Churches EA and E at Sardis. Archaeological Exploration of Sardis Report 6. by Hans Buchwald

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

Reviewed by: Churches EA and E at Sardis. Archaeological Exploration of Sardis Report 6. by Hans Buchwald Carolyn S. Snively Churches EA and E at Sardis. Archaeological Exploration of Sardis Report 6. Hans Buchwald with a contribution by Anne McClanan Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015. Pp. xxiii + 341. ISBN: 978-0-674-50440-0. This book provides a detailed architectural survey and discussion of two successive churches that were located southwest of the late antique fortified city of Sardis, in an important extramural district now known as Pactolus North. Church EA was a three-aisled basilica, simple in plan but quite large, as indicated by its 41 m length from rounded apse through narthex. Between the fifth and seventh centuries an atrium and other eastern, northern, and western annexes were added to the original structure, access routes and functions of spaces changed, and a residence across the street might have served as an episcopal palace. Early in the seventh century, the damaged complex went out of use; it stood in ruins for two centuries. A chapel built into the northwest corner of the atrium, possibly ca. 660 AD, may have sheltered services. The original building was reconstructed, perhaps in the second half of the ninth century, although that date is based more on historical events than on archaeological evidence; walls separated aisles from nave, and the north part of the narthex was eventually closed off. In the thirteenth century, inscribed-cross Church E with five domes replaced its predecessor, occupying the eastern part of the nave and encroaching on the north aisle of Church EA. One of a small group of buildings constructed during the Lascarid period, it ceased to be used for Christian worship early in the fourteenth century, when Turkish forces captured Sardis. After a period of industrial use, an earthquake destroyed Church E, probably in 1595. The author’s unexpected death in 2013 left the manuscript in the penultimate stage before publication. The finished version reflects the final editing by Katherine Kiefer and Marcus Rautman as well as the care taken by Harvard University Press to produce a volume that is easy on the eyes as well as to use; no typographical errors were observed. Although new evidence for dating might have been taken into consideration and the bibliography updated, had the author lived to do a final revision, the book nevertheless stands as a fitting and valuable monument to his expertise. The volume serves as an example of how to publish architectural remains. It provides detailed descriptions of the phases of ecclesiastical architecture and associated wall masonry, proportions, mosaic and other floors, wall decoration, and architectural fragments, followed by 130 pages of plans and sharp black-and-white photographs and a great deal of information summarized in nine tables. After each section of description, possibilities are discussed for dating, for function of spaces, and for interpretation, but they are always firmly tied to the architectural and the very sparse archaeological evidence. The volume ends with 25 pages of bibliography, in type of legible size, and a detailed index. The reader will [End Page 555] find a veritable textbook, with additional information and references in the voluminous footnotes. The Early Byzantine basilica was not completely investigated, in part because of later structures, including Church E, and modern roads. The Pactolus River destroyed the northwest part of the atrium and the rooms attached to its western wall. Burials, many but not all from the ninth century and later, had been dug through the floors of the basilica or were found in its annexes and in the Street of Pipes beside the church. An appendix, by Anne McClanan, provides a brief discussion of the graves and a catalogue. A recurrent theme is that of possible martyr burials. Scattered Roman graves were found in Pactolus North, and Buchman suggests that Church EA might have been built at the grave of a martyr; the names of two such saints are known at Sardis. None of the early burials seems to fit that role, but two secondary burials associated with the ninth-century reconstruction suggest that those skeletons were or were believed to be those of martyrs or saints. These two graves...