Building Z
Building Z was a building built on the corner of the City Wall and the Sacred Gate in the Kerameikos. This building went through a number of phases, and has shifted its internal construction as well as its role due to a number of natural disasters. The shifting use of Building Z underscores the difficulty in giving "commercial space" a precise definition. The building was initially a domestic space. In its second phase, however, it transformed in to a tavern or workshop, acting as a location where products were bought and sold. Lastly, it became a house of prostitution in its third phase, where “courteseans attended both to the looms and to the guests.” These differing roles establish Building Z as a node for all of the possible definitions of a commercial building- a place where currency is exchanged for services, and where products are made to be sold. It is truly difficult to define commercial architecture because there could be many functions of a building, such as in the case of building Z, which all need to be encompassed under an all inclusive definition.
Sources:
Knigge, Ursula, The Athenian Kerameikos: History, Monuments, Excavations. Athens: Krene, 1991.Glazebrook, Allison, and Madeleine Mary Henry. Greek Prostitutes In the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 BCE-200 CE. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011.
The Strategeion
In the area of the Agora, archaeologists have primarily relied on the architectural plans and findings that surface during excavations in order to define a building as commercial. Susan Rotroff has created a typology of the plans of these constructions, that consists of an unroofed corridor flanked on either side by a series of rooms that usually opens up to a courtyard. The archaeological discoveries that are commonly associated with commercial function are the pyres, that are clay vessels thought to be buried in the foundations of these structures as part of a ritual. Other commercial activity indicators are: tools used to manipulate metals and marble, remains of materials such as marble chips and metal waste, molds or unfinished products and large concentrations of coins. The case of the Strategeion, a building located southwest of the Tholos elucidates the problems of distinguishing civic and commercial use of the buildings in the Agora. It was originally thought to house the office of the board of the generals or the Poleterion (the office of the poletai, who were tasked with various state affairs such as leasing and confiscating properties). However, it is now argued that it is -in fact- a commercial structure base on the following evidence: the similarity of its plan to the Poros building, the concentration of marble chips and other commercial material, the coin hoard that consisted of a sum of money that could be justified only by commercial activities taking place on the site. Other evidence for this argument are the pyres that could not be associated with a civic building and the extended drainage system that is connected to the Great Drain, denoting industrial use. The discussion on the use of the Strategeion remains open, but it serves as an indicative example of the argumentative process scholars follow in attempting to define the commercial character of a structure.
Source: Rotroff, Susan. Industrial Religion: the saucer pyres of the Athenian Agora. Princeton, New Jersey: The American School of Classical Studies in Athens. 2013.
Pottery Workshops
Eleni Hasaki, in “Ceramic Kilns of Ancient Greece,” provides a clear and outlined definition of what constituted a workshop in the ancient world. Beginning with a study of kilns in “semi-isolation,” Hasaki moves on to establish them within their natural context-- a pottery workshop. “A workshop is: ‘a room, apartment, or building in which manual or industrial work is carried on.’ This definition has two major components: a) the structure itself (size is not important, but the areas must be well defined and closed off architecturally) b) the activity conducted inside this structure” (252). Importantly, Hasaki notes that the work conducted in a workshop is regular and organized industry, rather than part-time production. There are also difficulties in understanding the semantics and functions of these types of spaces. For example, ancient sources indicate three generic terms for workshop—one being any workshops in an artisanal area (sculpture, perfume, etc), even including brothels; a second, which doesn’t indicate whether domestic or non-domestic space is referred to (as a workshop can be near or within the boundaries of a house); a third acts as the most generic term for a ceramic workshop (which becomes complicated when we understand how different ceramic workshops can be, in terms of scale and production). Additionally, Hasaki presents the necessary features in identifying a workshop. Perhaps most frustrating is that architectural evidence, while important for definition, proves now to be unhelpful in the identification process. Isolated (and mobile) factors like benches, disks, or drainage systems cannot alone identify the locale (258). Identification relies upon a combination of permanent features (kiln, installations for potter’s wheel, clay settling basins) and movable features (raw material, pottery, technical equipment) (260).
Ship Sheds and their Influence on Commerce
The ancient Greek ship sheds can be considered commercial architecture in at least three important ways.
First, they provided storage for goods at different times in Athenian history. This most notably took the form of the ships they stored--goods in their own right--though they were also used to store weapons, food, and other products necessary for the conduct of war. In this way, by virtue of their use as storage facilities, the ship sheds provided an infrastructure that allowed commercial wares to be maintained.
Second, the ship sheds provided for transportation of commercial goods in addition to storage. In short, the triremes the ship sheds housed were used to facilitate trade. Though the triremes were not commercial vessels necessarily, they were nonetheless used for transportation-- a mechanism that facilitated purchases. The soldiers on board, for example, were customers at each port at which they docked. In this manner, by providing a safe place to store triremes and thus a mechanism for movement across the Mediterranean, the ship sheds encouraged trade and purchases--tangentially supporting commerce.
Third, the ship sheds, in their most abstract way, allowed for peaceful trade within Athens by citizens and then also between Athens and other countries. The ship sheds and the triremes they housed allowed Athens to rule the Mediterranean. This consequently allowed Athens the freedom of the seas they necessarily needed to conduct inter and intra state trade. This, more than anything else, is the greatest contribution the ship sheds had on Athenian commerce.
So while the ship sheds might not have been directly related to commerce in that they did not constitute a shop where wares were bought and sold, they dramatically effected Athenian commerce in a tangential way.
Building Z was a building built on the corner of the City Wall and the Sacred Gate in the Kerameikos. This building went through a number of phases, and has shifted its internal construction as well as its role due to a number of natural disasters. The shifting use of Building Z underscores the difficulty in giving "commercial space" a precise definition. The building was initially a domestic space. In its second phase, however, it transformed in to a tavern or workshop, acting as a location where products were bought and sold. Lastly, it became a house of prostitution in its third phase, where “courteseans attended both to the looms and to the guests.” These differing roles establish Building Z as a node for all of the possible definitions of a commercial building- a place where currency is exchanged for services, and where products are made to be sold. It is truly difficult to define commercial architecture because there could be many functions of a building, such as in the case of building Z, which all need to be encompassed under an all inclusive definition.
Sources:
Knigge, Ursula, The Athenian Kerameikos: History, Monuments, Excavations. Athens: Krene, 1991.Glazebrook, Allison, and Madeleine Mary Henry. Greek Prostitutes In the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 BCE-200 CE. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011.
The Strategeion
In the area of the Agora, archaeologists have primarily relied on the architectural plans and findings that surface during excavations in order to define a building as commercial. Susan Rotroff has created a typology of the plans of these constructions, that consists of an unroofed corridor flanked on either side by a series of rooms that usually opens up to a courtyard. The archaeological discoveries that are commonly associated with commercial function are the pyres, that are clay vessels thought to be buried in the foundations of these structures as part of a ritual. Other commercial activity indicators are: tools used to manipulate metals and marble, remains of materials such as marble chips and metal waste, molds or unfinished products and large concentrations of coins. The case of the Strategeion, a building located southwest of the Tholos elucidates the problems of distinguishing civic and commercial use of the buildings in the Agora. It was originally thought to house the office of the board of the generals or the Poleterion (the office of the poletai, who were tasked with various state affairs such as leasing and confiscating properties). However, it is now argued that it is -in fact- a commercial structure base on the following evidence: the similarity of its plan to the Poros building, the concentration of marble chips and other commercial material, the coin hoard that consisted of a sum of money that could be justified only by commercial activities taking place on the site. Other evidence for this argument are the pyres that could not be associated with a civic building and the extended drainage system that is connected to the Great Drain, denoting industrial use. The discussion on the use of the Strategeion remains open, but it serves as an indicative example of the argumentative process scholars follow in attempting to define the commercial character of a structure.
Source: Rotroff, Susan. Industrial Religion: the saucer pyres of the Athenian Agora. Princeton, New Jersey: The American School of Classical Studies in Athens. 2013.
Pottery Workshops
Eleni Hasaki, in “Ceramic Kilns of Ancient Greece,” provides a clear and outlined definition of what constituted a workshop in the ancient world. Beginning with a study of kilns in “semi-isolation,” Hasaki moves on to establish them within their natural context-- a pottery workshop. “A workshop is: ‘a room, apartment, or building in which manual or industrial work is carried on.’ This definition has two major components: a) the structure itself (size is not important, but the areas must be well defined and closed off architecturally) b) the activity conducted inside this structure” (252). Importantly, Hasaki notes that the work conducted in a workshop is regular and organized industry, rather than part-time production. There are also difficulties in understanding the semantics and functions of these types of spaces. For example, ancient sources indicate three generic terms for workshop—one being any workshops in an artisanal area (sculpture, perfume, etc), even including brothels; a second, which doesn’t indicate whether domestic or non-domestic space is referred to (as a workshop can be near or within the boundaries of a house); a third acts as the most generic term for a ceramic workshop (which becomes complicated when we understand how different ceramic workshops can be, in terms of scale and production). Additionally, Hasaki presents the necessary features in identifying a workshop. Perhaps most frustrating is that architectural evidence, while important for definition, proves now to be unhelpful in the identification process. Isolated (and mobile) factors like benches, disks, or drainage systems cannot alone identify the locale (258). Identification relies upon a combination of permanent features (kiln, installations for potter’s wheel, clay settling basins) and movable features (raw material, pottery, technical equipment) (260).
Ship Sheds and their Influence on Commerce
The ancient Greek ship sheds can be considered commercial architecture in at least three important ways.
First, they provided storage for goods at different times in Athenian history. This most notably took the form of the ships they stored--goods in their own right--though they were also used to store weapons, food, and other products necessary for the conduct of war. In this way, by virtue of their use as storage facilities, the ship sheds provided an infrastructure that allowed commercial wares to be maintained.
Second, the ship sheds provided for transportation of commercial goods in addition to storage. In short, the triremes the ship sheds housed were used to facilitate trade. Though the triremes were not commercial vessels necessarily, they were nonetheless used for transportation-- a mechanism that facilitated purchases. The soldiers on board, for example, were customers at each port at which they docked. In this manner, by providing a safe place to store triremes and thus a mechanism for movement across the Mediterranean, the ship sheds encouraged trade and purchases--tangentially supporting commerce.
Third, the ship sheds, in their most abstract way, allowed for peaceful trade within Athens by citizens and then also between Athens and other countries. The ship sheds and the triremes they housed allowed Athens to rule the Mediterranean. This consequently allowed Athens the freedom of the seas they necessarily needed to conduct inter and intra state trade. This, more than anything else, is the greatest contribution the ship sheds had on Athenian commerce.
So while the ship sheds might not have been directly related to commerce in that they did not constitute a shop where wares were bought and sold, they dramatically effected Athenian commerce in a tangential way.
