Virtue from Necessity in the Urban Waterworks of Roman Asia Minor

268 Pages·2016·3.68 MB·English

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara

Virtue from Necessity in the Urban Waterworks
of Roman Asia Minor

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
History of Art and Architecture
by
Brianna Lynn Bricker

Committee in charge:
Professor Fikret K. Yegül, Chair
Professor Swati Chattopadhyay
Professor Christine M. Thomas

June 2016
The dissertation of Brianna Lynn Bricker is approved:

____________________________________________
Swati Chattopadhyay

____________________________________________
Christine M. Thomas

____________________________________________
Fikret K. Yegül, Committee Chair

June 2016
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Damlaya damlaya göl olur
“Drop by drop, a lake will form,” goes the Turkish proverb. And so went this
dissertation project: little by little quotidian efforts turned into something larger. But
these drops, in fact, were not just my own efforts, nor were they always quotidian.
The number of drops contributed by others is incalculable, but the impact is clear.
Special thanks go to my advisor Fikret Yegül for his unwavering support and
kindness throughout my graduate school experience. I also thank Diane Favro for her
continual warmth and helpfulness. I am deeply thankful for my other committee
members, Swati Chattopadhyay and Christine Thomas, for providing important
outside perspectives and challenging me to go farther with my work.
I am truly grateful for my community at UCSB: firstly, the Department of the
History of Art and Architecture, for the support and space to grow as a scholar. I also
thank the Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group for fostering collaboration
between disciplines and creating an inviting and dynamic atmosphere of research.
I would particularly like to thank my community at the Sardis Expedition, for
nurturing in me the curiosity and zeal to explore the Anatolian countryside: Marcus
Rautman introduced me to the intricacies and interesting nature of waterworks, while
Bahadır Yıldırım and Nicholas Cahill provided further encouragement and
perspective. Of course, gratitude for my experiences in Turkey extends to the
countless locals, site guards, dolmuş drivers, and others who extended their kindness,
their time, practical information, or even a glass of ayran.
I would also like to express gratitude for the financial support of fellowships which
have allowed me to travel and pursue my studies: those from the Graduate Dean,
Graduate Division, the UC Multi-Campus Research Project, and the Department of
the History of Art and Architecture; the Albert and Elaine Borchard European
Studies Fellowship; and the Frontinus Gesellschaft Stipendium.
I thank my family for their patience and encouragement and I thank my friends,
those who supported me with a cup of tea and wise words, and those who supported
me in the field: Lauren DiSalvo, Frances Gallart-Marqués, Jennifer Kim, Meriç
Öztürk, Jordan Pickett, Naomi Pitamber, and Liz Raubolt DeRitter, to name a few of
the latter. Lastly I thank Chrysafis for providing the necessary diversions and
sustenance that allow one not only to survive but to enjoy life during graduate school.
This work is dedicated to the memory of Greenie, who first opened my eyes to the
wonders of the ancient world.
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CURRICULUM VITAE
BRIANNA LYNN BRICKER
MAY 2016

EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts in History, University of California, Berkeley, December 2007
Master of Arts in the History of Art and Architecture, University of California, Santa
Barbara, June 2011
Doctor of Philosophy in the History of Art and Architecture, University of California,
Santa Barbara, June 2016 (expected)

PUBLICATIONS & SELECT PAPERS
Possibly the largest Roman monumental arch (Sardis, western Anatolia).
Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 6-9 January
2016. Co-Presented with Bahadir Yildirim, Harvard Art Museums.
“Sanitation, Splendor, and Status in the Hydraulic Landscape of Sardis.” In De
Aquaeductu atque Aqua Urbium Lyciae Pamphyliae Pisidiae – The Legacy of Sextus
Julius Frontinus. International Congress on the History of Water Management and
Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, Antalya, October 31 –
November 9, 2014, ed. Gilbert Wiplinger. Leuven, Peeters: 47-54.
Management and Manipulation of Water in Roman Sardis. Archaeological Institute
of America Annual Meeting, Chicago, 2-5 January 2014. Co-Presented with Marcus
Rautman, University of Missouri.
“Ceci N’est Pas Un Mur: Representation and Reality in Ephesian Urban Boundaries,”
Seleucia ad Calycadnum, Vol. 2 (2012): 185-200.
Founts of Identity: Water Usage and Landscape Change in Southwestern Anatolia.
Center for International History Graduate Student Conference: Places and
Displacement, Department of History, Columbia University, 2011.

AWARDS
Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship, Winter 2016
Dissertation Research Travel Grant, Fall 2015, New York
Albert and Elaine Borchard European Studies Fellowship, 2014-2015
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Frontinus Gesellschaft Stipendium, 2014 International Congress on the History of
Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region,
Antalya
University of California Multi-Campus Research Project, Mediterranean Travel
Fellowship, Summer-Fall 2014
Graduate Dean’s Advancement Fellowship, Summer 2014
Graduate Student Travel Grant, 2014 AIA Annual Meeting, Chicago
Pre-Dissertation Research Travel Grant, Winter and Spring 2013, Istanbul, Turkey

FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Concentration: Roman Architecture and Urbanism
Minor Concentration: Islamic Art and Architecture
Degree Emphasis: Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program

EXPERIENCE
2010-present: Senior Architect, the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, Sart,
Turkey
2009-2015: Teaching Assistant, Department of the History of Art and Architecture,
University of California, Santa Barbara
2007-2009: Recorder, the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, Sart, Turkey
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ABSTRACT

Virtue from Necessity in the Urban Waterworks of Roman Asia Minor
by
Brianna Lynn Bricker

The period of Roman rule is marked by the stark transformation of cities
across the Mediterranean. Aqueducts, baths, and fountains sprouted up from the
prosperous conditions of the high imperial period, and with the introduction of urban
forms and practices emerged a shared cultural community out of diverse peoples.
Local variation of course persisted, and my dissertation project interrogates the
specificity of place in this process. I examine the transformation of the cities of Asia
Minor over the course of Roman rule (133 BCE – 620 CE) through the lens of
topography and water management, asking how local culture and sense of place
profoundly affected the form and the extent to which resources and technologies of
empire brought change.

I focus on the interconnection of topography, infrastructure, and urban image
in four cities: Side, Aizanoi, Arykanda, and Rhodiapolis, which represent a range of
topographical situations and a shared entanglement with Roman technology and
culture. I first use the evidence of topographical, archaeological, and textual records
to analyze the influence and role of water in shaping the city physically, culturally,
and perceptually. I next look at the forces that spurred the intensification or
reconfiguration of water management and use, arguing that homogeneity in
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infrastructural elements was only one aspect that contributed to urban character; their
urban context and the histories allowing for their creation brought an inherently local
quality to empire-wide forms. Lastly I examine how socio-political structures altered
the way water was exploited and made available, considering the physical effects of
water on the social body, and how seemingly ordinary encounters with the urban
water network signaled deeper, more complex systems of power.

My study shows how the power of place shaped the nature of this interaction
more deeply than previously considered. I call for a change in the way one thinks
about regional cities and urban transformation under Roman rule. Roman forms
altered the existing urban character and created forms and practices shared across the
empire. However, these forms were perceived differently based on topographic and
cultural landscape upon which they were imprinted; locale and locals changed the
meanings.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... III
CURRICULUM VITAE ............................................................................................ IV
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ VI
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. X
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1
Situating the Anatolian hydroscape ..................................................................... 3
Studying the Anatolian hydroscape ..................................................................... 7
Approaches to water and urbanism ................................................................... 10
Methods, questions, and goals ........................................................................... 15
CHAPTER 2. WATER AS A SHAPER OF CITIES ................................................ 23
Water, deity, and community .............................................................................. 27
Forerunners and overlay in Roman Anatolian cult .............................................. 28
Deities rooted in place ....................................................................................... 31
Cities rooted in cult ritual .................................................................................... 34
Cities of the sea ................................................................................................... 35
Utility .................................................................................................................. 38
Pleasure ............................................................................................................ 40
SIDE: a harbor city ............................................................................................. 42
Cities of the river ................................................................................................. 54
Utility .................................................................................................................. 56
Pleasure ............................................................................................................ 59
AIZANOI: a river city .......................................................................................... 63
Cities of the spring .............................................................................................. 70
Utility .................................................................................................................. 71
Pleasure ............................................................................................................ 73
ARYKANDA: a spring city .................................................................................. 74
Dry cities .............................................................................................................. 79
Utility .................................................................................................................. 81
Pleasure ............................................................................................................ 83
RHODIAPOLIS: a cistern city ............................................................................. 83
Topographical determination or topographies of determination? ................... 89
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CHAPTER 3. CITY AS A SHAPER OF WATERS ................................................. 92
Water supply: benefactions, technologies, and timescales ............................. 94
AIZANOI: infrastructure of the early imperial period ........................................... 99
ARYKANDA: holding tradition amid infrastructural expansion .......................... 106
RHODIAPOLIS: overcoming barriers to urbanism during the high empire ........ 113
SIDE: the ongoing need for port and potable water .......................................... 119
Water usage: components and accessibility in the urban network ............... 131
Practical applications and hygiene ................................................................... 133
Matters of religion, culture, and display ............................................................ 137
Toward an Anatolian hydroscape ..................................................................... 142
Local typologies, developed ............................................................................. 143
Imperial involvement ........................................................................................ 146
Urbanism and spatial flexibility ......................................................................... 149
CHAPTER 4. WATER AND CITY AS SHAPERS OF SOCIETIES ...................... 154
Conditions of place as initiative for change .................................................... 157
Constraints of place ......................................................................................... 158
Intentions for social spaces .............................................................................. 161
Baths for a city: Rhodiapolis vs. Arykanda ....................................................... 167
Urban image and performativity ....................................................................... 168
Agents of urban spaces ................................................................................... 169
The power of visuals ........................................................................................ 173
The power of performativity .............................................................................. 179
Self-reference at Side ...................................................................................... 183
Shifting dialogues in Late Antiquity ................................................................. 185
Civic and cult ways, restructured ...................................................................... 186
The reappearance of restrictions ...................................................................... 190
Reprioritization, reduction, reuse ...................................................................... 193
Return to the ‘norm’ at Aizanoi ......................................................................... 205
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION: URBAN SPACE AND THE HYDROSCAPE IN
ROMAN ASIA MINOR ......................................................................................... 207
FIGURES ............................................................................................................. 212
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................. 221

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LIST OF FIGURES

Unless indicated, all photographs are by the author.

Figure 1: Map of Roman Asia Minor. Ancient World Mapping Center. “À-la-carte”.
<http://awmc.unc.edu/awmc/applications/alacarte/>
Figure 2: Eflatun Pinar
Figure 3: Iotape, with bath, cove, and grotto (not visible, in right corner)
Figure 4: Side. Nymphaeum
Figure 5: Side. Nymphaeum parapet scene with Epibaterion scene
Figure 6: Side. Eastern colonnaded street with side canals
Figure 7: Side. Converted Vespasian monument; to right, cistern exterior with
fountains
Figure 8: Aizanoi. Bridge 4
Figure 9: Aizanoi. From sanctuary of Meter Steunene; modern dam at top left sits
above ancient dam
Figure 10: Arykanda. Hellenistic cistern in commercial agora, view to southeast
Figure 11: Arykanda. Great Bath-Gymnasium from lower agora, view to southeast
Figure 12: Rhodiapolis. Row of barrel-vaulted cisterns under agora terrace, view to
northeast
Figure 13: Rhodiapolis. Large Bathhouse with cisterns, view to east
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