Vittoriano
CYCLE: Frontiers of archaeology: comparing experiences
SPEAKER: Theodoros Mavrogiannis
DATE: Tuesday, April 14, 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Bibliotheca Maior - Sala della Crociera
The sanctuary dedicated to Apollo Hylates and Apollo Caesar at Kourion was rebuilt between 100–101 and 113–114 AD, following an intervention by Emperor Trajan through his proconsuls, Q. Laberius Iustus Cocceius Lepidus and Q. Caelius Honoratus. The oracle-sanctuaries of Cyprus enjoyed significant international prestige; for instance, the Oracle of Aphrodite at Palaepaphos predicted the rise to the throne of Emperor Titus during his stop in Cyprus in 69 AD. The sanctuary of Apollo Hylates—where a veiled cult was attributed to Trajan Caesar during his lifetime according to directives from Rome—was characterized by a tetrastyle prostyle temple featuring distinctive Nabataean capitals. This specific type of capital appeared as early as the Augustan age within the Nabataean Kingdom (Petra, Mada'in Salih) and the Kingdom of Herod the Great (Masada). However, they reappeared with renewed vigor and greater elegance in the Roman province of Arabia following its creation by Trajan in 106 AD (Bostra, Gerasa, Seeia-Hauran). Their spread across an area reaching from Cyprus to the Arabian Peninsula highlights the cultural homogeneity of the Middle Eastern region.
Furthermore, this architectural link suggests a new global organization of Arabia and Judea envisioned by Trajan. This was framed as the annexation of an Arabia adquisita (acquired) rather than capta (captured), and thus redacta in formam provinciae (reduced to the form of a province). As this lecture aims to demonstrate through the evidence at Gerasa, this project traces back to Vespasian’s policy in Syria and Judea, as well as to Augustus’s own declarations in the Res Gestae (XXVI 5).
