School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemSocial, civic and architectural unity at Aspendos, Aphrodisias and Oenoanda: three Greek agoras in Asia Minor( 2011)This thesis discusses the development of the Greek agora in three cities in Asia Minor: Aspendos, Aphrodisias and Oenoanda, from the Hellenistic period to the end of new major public building work in the late Imperial period. Previous scholarship of Greek agoras in Asia Minor has tended to focus on individual buildings, using a comparative methodology to establish the extent to which any building was representative of its type. This approach has been essential in understanding the evolution of specific buildings but has at times overlooked the interplay of the architecture on the agora and its relationship with other elements which were typically found there such as honorific inscriptions, statue monuments and altars. The agora was the political and social heart of a Classical-style polis and most likely originated as a large open space for citizens to participate in public life. The agora subsequently evolved specific building types to accommodate for the increasingly wide range of activities practised there. It also came to be one of the preferred locations for local and foreign elite to practice euergetism in order to legitimise their positions of power and right to rule within the social hierarchy of the city. This thesis takes up the concept of ‘urban armature’ and focuses this approach on the agora’s role in a city as the provider of social and civic unity as well as a space for the expression of the identity of its citizens. Apart from the discussion of the architectural development of the buildings which could be found on the agora, this thesis also takes into account historical, social, political and economic factors especially in terms of their effect on the architectural development of the agoras in the three cities discussed in this thesis. By applying this approach to three case studies, new observations are made about the agora and its development in these cities.