The Ionic Capitals from the South Stoa of Aphrodisias’ Urban Park: A Case Study of Urban Design in Late Antiquity

Abstract

This paper examines a group of 18 unpublished late fifth-, early sixth-cent. A.D. Ionic capitals belonging to the South Stoa of the city’s urban park, the ›South Agora‹. As a coherent yet individualized group of newly carved Ionic capitals uncommon in Asia Minor for its time, this group is an exceptional example of the potential of Late Antique aesthetics and urban design. By analyzing various economic factors and the concept of varietas (in Greek, poikilia) as a guiding aesthetic principle, I argue that patrons and sculptors established certain parameters in the execution of this material to help defray the expense of such a costly enterprise and to satisfy the aesthetic desires of contemporary populations. In doing so, these producers reconciled a seemingly paradoxical perspective in Aphrodisias, one that was simultaneously dependent on the realities of an inherited past and a dynamic present.