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Spolia

Spolia: modern name for architectural elements that are reused in a later construction.

Reused drums in the Hexamilion Wall, Isthmia

Spolia is the Latin word (meaning “loot”) that art historians and archaeologists use to describe architectural elements that are reused in a later construction. Spoliation was quite common in Late Antiquity, although there are many earlier examples, and has been interpreted as evidence for economic decline. While not untrue, there is a symbolic aspect as well. For example, the builders of the Arch of Constantine reused sculpture from the second century CE to present their emperor’s reign as a return to the age of Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius. The use of columns from pagan temples in Christian churches was to prove that the old gods were powerless.

This page was created in 2019; last modified on 9 June 2019.

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