Le decorazioni marmoree della basilica nella vecchia Ashkelon

The study of marble decoration, in an archaeological context, represents a significant area of research in the history of art but even more crucial and critical is when the historical stratifications and archival documentation does not allow a clear classification of the parts. In this case, the analysis can become discriminating for determining the age and historical belonging of an artefact. Many studies in this regard focus on the analysis of decoration and stylistic comparison. This text presents applied research focused on the survey of select marble finds of importance from the Ashkelon site (Israel), an area difficult to interpret due to the rich historical and archaeological stratification, and with the discovery of works decontextualized through the archaeological excavation lacking extensive and exhaustive historical documentation. The ancient city of Ashkelon, in fact, boasts a thousand-year history that from the Canaanite Egyptian period develops under various influences, including Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader, through to the Arab period and the abandonment of the city in favor of a new Ashkelon built upon the immediate coastal plain. The site contribution presents an unpublished survey of some architectural elements, including a group of erratic Corinthian capitals and four fragments of sculptural pilasters, all catalogued as components of the ancient Roman basilica. Numerous authors have previously discussed the study of these elements, coming to identify numerous examples in the various Roman sites of the Mediterranean, evidence of an art at internationally recognised levels. To quantify the originality of the contribution, further research will consist of enriching the archival documentation, which was briefly treated, by way of recalling the current state of the art and applying a series of technical observations on proportions and dimensions implemented in the realization of the analyzed elements. This plan of action would make available, through the scientific survey, the collection of technical data serving multiple functions. A metric survey of the fragments allows, in fact, the making of accurate comparisons with other samples/examples believed to be contemporary to the Ashkelon fragments. Within this text a comparison with a very similar capital found at the site of Caesarea will be presented. Operations of this type and manner make it possible to develop a technical documentary whose mechanism for metric comparison overcomes the simple visual stylistic comparison, replacing it with laying the foundations for an accurate study on the geometry and stereotomy of the parts.