Simon J Barker
I completed a BA in Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. This was followed by a MA in Archaeology at the University of York and a DPhil in Roman Archaeology at the University of Oxford. My doctoral dissertation, finished in 2012, was entitled Demolition, Salvage and Re-use in the City of Rome, 100 BC - AD 315. Since completing my doctorate I have twice held an associate lectureship in Roman Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London (2015, 2016). Between 2015-2016 I held a Fernand Braudel IFER Fellowship at the Centre Camille Jullian (Université d’Aix-Marseille) where I worked on Roman sculptural recycling in the Western Provinces. In 2016 I held the Henry Moore Fellowship in Sculpture at the British School at Rome, where I worked on sculptural production and re-carving practices in Rome and Italy (1st to 5th c. AD). Between 2017 and 2021 I held a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) at Universität Heidelberg (Zentrum für Altertumswissenschaften) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Department für Kulturwissenschaften und Altertumskunde, Spätantike und Byzantinische Kunstgeschichte). My Project title: ‘Spolia and the making of Late Antique cityscapes (AD 300-600)’ was hosted by Prof. Christian Witschel and Prof. Franz Alto Bauer. During this period I was also a post-doctoral fellow at the Norwegian Institute in Rome. In 2021 I also worked as a Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter for the ERC Consolidator Grant DECOR – Decorative Principles in Late Republican and early Imperial Italy, at Institut für Klassische Altertumskunde, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, where I studied the the use of marble as a decorative tool in domestic settings during the early imperial period.
My current interests are in the re-use of architectural and sculptural material in the Roman Empire. My background is in the art, architecture and archaeology of Rome and Roman Italy, especially the production and supply of materials for construction and sculpture in the Roman period. I am also interested in ancient stone-working techniques; provincial sculptural practices; the architecture and archaeology of Rome during late antiquity and the early middle ages; spolia in late antiquity; and the use of historical records and nineteenth-century building manuals in Roman architectural studies.
I have worked on fieldwork projects in the UK and in Italy at Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, the Palatine in Rome, and Ostia. I was involved in documenting the decorative lithic program and marble analysis of the sculpture at Villa A at Oplontis. Since 2011 I have been working on the marble finds from the Palazzo Imperiale at Ostia. I have started a project studying the lithic decoration at the Villas of Ancient Stabiae, and the houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This research has implications for studies of Roman urbanism beyond the focal topic of marble, contributing to current and ongoing discussions about status emulation and the spread of so-called ‘elite values and tastes’ across a broader social spectrum in the Roman world.
My current interests are in the re-use of architectural and sculptural material in the Roman Empire. My background is in the art, architecture and archaeology of Rome and Roman Italy, especially the production and supply of materials for construction and sculpture in the Roman period. I am also interested in ancient stone-working techniques; provincial sculptural practices; the architecture and archaeology of Rome during late antiquity and the early middle ages; spolia in late antiquity; and the use of historical records and nineteenth-century building manuals in Roman architectural studies.
I have worked on fieldwork projects in the UK and in Italy at Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, the Palatine in Rome, and Ostia. I was involved in documenting the decorative lithic program and marble analysis of the sculpture at Villa A at Oplontis. Since 2011 I have been working on the marble finds from the Palazzo Imperiale at Ostia. I have started a project studying the lithic decoration at the Villas of Ancient Stabiae, and the houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This research has implications for studies of Roman urbanism beyond the focal topic of marble, contributing to current and ongoing discussions about status emulation and the spread of so-called ‘elite values and tastes’ across a broader social spectrum in the Roman world.
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The examination of the different varieties of marble depicted in paint is presented in relation to an on-going survey of all 59 houses with real marble at Pompeii. Thus, painted imitation is explored in relation to the contemporary available market. Here we wish to stress the importance of local context and regional trends in marble use on painted imitation marble. Finally, the paper addresses the social dynamics and implications for the use of painted imitation marble. In particular, this focuses on what the depiction of marble varieties in paint can tell us about the choices behind the selection of marble types and the social prestige of marble during the Roman period.
emissions and waste management have brought the question of reuse into sharp focus. This essay explores Roman proficiency at resource optimization and the innovative use of old materials, while considering the reverberations of this inherently Roman skill in society today.
through ‘local’ histories of recycling, strongly dependent on earlier local traditions.
Architectural décor served a distinct social function but it also acted as an organising and structuring element within a building. This paper will examine marble insert pavements, i.e. mosaic or cement pavements decorated with inserts of irregular or geometrically shaped pieces of marble (often labelled opus scutulatum) at Villa A (Oplontis) and from other Vesuvian sites (Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae). The positions of specific varieties of stone within individual pavements will be examined to determine how marble was used as an organising element in the visual articulation of the room, and if stone placement was designed to suit the function of the spaces they decorated. In porticoes, rare or higher status marbles were often positioned to maximize their visibility by viewers entering and exiting rooms (as seen in Portico 60 at Villa A). In triclinia (dining rooms), the placement of rare or prestigious stones seems to be confined to the central areas of the floor so as to be most visible to dining guests (as seen in Room 3 of Villa Arianna). Overall this paper will argue that the placement of marble was part of a visual language that further helped articulate spatial organisation within the Roman house.
The examination of the different varieties of marble depicted in paint is presented in relation to an on-going survey of all 59 houses with real marble at Pompeii. Thus, painted imitation is explored in relation to the contemporary available market. Here we wish to stress the importance of local context and regional trends in marble use on painted imitation marble. Finally, the paper addresses the social dynamics and implications for the use of painted imitation marble. In particular, this focuses on what the depiction of marble varieties in paint can tell us about the choices behind the selection of marble types and the social prestige of marble during the Roman period.
emissions and waste management have brought the question of reuse into sharp focus. This essay explores Roman proficiency at resource optimization and the innovative use of old materials, while considering the reverberations of this inherently Roman skill in society today.
through ‘local’ histories of recycling, strongly dependent on earlier local traditions.
Architectural décor served a distinct social function but it also acted as an organising and structuring element within a building. This paper will examine marble insert pavements, i.e. mosaic or cement pavements decorated with inserts of irregular or geometrically shaped pieces of marble (often labelled opus scutulatum) at Villa A (Oplontis) and from other Vesuvian sites (Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae). The positions of specific varieties of stone within individual pavements will be examined to determine how marble was used as an organising element in the visual articulation of the room, and if stone placement was designed to suit the function of the spaces they decorated. In porticoes, rare or higher status marbles were often positioned to maximize their visibility by viewers entering and exiting rooms (as seen in Portico 60 at Villa A). In triclinia (dining rooms), the placement of rare or prestigious stones seems to be confined to the central areas of the floor so as to be most visible to dining guests (as seen in Room 3 of Villa Arianna). Overall this paper will argue that the placement of marble was part of a visual language that further helped articulate spatial organisation within the Roman house.
Any assessment of the total cost of quarrying—as opposed to just the labour requirements or timescale—therefore needs to take account of quarry work-teams and the range of expenses that existed beyond the labour totals, material requirements, and transport costs that form the backbone of most studies that use architectural energetics to consider quarry labour and costs. Our focus here is on quarry work-teams, especially with regard to the ratio of stoneworker to metalworkers, and the incidental costs associated with tools, their purchase, and their maintenance. Moreover, we provide some suggestions for how these data might be applied to studies of ancient quarrying that use architectural energetics.
Overall, this contribution employs archaeological and historical sources to consider vital questions about the relationship between ancient quarry organisation and operational costs in connection to tools. The aim is to consider some of the parameters that were vital to the successful running of stone projects in Antiquity.
Comparative analysis of building techniques and construction processes at regional and empire-wide levels;
Spolia and the impact of the urban landscape;
Perception of city walls in Late Antiquity and the post-Antique period;
Comparative scientific analyses;
As a point of departure, this paper considers the ‘marks’ left by owners, merchants and workshops datable to the period of late antiquity and found on re-used stone objects or semi-finished elements, such as the well-known Rufenus inscription carved into the foot of a column in from Santa Sabina in Rome. Working back in time, the paper considers the evidence for the involvement of similar types of contractors (redemptores marmorarii, specialised in both supplying and carving marble) in the re-carving and/or selling of second-hand material to new clients. Working back in time, the paper considers the evidence for the involvement of similar types of contractors (redemptores marmorarii, specialised in both supplying and carving marble) in the re-carving and/or selling of second-hand material to new clients.
One might expect such rarities, procured at cost by imperial resources operating at the far edge of the empire, to be for the benefit of the emperor himself and the elite whose support was important. However, a modest diffusion of both stones can be found in Campania. Ophites and eufotide are both notable in three rooms of the Casa dei Cervi and other houses at Herculaneum and Pompeii. While the use of eufotide in the elaborate sectilia panels from the Villa San Marco is of comparable elite level, the large plaque of ophites in a bar façade at VI 10, 1 at Pompeii points to its diffusion prior to 62 AD when many bars were upgraded with marble cladding. This diffusion stands in sharp contrast to that of purple porphyry or granito bianco e nero (Pliny’s marmor Tibereum). Does this suggests different aims for the prospecting in Egypt with divergent recipients in mind for new and unusual stones?
The pyramid of C. Cestius provides an ideal cast study. Located at a prominent intersection of the Via Ostiensis, the pyramid tomb of C. Cestius (12-18 BC) survives almost in its original state. Moreover, the tomb contains an inscription detailing that the construction was completed in 330 days. This case therefore allows us to investigate what this statement implies regarding the labour/material requirements required for such a build and whether this was as impressive a feat as the inscription implies. It also brings into focus the social implications of these large-scale funerary monuments not only for the landscape but also for the economy of Rome.
Nevertheless, the ‘spolia-habit’ was undoubtedly a characteristic of the late-antique period, and the term spolia remains an important means of identifying this practice as a distinctive feature of late-antique society. This paper will examine the use of spolia during Late Antiquity and seek to address how we should define recycling practices during this period and what constitutes a 'spolia-monument' during this period. It will address aspects of scale, aesthetics, attitudes to earlier materials, and differences to recycling in earlier periods as key differences in late-antique recycling practices and as important chatacteristics when defining late-antique spolia-use. Overall, the paper will conclude that we need to understand late-antique spolia-use as a ‘phenomenon’. This will emphase the historical dimension of the practice, allowing us to treat it as a conscious cultural choice that was both a product and a part of a specific mentality that characterised late-antique city life.
This contribution discusses the real and painted alabaster decorating the Villa of the Mysteries’ most emblematic rooms. The objective is to understand the materials function and aesthetics, as well as possible semantic attributions of alabaster decoration. Huge quantities of real Egyptian and non-Egyptian alabaster inserts decorate many of the villa’s floors (cf. F1-F3, P1-P4, 1, 2, 4, 62). Moreover, a total of six rooms featured several panels of painted alabaster of which four (rooms 3, 6, 15, 16) can be identified as Egyptian onyx. The “Mysteries room” (room 5) contained one of the most realistic painted representations of Turkish alabastro fiorito known from Pompeii, to frame the upper part of the famous Dionysiac scenes. When considered within the overall context of the Villa, the relevance and significance of such an abundant display of alabaster become particularly meaningful.
The Villa represents one of the most grandiose examples of late Republican private architecture and shows close affinities with that of contemporary religious and public buildings in Lazio and Campania (Esposito 2007). It has been suggested that the owner, who remains anonymous, might have been one of Sulla’s high officials who constructed the Villa not long after the deditio of the colony in 80 BC. The sumptuous interior decoration, which included outstanding 2nd-Style wall paintings and pavements, was clearly meant to underline the status and prestige of its owner. The choice of calcite alabaster, one of the earliest polychromes to be imported and used at Pompeii, further enhanced the social value of the villa’s decoration while its painted counterparts added new values to its aesthetics and semantics.
This poster will expand upon that data and present a survey of granite use in houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Several new instance of granite use can be identified, such as serpentina verde moschinata from the Wadi Umm Esh in Egypt’s Eastern Desert that was used for inserts in the large mosaic insert pavement in the atrium of the Casa di Umbricius Scaurus at Pompeii (VII.16.15). Overall, this poster will demonstrate that the elites of Pompeii and Herculaneum were engaging in the latest fashions for decorative stone current in the imperial capital and will provide further evidence Roman prospecting activities in Egypt attempting to find new and unusual stones.
Several houses at Pompeii and Roman villas in the Vesuvian area, such as the Villa of Mysteries (Pompeii), Villa A (Oplontis) and the Villa Arianna (Stabiae), present remarkable examples of painted alabaster. Despite a certain level of “artistic” interpretation, it is possible to recognise the represented varieties as fairly faithful imitations of the most popular Egyptian and non-Egyptian types. For example, Egyptian onyx (cotognino and banded) is widely reproduced in the Second-Style frescoes (60-40 BC) at Villa A (Room 5, 11) and the Villa Arianna (Room 3), while some of those from the Villa of the Mysteries (60 BC) can be arguably identified as non-Egyptian fiorito alabaster. Preliminary results of a survey of painted alabaster carried out by the present authors at Pompeii show that 23 of the 59 houses (including the Villa of the Mysteries), which retain or are known to have had painted imitation marble, contained painted alabaster. At Herculaneum, only one house, the House of the Alcove, features painted imitation of alabaster (in all probability fiorito). We identified the most common varieties of painted alabaster as onyx alabaster (52% of the total) and alabastro fiorito (28%), while 20% remained unidentified due to the poor conservation of the painted surface or because the variety was not clear, especially in First-Style paintings (e.g. House VI.16.26). If we consider the total percentages of alabaster varieties represented during the Second-Style period, the period with the largest number of houses (13) with painted imitations of the stone, we find onyx is the predominant type depicted (7 locations). This ratio corresponds to the volume and popularity of real alabaster attested at Pompeii during this same period.
A remarkable case in point is the Villa of the Mysteries, where we record the highest number of painted alabaster examples in a single context. A total of 6 rooms present panels depicting alabaster, 4 of which (3, 6, 15, 16) can be identified as Egyptian onyx, huge quantities of whose real varieties decorate many of the villa’s floors. Triclinium 5, the “Mysteries room,” contained one of the most realistic painted representations of alabastro fiorito from the Vesuvian area, decorating the upper frieze of the famous cycle of paintings depicting Dionysiac rites. The alabastro fiorito can be confidently classified as fiorito from Asia Minor as it presents close similarities with varieties quarried near Hierapolis. The choice of this stone would thus seems to be a way to underline the link with the country of origin of the god of wine, Dionysius/Bacchus, and the related mysteric rites to which the frescoes allude.
Indeed, the settings where painted alabaster appears seem to suggest that its use went beyond aesthetics and that it might have had an underlying symbolic message. Just like real alabaster, painted imitations of this stone may well have been imbued with symbolism motivated by both the real or imagined link with its country of origin (e.g. Egypt or Asia Minor) and by the “magical” ritual powers, such as that of rebirth, conferred onto it. The poster seeks to demonstrate that painted alabaster, in all its varieties, possessed an aura of “sacredness” and to illustrate the possible reasons behind this through a selection of case studies from the ancient Roman Vesuvian sites.
This study reveals preliminary results regarding ancient tastes towards marble during the first century AD on the Bay of Naples. One trend in marble use that is evident in Campania is a preference for the display of new varieties of stone. This is reflected in sectila pavimenta, which make use of multiple varieties of stone in the same composition. As a consequence of the increased availability of “new” marble types, pavements excluded popular Republican stones like palombino, paesina, ardesia, other Italian materials, as well as white marble, which appears to have been viewed as old fashion or outdated during this period.
The poster presents the results of a minero-petrographic and isotopic study – minero-petrographical (by XRD and OM on thin section) and geochemical (Sr isotopes by mass spectrometry, and chemical quantitative analysis by XRF) conducted by LAMA (Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi) and the Institut für Geologie at the Universität Bern – carried out on the ‘alabaster’ thresholds of Villa A, Oplontis. Sr isotope analyses are under way; their comparison with the Castelnuovo quarry (87Sr/86Sr = 0.70798 ± 0.00003) and the Thyatira quarry (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7081-0.7091) will be presented. The results should provide further data regarding the potential sources and uses of this ornamental stone during Antiquity.
Nell’estate 2013 il dott. Paolo Gardelli della Fondazione RAS, il dott. Simon Barker, University of London, e il dott. Clayton Fant, University of Akron – questi ultimi due responsabili del progetto denominato “Marmo al Mare” – hanno dato vita ad un progetto di analisi e studio della decorazione marmorea dell’intero quartiere termale. Con il presente contributo si intende pertanto esporre i risultati raggiunti dal recente lavoro di studio dei motivi decorativi e di analisi dei frammenti marmorei supersiti ancora presenti nei due ambienti.
Sia il tepidarium sia il caldarium si caratterizzano per una pianta rettangolare dotata di una grande abside a sud-ovest. L’ambiente centrale delle due stanze presenta una decorazione costituita da formelle rettangolari bordate da sottili listelli, mentre lastre a esagoni e a losanghe costituiscono il motivo delle due absidi. Tracce di rivestimento marmoreo sono state documentate anche nel registro inferiore delle pareti di entrambe le stanze. Il poster e il relativo contributo scritto approfondiranno tre aspetti: (1) le ultime indagini 2010/2013 e la storia degli scavi passati, (2) la decorazione in opus sectile e (3) i resti marmorei.
Project Directors (Scientific Committee): Dr. Caitlín Barrett (Cornell University), Dr. Kathryn Gleason (Cornell University), Dr. Annalisa Marzano (University of Reading).