Crafting Matters: A Coroplastic Workshop in Roman Athens
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This reconstruction of a terracotta figurine and lamp workshop in Roman Athens is based on unpublished workshop debris unearthed in recent excavations outside the northwest corner of the Athenian Agora. Through a detailed analysis of the debris left behind during a century of craft production, I reconstruct the workshop location, chaîne opératoire, and repertoire of a coroplastic workshop on the periphery of the Athenian Agora from the late 1st through the 2nd century A.D.
I present here a study of the Commercial-Industrial Building, a structure with evidence for over 500 years of crafting, located at the northwest corner of the Athenian Agora. The depositional pattern of the workshop debris indicates that a coroplastic workshop was located in one of the three southern rooms of the building. I argue that the craftsmen employed in this workshop maintained close relationships with craftsmen in other industries, namely lampmakers, potters, and bronze sculptors. Finally, I show that the wide range of types manufactured in the workshop reveals artistic influences from Hellenistic traditions, contemporary artistic media, and coroplastic production centers outside of Athens.
The late 1st to 2nd century A.D. was a pivotal time in the history of Athens, as private and imperial benefactors contributed to the physical transformation of the city center, but it was also a period of revitalization in craft production in Athens. This work paints a vivid picture of the daily activities of craftsmen working on the fringes of the Athenian Agora to serve the domestic, ritual, and funerary needs of the local population.
Document number: ucin1337264725
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1337264725
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