Stone and Splendor. Interior Decorations in Late-antique Palaces and Villas

This volume contains 14 contributions that were presented during a workshop in 2019 in Trier. The aim of this international meeting was to create a platform for the exchange among scientists with the research focus on the interior decorations (wall and floor incrustations, mosaics, paintings, stucco and sculpture) of late-antique Roman palaces and villas, mainly those in imperial possession, but also of other contemporaneous palatial building complexes, luxurious villas and houses, which are relevant for comparison due to their rich furnishings and size. The articles in this book cover a number of sites in different regions of the Roman Empire: imperial palaces in Trier, Milano, Thessaloniki, Sirmium, Felix Fomuliana, Rome and Ravenna, luxurious villas and houses in Pfalzel, Carranque, Apollonia (Libya) and other places. The authors illustrate the particularities of the interior décor, influenced by both local tastes and the fashion from Rome, as well as by the availability and affordability of precious materials. Special attention is paid to wall and floor incrustations, since marmora like hardly any other material stand for the luxury and splendor and can be found in all late-antique buildings of importance and rank, here predominantly in the representative apsidal halls.