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A Procedural Reconstruction of the Urban Topography

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A Procedural Reconstruction of the Urban Topography UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Cave and City: A Procedural Reconstruction of the Urban Topography of Magnesia on the Maeander A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture by Marie Saldaña 2015 © Copyright by Marie Saldaña 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Cave and City: A Procedural Reconstruction of the Urban Topography of Magnesia on the Maeander by Marie Saldaña Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Diane Favro, Chair Caves and cities are normally found at the opposite ends of the architectural spectrum. The former is typically perceived as a primitive, undesigned object, part of nature; the latter is held as the height of civilized planning and rationality. At the Greco-Roman city of Magnesia on the Maeander in western Turkey, however, these two typologies were intimately bound together in unexpected ways. Magnesia on the Maeander was the site of the ancient cult of a cave-dwelling Apollo at Hylai, whose devotees were sometimes imbued with a supernatural strength that enabled them to jump from high cliffs and rush through the mountains carrying entire trees that they had torn up by the roots. City and cave appear to have been linked through a complex ii dynamic of movement in which the frenzied tree-carriers ended up depositing their burdens at a city-center sanctuary of Dionysos. This movement provides an alternative way of understanding the layout of the city, and augments the scant archaeological remains of the street grid. Drawing on textual and empirical evidence, this study seeks to understand if the city grid, its main thoroughfares, and the orientation of its buildings were influenced by the desire to connect to important topographical features such as the cave of Apollo. The reconstitution of these dynamics into a synthetic urban topography requires the collation of incomplete evidence from a variety of different sources and time periods, including historical accounts, numismatics, inscriptions found on the site, architectural remains, geographical surveys, and the preservation of toponyms in local memory. This project makes use of procedural modeling, an emerging 3D mapping technique that facilitates the generation of hypothetical three-dimensional visualizations based on geographically located data to explore a series of focused questions about the impact of cultic practice and landscape on the urban layout of Magnesia on the Maeander. The first set of questions is spatio-empirical in nature, and concerns the reconstruction of Magnesia’s city plan. The second seeks to elucidate a ‘topography of ritual’ at Magnesia and explore the ways in which this network of natural places and religious sites coexisted with, and undermined, the spatial system constituted by the city grid. The idea of the cave and its role in Greek architecture is the third object of study, as represented at Magnesia by the sanctuary of Apollo. Finally, these questions form a case study for a critique of the value and potential of the procedural modeling methodology. As a whole, the project aims to contribute to knowledge of the landscape and built environment of Asia Minor in the archaic through Roman periods, as well as entering into discourses of theory and praxis in the Digital Humanities. iii The dissertation of Marie Saldaña is approved. Sylvia Lavin Michael Osman Chris Johanson Diane Favro, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv DEDICATION To my parents, and Ashley v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Disciplinary Framework ....................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Research Themes .................................................................................................................. 4 1.2.1 The City Plan ................................................................................................................. 4 1.2.2 The Topography of Ritual .............................................................................................. 5 1.2.3 The Cave ........................................................................................................................ 6 1.2.4 Procedural Holistic Urban Modeling ............................................................................. 8 1.3 Structure ................................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: Historical Topography of Magnesia............................................................................ 10 2.1 Archaeology at Magnesia ................................................................................................... 11 2.2 The Archaic Period (800 BC – 479 BC) ............................................................................. 13 2.3 The Classical Period (480 BC – 322 BC) ........................................................................... 16 2.4 The Hellenistic Period (323 BC – 145 BC) ........................................................................ 18 2.5 The Roman Period .............................................................................................................. 22 2.6 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 24 Chapter 3: The Cave, the Tree, and the City................................................................................. 26 3.1 The Cave of Apollo at Hylai ............................................................................................... 27 3.2 Cult of Dionysos ................................................................................................................. 33 vi 3.3 Connection between Apollo of the Cave and Dionysos in the City ................................... 38 3.4 Chthonic and Underground Cults at Magnesia ................................................................... 41 3.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 45 Chapter 4: Methodology: Procedural Modeling for Holistic Urban Reconstruction ................... 46 4.1 Previous Work in 3D Architectural Reconstruction ........................................................... 47 4.1.1 Non-Procedural Modeling Techniques ........................................................................ 47 4.1.2 Background of Procedural Modeling ........................................................................... 50 4.1.3 Choosing a 3D modeling technique ............................................................................. 53 4.1.4 Criteria for Analysis ..................................................................................................... 54 4.2 Creating the Roman City Ruleset ....................................................................................... 55 4.2.1 Reconstructing Terrain ................................................................................................. 56 4.2.2 Geospatial Data ............................................................................................................ 58 4.2.3 Encoding Architecture ................................................................................................. 59 4.2.4 Use and Documentation of Sources ............................................................................. 66 4.3 Application to Research Questions ..................................................................................... 69 4.3.1 Augustan Rome ............................................................................................................ 69 4.3.2 RomeLab ...................................................................................................................... 71 4.3.3 Modeling Magnesia ..................................................................................................... 72 4.4 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 75 Chapter 5: Towards an Experimental 3D Reconstruction of the City .......................................... 77 vii 5.1 (Re-)Drawing the City Grid ................................................................................................ 78 5.1.1 Problems of the evidence ............................................................................................. 78 5.1.2 Previous Interpretations ............................................................................................... 79 5.1.3 Proposed Dimensions of the Insulae ............................................................................ 81 5.1.4 Division of the Insulae into House Lots ...................................................................... 85 5.1.5 Extent of the City, Number of Blocks and Population ................................................ 86 5.1.6 The Major Streets ......................................................................................................... 87 5.2 Modeling the Space of Ritual ............................................................................................. 90 5.2.1 The Path of the Dendrophoroi ..................................................................................... 91 5.2.2 Subverting
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