Abstract:

Apart from grey-bluish marble (bigio), coloured marble (africano), which was highly valued as building and decoration material by the Romans, was obtained from the quarries of Teos. Owing to the great demand for Teian coloured marble in Rome, the quarries are likely to have come under imperial control as early as under Augustus. Since the pertinent passage by Pliny (nat. hist. 36, 49–50) is corrupted, the question as to whether the «marmor Luculleum», introduced into Rome by and named after the general Lucius Licinius Lucullus, actually stemmed from the quarries at Teos and can be identified with the so-called Africano marble has hitherto remained moot. A newly found inscription from Teos finally answers it in favour of this Ionian city. Said inscription is a dedication to Venus Pontia by the imperial freedman Communis, who mentions «a lapicidinis Luculleis» as his official title. In this capacity he probably supervised work in the quarries of Teos. The extraction of coloured marble was apparently limited to five archaeologically verified quarries in the hinterland of Teos. Compared with other imperial quarries, those at Teos were rather small-scale sites. In addition, the quantity of this sought-after coloured marble extracted from these quarries was not very high, as this marble was found in close association with grey marble. The quantity of grey marble extracted there appears to have been several times higher. In the 2nd century AD the quantity of coloured marble being extracted was in rapid decline, and by 166 AD this type of marble seems to have been used up completely. Consequently, the quarries were closed, which is confirmed by the archaeological evidence as well as by dated inscriptions found on marble blocks left behind in the quarries of Karagöl and Kesikkaya. Today, traces of coloured marble can be found only in the rubble from extraction at said quarries, whereas the extraction walls themselves consist of grey marble. The great demand in the capital for coloured marble from Teos resulted in most of the quarried material being to be shipped to Rome and Italy. However, cities in Asia Minor do not appear to have been entirely excluded from access to the Africano. In Teos itself small vestiges of the Africano from the bouleuterion prove that this marble was used as cladding material. The revision of a hitherto unsatisfactorily edited dedicatory inscription (PHI Teos 100) also shows that the strategos Kleonaios had the floor of a public building laid out with coloured marble. Said floor was dedicated to an emperor whose name is erased (perhaps Domitian), to the city god Dionysus and to the demos of Teos.

Keywords: