Roman Sculptures from Side in Context: The Ideal Sculpture

Sculptures from Side are among the best preserved sculptural material in Asia Minor. The site of Side, located on the trade route to Egypt and the Levant, favoured an economic growth of the antique harbour especially in the 2nd and 3rd c. AD. Side developed into one of the richest cities in Pamphylia and the southern region of Asia Minor. More than 400 sculptures from the Roman period (statues, fragments, heads, statuettes, etc.) came to light during the excavations from 1947-1966 in Side. In the application the ideal sculpture (male and female figures of gods/goddesses, heroes, athletes) will be examined in context of production, time and space. In the last few years, scholars have analyzed more deeply questions of reworking and reusing of statuary and issues regarding workshops and craftsmen and made great progress in that matter. No such contexts have been examined regarding the sculpture from Side. The aim of this research is to understand the role played by workshops concerning style, technical aspects as well as distribution and erection of sculptures in imperial times. In general, two main topics arise: 1. Sculptures in context (provenance/find-spot; erection; customers, benefactors; historical context) 2. Questions on production and workshop (provenance of marbles/marble analysis; studies on style and technique of the figures; sculptors and the epigraphic evidence; comparative studies on sculpture from other sites). The topic will be examined according to the following methods: It is planned to take marble samples from a majority of the sculptures in order to achieve information regarding the provenance and distribution of marble from certain quarries for the sculptures in Side and in the region of Pamphylia. Furthermore, the sculptural material will be examined concerning technical and stylistic elaborations to obtain information on workshop traditions, itinerant and local workshops, import, export and the distribution of sculpture. In addition, it will be examined whether similar sculptures in Side und Perge were produced in the same workshop. The interpretation of sculptures in the scope of the Second Sophistic in Asia Minor in the 2nd c. AD is also subject of the study. Furthermore, the historical context, the erection of statues, customers and clients as well as the occasion of the erection has to be examined. Moreover, the question of an iconographic program will be discussed as well as possible reasons for the selection of figure types. Evidence for reworking and reusing of sculptures, epigraphic and numismatic evidence has to be considered likewise. The study will be undertaken by the applicant in cooperation with the research personal (N.N.), the University of Leoben (marble analysis), the Anadolu Üniversitesi Eskisehir, the excavation and the Museum in Side.

Roman Sculptures from Side in Context: The Ideal Sculpture (FWF, P28981 G 25, 2016- 2019) Project team: Alice Landskron (Project leader), Manuel Reimann (Predoc), Gordian Landskron (Photographer) National cooperation partner: Walter Prochaska (University of Leoben) International cooperation partners: Hüseyin S. Alanyali, Feristah Alanyali, Serap Erkoç (all: Anadolu University, Eskisehir/TR and excavation in Side); Museum in Side The concept of the project can be defined as a contextual case study of the sculptural environment from Side/Pamphylia from early imperial times up to Late antiquity. The problematization of the topic focused on research beyond typology, iconography and style of the ideal sculptures found in the ancient site of Side and on new findings from the late 1970s up to recent times. A total number of 340 ideal sculptures and fragments have been studied until the end of the project. The structure of the study on sculpture from Side was based and realized/executed under the following aspects:Definingterminology (ideal sculpture/replica/copy, dating criteria).Catalogue (typology; iconographical studies; stylistic and technical observations, traces of tools; measurements, comparative examples, dating, bibliography). Stylistic and technical analyses, studies on workshop, reuse and/or reworking of sculptures, and dating. Sculptures from Side in context of production and display provide more detailed information about antique networks for production/distribution of sculpture in Asia Minor, esp. in Pamphylia.Sculpturesfrom Side in context of time and space and the Second Sophistic in Asia Minor, the display and the long life of the statues and the buildings up to Late Antiquity.Customers, benefactors, patrons, historical context, and the sculptures from Side in context of epigraphic and numismatic evidence. The results of the contextual case study for the region of Pamphylia has an exemplary effect for any other contextual study of Roman sculptural material from other sites within the research field of Roman sculptures in southern Asia Minor, especially in regard of the discussed aspects of the entire sculptural environment of an ancient city, including inscriptions, portrait statues, ideal sculpture, reuse of sculptures, etc. The importance of the project is the discussion of all available information about the sculptural material, including detailed photographs. The project and the preparation of the publication result in important scholarly advances regarding the discussions of patrons, display and workshop traditions.Preliminary results indicate a vibrant and extensive sculptural environment in Side in the 3rd/4th c. AD and beyond which is proved by the sculptural material itself and by inscriptions. Many ideal sculptures date in the 3rd c. AD, some show signs of later reworking and reuse.