"Neuedition der Bauberichte von Didyma" (new edition of the building accounts of Didyma). Final evaluation of the building surveillance

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Helga Bumke
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology ; Ancient History ; Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 444152953

The Hellenistic temple of Apollo belongs to the best-preserved ancient Greek temples. In accordance to its fine conservation and its unique layout, the temple manifests a central position within history of architecture. Moreover 24 Hellenistic building accounts, written on steles of stone, still give us insights into construction sequences and the involved stakeholders and used materials as well as they reveal details of structural engineering and the nomenclature of different types of ancient construction elements. The objective of the interdisciplinary project NEUEDITION DER BAUBERICHTE VON DIDYMA (new edition of the building accounts of Didyma) is a commented new edition of all building accounts, realized in cooperation of a building researcher and an epigraphist. The task of the building researcher was the surveillance of all architectural elements remaining from the walls and columns of the Apollon temple and its structural details to provide a basis for a precise investigation of the temple’s construction progress and its design. New insights into the organization of the construction site are included. So far, the building survey is completed and reaches far beyond all older documentations. However, the evaluation of the examination exceeds the time schedule of the project. Therefore, its extension is necessary. Furthermore, new questions raised by the work so far. As an example, the layout of the temple does not follow in all its details the repetitive constructional concept of the architecture. These deviations cannot be explained so far und must be examined by further investigations. Finally, the new results about the special constructional solutions will guide to a better understanding of passages in the texts, that so far miss a clear solution. To conclude, the extension of the project will allow the final evaluation of all results of the so far completed building surveillance to finish the project. Furthermore, an extermination of new questions concerning special constructional concepts of the Hellenistic temple will be included. The project extension will finally allow almost exclusively, to finish the interdisciplinary and binational publication of the project, that will appear as part of the Didyma-series.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants