UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Roman Construction Process: Building the Basilica of Maxentius A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements of the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture by Brian Howard Sahotsky 2016 © Copyright by Brian Howard Sahotsky 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Roman Construction Process: Building the Basilica of Maxentius by Brian Howard Sahotsky Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Diane G. Favro, Chair In the early 4th century C.E., the interior hall of the Basilica of Maxentius was adorned with eight giant marble monoliths. To reach the building site, the 15-meter, 100-ton columns were shipped 2400 kilometers across the Mediterranean, dragged up the Tiber River, unloaded in the overflowing marble yards, paraded down several kilometers of Roman streets, and erected in an area the size of a football field. In Imperial Rome, the ability to transport massive stone monoliths down narrow cobbled streets or mobilize an entire brick-making industry within a matter of weeks were paramount to the success of large-scale building projects. The construction process required a cooperation between the entire city and its infrastructural material and labor networks. The Roman construction site must have been absolutely symbiotic with its urban environment, especially within the context of the Late Empire. The area immediately surrounding the Forum Romanum was a dense residential and commercial zone characterized by ii a complicated topography and a stratified array of architectural monuments. In order to construct any project within the confines of this region, the builders had to balance a poly-modal understanding of technical engineering knowledge with an exceedingly efficient organizing framework. In addition to the organization of the site, the builders had to coordinate with the many disparate types of materials that were constantly arriving from far-flung sources. The scene created by the shouting workmen, the screeching pulleys, and the rumbling streets was undoubtedly among Rome’s most interesting spectacles. This dissertation will combine an understanding of the spatial implications of the Roman building site with an awareness of the socio-cultural milieu and the symbiotic relationship between the construction process and its contextual environment. iii The dissertation of Brian Howard Sahotsky is approved. Dana Cuff Chris Johanson Diane G. Favro, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2016 iv To everyone that never gave up on me. v Table of Contents 1. The Construction Process: Monumental Building’s Symbiotic Relationship With Rome 1.1. Introduction and a new theory for understanding the construction process in Rome ............ 1 1.2. The Basilica of Maxentius as a contextual case study in the construction process ............... 5 1.3. Symbiosis defined: a cautious application of biological metaphor to architecture ............. 10 1.4. The establishment of building and city as foundational elements for a working process ... 16 1.5. Assessment of methodology and the state of current scholarship ....................................... 21 2. Rome’s Infrastructural Networks for Construction: Materials, Transport, and Labor 2.1. The multi-faceted infrastructures of the construction process ............................................. 31 2.2. Architectural energetics and constraint/bottleneck theory ................................................... 36 2.3. Labor networking infrastructure, administration, and communication ............................... 41 2.4. Site-catchment analysis in explaining procurement models ................................................ 43 2.5. Marble trade system infrastructure: commodification and contracts ................................... 45 2.6. Marble trade system infrastructure: overseas and river transport ........................................ 53 2.7. The interwoven material infrastructures for brick-faced concrete-vaulted masonry ........... 60 2.8. Land transport mechanisms and the streets of Rome........................................................... 73 3. Building Begins: Materials Maneuvering the City and the Spectacle of Construction 3.1. The imaging of antique spectacle and representations of the construction process ............ 80 3.2. Admitting late- and post-Roman comparanda as evidence for construction spectacle ....... 84 3.3. Early activity at the worksite, construction traffic, foundational works .............................. 88 3.4. Competing hypotheses for column delivery: direct order or spoliation .............................. 92 vi 3.5. Logistical planning, routing materials, and managing the payloads .................................... 96 3.6. Confronting the spectacular challenges of maneuvering, bottlenecking, and hoisting...... 107 4. Symbiosis Employed: Construction of the Basilica of Maxentius 4.1. Defining the combinatory nature of the basilica’s site ...................................................... 121 4.2. Architects and contractors lay out the master plan ............................................................ 123 4.3. Preparing and using construction implements, technology, and tools ............................... 129 4.4. The worksite is shaped by its topographical fit, physical foundations, and context .......... 136 4.5. The worksite invades the Roman city: material staging and on-site workshops ............... 143 4.6. Coordinating the worksite: organizing workmen, planning the workday, timing tasks .... 152 4.7. Finishing materials and tasks, estimated timetable for completion of all building ........... 160 5. Conclusions: Evaluation of a Symbiotic Construction Process 5.1. Ancient evidence of a symbiotic relationship in the Roman construction process ............ 165 Selected Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 173 vii List of Figures Figure 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Current state of the Basilica of Maxentius. The northernmost aisle, or one-third, of the structure remains. This view displays only a small portion of the brick-faced concrete masonry carried out in the structure. Photo by author. Figure 2 ........................................................................................................................................ 6 “Scene of a building site,” painting from caldarium in the Villa of San Marco at Stabiae, Archaeological Museum of Castellmare, no.282. Drawing by author. Figure 3 ...................................................................................................................................... 12 Symbiotic relationship diagram, depicting building and city. Model at right courtesy of UCLA ETC City of Rome. Figure 4 ...................................................................................................................................... 16 Author rendering of a column being dragged through Rome observed by spectators, using “Mussolini’s monolith” as an analog. Image of Digital City of Rome used courtesy of UCLA ETC. Figure 5 ...................................................................................................................................... 20 Central quadrant of Imperial Rome, depicting the extent of Maxentian construction area. Blue indicates Maxentian constructions, green indicates extent of modified Velian Hill, red indicates possible material staging areas. Map credit: Scagnetti Roma Urbs Imperatorum Aetate, Rome: Staderini S.p.A., 1979. Figure 6 ...................................................................................................................................... 33 Haterii Relief. “Construction of a Mausoleum,” from the Tomb of the Haterii, Via Labicana, Rome (Late 1st-c. CE). Musei Vaticani, Rome. Figure 7 ...................................................................................................................................... 48 Satellite view of Mediterranean Sea, depicting the quarries and ports that supplied marble to the Basilica of Maxentius. GoogleEarth project conducted by author. Map data: Google, Landsat. Figure 8 ...................................................................................................................................... 52 Figure 8: Re-creation of a stone block on a sledge being manipulated down a street using ropes attached to bollards; image used courtesy of Yegül and Saldaña. Figure 9 ...................................................................................................................................... 53 viii Satellite view showing the 2400 km journey of marble from Proconnesus to Rome. GoogleEarth project conducted by author. Map data: Google, Landsat. Figure 10 .................................................................................................................................... 55 Shallow barge apportioned for ferrying an obelisk on an Italian coast. Galleria Carte Geographica (late 16th c. CE), Musei Vaticani, Rome. Figure 11 .................................................................................................................................... 58 Aerial view of Rome, red represents the Portus yards at Ostia port and the Tiber river conveyance, Blue represents the Emporium yards in Rome, and trip through the