprehensive picture of the buried archaeological features was built by integration of the magnetization model with radar amplitude maps. The final subsurface model of the Plutonium-Inferi complex shows that the observed anomalies are mostly due to the presence of tunnels, skylights, and a system of ditches excavated in the tuff.
La ‘Lex Sacra von der Hallenstrasse’ proveniente dall’Asklepieion di Pergamo è uno dei regolament... more La ‘Lex Sacra von der Hallenstrasse’ proveniente dall’Asklepieion di Pergamo è uno dei regolamenti sacri meglio noti e più citati del mondo antico. Di essa si preservano due esemplari, il primo, più completo, rinvenuto nel 1965, durante gli scavi della via colonnata monumentale che conduceva al propylon del santuario, il secondo costituito invece da frammenti noti dagli anni ’30, ma identificati solo all’atto della pubblicazione del monumento. Mentre il primo esemplare si presenta come una stele (0.63 x 0.40 x 0.13 m), dunque, originariamente collocata in posizione stante su un apposito supporto; il secondo, pur nella sua frammentarietà, appare piuttosto come una tabula con cornice modanata, sviluppata in senso orizzontale e dallo spessore tale (0.05 m) da dover originariamente essere affissa ad un muro o edificio. La pubblicazione del monumento, ad opera di Michael Wörrle, chiarisce in maniera esemplare le caratteristiche generali del testo e la sua collocazione cronologica. La dat...
This study consists in the examination of the sculptural material found in the Asklepieion of Leb... more This study consists in the examination of the sculptural material found in the Asklepieion of Lebena at the time of the earliest excavation campaigns (1900 and 1911), as recorded in two photographs taken by Federico Halbherr and Luigi Pernier respectively. Most of these sculptures are presently lost, but the identification of their iconographic types allows interesting insights on the Hellenistic and Roman phases of the cult at Lebena. The statue of Artemis confirms a role of the goddess as figure auxiliary to Asklepios and is completely understandable on the basis of the comparison with the sanctuary at Epidauros. The herm of Pan and the possible representation of a Nymph link with a pre-existing cult devoted to deities presiding over nature and water – the Nymphs,Acheloos and Hermes – and attests its survival even in the Roman imperial phases of the sanctuary. Finally, the presence of the statue of a boy provides a welcomed addition to the dedicatory pattern from Lebena, since the...
Il progetto Plutonium di Villa Adriana : prime considerazioni a margine del nuovo rilievo e prospettive di ricerca, 2020
Nel corso del 2016 e 2017 la missione congiunta delle universit\ue0 di Oxford e Pavia ha condotto... more Nel corso del 2016 e 2017 la missione congiunta delle universit\ue0 di Oxford e Pavia ha condotto una serie di campagne di ricognizione, rilevamento (georadar e geomagnetico) e rilievo architettonico nell'area nota dalla letteratura archeologica come pertinente al Plutonium e Inferi di Villa Adriana. Il complesso, situato nella sona nord-orientale della Villa, in corrispondenza di un rilievo naturale e ai margini della propriet\ue0 demaniale \ue8 costituito da tre elementi principali: 1) una grotta artificiale/ninfeo, collocata all'estremit\ue0 di una valletta artificiale, interamente scavata nel tufo (gli Inferi); 2) un grosso edificio costruito su alte sostruzioni concamerate (il Plutonium); 3) una rete di passaggi sotterranei ad esso connessi e solo parzialmente noti. Le recenti indagini non solo hanno rivelato la discrepanza dell'area con le piante storiche (e.g. Piranesi), ma hanno confermato la stretta connessione tra l'edificio e l'adiacente paesaggio artificiale. L'edificio del Plutonium ha, infatti, una pianta complessa, articolata intorno ad un cortile centrale porticato, sul quale si aprono stanze con decorazione parietale e pavimentale di dimensioni diverse e a quote diverse. Esso si configura come una struttura elevata provvista di numerose aperture, che offriva scorci panoramici sul paesaggio circostante. L'ingresso avveniva dal lato sud-orientale, mentre la parte pi\uf9 importante del complesso si ergeva nella parte sud-occidentale, al di sopra di un sistema di sostruzioni che lo elevava di alcuni metri rispetto al terreno circostante e al resto dell'edificio. Verso E e SE, esso continuava tramite una struttura muraria circolare o semicircolare, mentre a SW si estendeva verso gli inferi, tramite una serie di apprestamenti sotterranei e non. Le strutture affioranti facevano probabilmente parte di un complesso paesaggio artificiale, in quanto sia Inferi che Plutonium vennero realizzati contemporaneamente (la valletta degli Inferi venne infatti usata come cava per la produzione dei tufelli utilizzati per la costruzione del Plutonium), godono dello stesso orientamento e sono verosimilmente connesse dallo stesso network di tunnel e passaggi sotterranei, come rivelato dall'indagine geofisica.In the Spring and Summer of 2016 and 2017, the Universities of Oxford and Pavia carried out a series of non-invasive investigations of the area of Hadrian's Villa traditionally interpreted, fro the 16th century onward, as a reproduction of the Underworld. The little-studied and never published site is located on one of the highest rises of the complex, in the Eastern part of the Villa and it consists of: i) the Inferi, a Grotto/cave/nymphaeum connected to an artificial canal where water was channeled to evoke the river Styx in the land of the dead; ii) The Plutonium or Temple of Pluto/Hades, Lord of the Underworld, known from the first travellers' accounts as a large building on a high podium; iii) a network of underground passages, partially connecting to the known routes running under the villa. The campaigns of surveys and documentation demonstrated that the plan of the building does not entirely corresponds with that recorded by the historical maps of the area (e.g. Piranesi), and the complex is closely connected to the surrounding landscape. The building known as "Plutonium" or "temple of Pluto" is a large structure on high podium, with a central courtyard surrounded by a series of rooms, with wide windows and balconies, providing vistas on the surrounding landscape by exploiting its elevated position (this area is known as the "higher ground" because it occupies the only elevated hill of the Villa). Except from its NW side, where a series of rooms, one of which with a temple-like facade, are located, it appears as a large garden pavillion, surrounded by columns in the Ionic order, the monumentale entrance of which was embellished with a circular or semi-circular structure. The walls were lavishly decorated with coloured marbles and floors with polychromatic mosaics. The buildings was probably part of an artificially landscaped area, since both "Inferi" and "Plutonium" were made t the same time (the valley of the Inferi being used as a quarry for the construction of the Plutonium), enjoy the same orientation and are possibly connected by a pattern of ditches and tunnel revealed by the geophysical survey
Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st-4th centuries AD) have for a long time been oversha... more Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st-4th centuries AD) have for a long time been overshadowed by those dating back to so-called 'classical' times. The first four centuries of our era have, however, produced a cornucopia of works in Greek and Latin dealing with questions of philosophy, ethics, and religion that continue to be relevant even today. The series SAPERE (Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia, 'Writings of Later Antiquity with Ethical and Religious Themes'), now funded by the German Union of Academies, undertakes the task of making these texts accessible through an innovative combination of edition, translation, and commentary in the form of interpretative essays. The acronym 'SAPERE' deliberately evokes the various connotations of sapere, the Latin verb. In addition to the intellectual dimension-which Kant made the motto of the Enlightenment by translating 'sapere aude' with 'dare to use thy reason'-the notion of 'tasting' should come into play as well. On the one hand, SAPERE makes important source texts available for discussion within various disciplines such as theology and religious studies, philology, philosophy, history, archaeology, and so on; on the other, it also seeks to whet the readers' appetite to 'taste' these texts. Consequently, a thorough scholarly analysis of the texts, which are investigated from the vantage points of different disciplines, complements the presentation of the sources both in the original and in translation. In this way, the importance of these ancient authors for the history of ideas and their relevance to modern debates come clearly into focus, thereby fostering an active engagement with the classical past. 16 ST 4.14. 17 ST 2.2. 18 ST 4.14-29. 19 ST 4.16-18. 20 As suggested by Jones 2013. The case for placing Or. 24 here is that it refers to the earthquake of ca. 140 AD as a past event (24.3) and that at the time of writing, Aristides himself is too ill to travel (24.1). Or. 32 refers back to the visit to Rome as a past event (32.39) and also makes reference to Aristides's own physical weakness (32.41). But these are clearly not decisive indications; Behr 1968, 76 places Or. 32 in ca. 150 AD. 21 According to its subscription, Or. 30, the Birthday Speech to Apellas, was "read" during the kathedra, in 146 ("when he was twenty-nine"); it is an open question whether this means that Aristides performed the speech in person, or simply sent it for someone else to read at the festivities. 22 ST 5.26-46. 27 Compare the analysis of sequence of Aristides's orations offered by M. Korenjak, "Conversing with posterity: Hermogenes, Aristides and Sophistic φιλοτιµία", in: Roskam / De Pourcq / Van Der Stockt 2012, [253-266] 262-265. 28 See Or. 1.25, 26 and 30, which contrast Athenian autochthony with the status of the Romans as migrants from abroad, and invite speculation on what this says about the value of Roman citizenship.
The Universities of Pavia and Oxford continued their investigations in Villa Adriana,1 in the are... more The Universities of Pavia and Oxford continued their investigations in Villa Adriana,1 in the area called Plutonium, traditionally interpreted as a reproduction of the Underworld, and located on one of the highest rises of the complex, in the east part of the Villa.2 The excavations took place from 1 to 21 July 2019.3 A team of 12 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers took part in the project, both from Oxford and Pavia Universities (S. Andronio, I. Bossolino, E. Casarotti, A. Dalgkitsi, E. Di Virgilio, V. Jukic Buca, A. Poldi Allai, G. Restaino, T. Runeckles, A. Verde). Dr Gilberto Montali, from the University of Palermo, supervised the architectural survey and documentation of the archaeological structures. Two trenches were opened: 1) Trench A (continuation of last year) aimed at investigating the semi-circular wall projecting SE of the front of the Plutonium building. 2) Trench C, aimed at understanding whether and how the semi-circular structure projecting SW of the fr...
Figure 2 of Gorrini, M., and Melfi, M. (2019) has been replaced with a revised figure, in order t... more Figure 2 of Gorrini, M., and Melfi, M. (2019) has been replaced with a revised figure, in order to protect the integrity of the excavation site.
Gorrini, in collaboration with the British School at Rome and the Geophysic Lab of the University... more Gorrini, in collaboration with the British School at Rome and the Geophysic Lab of the University of Camerino, carried out non-invasive investigations of the area of Hadrian's Villa traditionally interpreted, from the 16 th century onwards, as a reproduction of the Underworld. The little-studied and never published site (for a discussion of the previous research in the area cf. Gorrini-Melfi-Montali-Schettino in press, with full bibliography), is located on one of the highest rises of the complex, in the East part of the Villa (fig.1) and it consists of: i) the Inferi, a Grotto/cave/nymphaeum connected to an artificial canal wherewater was channeled to evoke the river Styx in the land of the dead; ii) The Plutonium or Temple of Pluto/Hades, Lord of the Underworld, known from the first travelers' accounts as a large building on a high podium; iii) a network of underground passages, partially connecting to the known routes running under the villa.
The UNESCO World Heritage Hadrian’s Villa lies over the Colli Albani volcanic district near... more The UNESCO World Heritage Hadrian’s Villa lies over the Colli Albani volcanic district near Rome. Magnetic, paleomagnetic, radar, and electric resistivity surveys were performed in the Plutonium–Inferi sector to detect buried buildings and outline a segment of the underground system of tunnels that link different zones of the villa. In particular, a paleomagnetic analysis of the bedrock unit allowed to accomplish an accurate geomagnetic field modelling and characterize the archaeological sources of the magnetic field anomalies. We used a computer-assisted forward modelling procedure to generate a structural model of the sources of the observed anomalies. The intrinsic ambiguity of the magnetic field modelling was reduced with the support of ground penetrating radar amplitude slices and an analysis of radar and electric resistivity profiles. The bedrock lithology in this area is an ignimbrite tuff characterized by abundant iron oxides. The high-amplitude magnetic anomalie...
Remote Sensing Volume: 11 Issue: 15 , MDPI AG , pp. 1739 - 1739, 2019
Hadrian’s Villa is an ancient Roman archaeological site built over an ignimbritic tuff and charac... more Hadrian’s Villa is an ancient Roman archaeological site built over an ignimbritic tuff and characterized by abundant iron oxides, strong remnant magnetization, and elevated magnetic susceptibility. These properties account for the high-amplitude magnetic anomalies observed in this site and were used as a primary tool to detect deep archaeological features consisting of air-filled and soil-filled cavities of the tuff. An integrated magnetic, paleomagnetic, radar, and electric resistivity survey was performed in the Plutonium-Inferi sector of Hadrian’s Villa to outline a segment of the underground system of tunnels that link different zones of the villa. A preliminary paleomagnetic analysis of the bedrock unit and a high-resolution topographic survey by aerial photogrammetry allowed us to perform a computer-assisted modelling of the observed magnetic anomalies, with respect to the archaeological sources. The intrinsic ambiguity of this procedure was reduced through the analysis of ground penetrating radar and electric resistivity profiles, while a comprehensive picture of the buried archaeological features was built by integration of the magnetization model with radar amplitude maps. The final subsurface model of the Plutonium-Inferi complex shows that the observed anomalies are mostly due to the presence of tunnels, skylights, and a system of ditches excavated in the tuff.
Sanctuaries were at the heart of Greek religious, social, political, and cultural life, however, ... more Sanctuaries were at the heart of Greek religious, social, political, and cultural life, however, we have a limited understanding of how sanctuary spaces, politics, and rituals intersected in the Greek cities of the Hellenistic and Republican periods. This edited collection focuses on the archaeological material of this era and how it can elucidate the complex relationship between the various forces operating on, and changing the physical space of, sanctuaries. Material such as archaeological remains, sculptures, and inscriptions provides us with concrete evidence of how sanctuaries functioned as locations of memory in a social environment dominated by the written word, and gives us insight into political choices and decisions. It also reveals changes unrecorded in surviving local or political histories. Each case study explored by this volume's contributors employs archaeology as the primary means of investigation: from art-historical approaches, to surveys and fieldwork, to re-evaluation of archival material.
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