And we can also see the niches have coffering in them, very interesting
decoration, use of columns on two
tiers, no structural purpose whatsoever, decorative only,
projecting into our space, creating that in-and-out undulating movement.
And then a very unusual motif, architectural motif in the center.
I show you here the south apse, where
we can see the pink granite once again preserved.
Ionic capitals in this particular case for that niche.
And then these very heavily decorated pilasters on either side.
And in the center of the niche these very
tall columns.
This is very interesting because it seems to have that
no purpose whatsoever than just to stand there and look good.
Two colossal columns on tall bases with Corinthian capitals and then a
lintel on top of those and then Griffins and then another lintel on the top.
What was the purpose of this?
Did it have some kind of religious purpose?
Well, this is a civic structure, so unlikely.
It's just
a decoration among other decorations, but using architectural elements in toto.
The piers are very, very interesting.
They're eaten away, dematerialized by their sculpture as
you can see here, light and dark accentuated.
And if you look at the details of them, you will see that one of
them or a couple of them have scenes of the of the 12 labors of Hercules.
Remember, this was a building that was completed
by Caracalla.
Is it a stretch to say that Caracalla might have wanted to
have Herculean imagery here as he did in the baths of Caracalla?
Or the benefactor who helped you know, build this might
have had that in mind as well, to make that connection?
It might be far fetched, but certainly something worth thinking about.
And two more details of that decoration here.
I want to mention just in passing the Arch
of Septemius Severus.
It's more a work of sculpture than it is of architecture, and
it has a lot of figural scenes that are interesting for their iconography.
But I just want to make passing reference to
it because It is the one building that I
mentioned that we do believe was put up in
203 and ready for Septimius' visit to the city.
It also is interesting because it is, it is it was made at the same time as
the arch in Rome, the Parthian Arch in Rome, 203
AD, and also celebrates Septimius Severus' victories over the Parthians.
That's exactly what it celebrates, and those
scenes are alluded to in the figural sculpture.
But it is very different from the arch in Rome because it is a tetrapylon.
I mentioned the tetrapylon when we went over the paper topics.
The four-sided arch, the purpose of which
is to span two streets that cross that at that, that intersect at
that particular point so the traffic can go through the arch going both ways.
It's really quite ingenious.
And we see the tetrapylon does not does not take off in
Rome, but is very popular in the provinces, and we see it here.
We also see as we look at this structure, and it has
been by the way, it had fallen down completely but has been
re, re-erected although the sculpture on it is,
is cast, and the original sculpture in the museum.
But we do here something very interesting, and that
is that they have used the broken triangular pediment here.
You can see the way the pediment is broken apart and used used only in
part here, which is something we do not see in Roman arch design.
Here is a view of it from the side, where you can get
a sense of the drama of those broken triangular pediments, as well
as the way in which this structure was completely covered with sculpture.
And you can see some of that sculpture also dematerializing the arch in
a way very similar to the piers that we saw also in the basilica.
And I just show you two, quickly, two details of
the figural sculpture that we see there honoring Septimius Severus and
his two sons in a triumphal chariot at the top, and then down here below Septimius
shaking hands with his elder son Caracalla as if giving him power.
Geta stands in the center.
Geta is still alive, and not erased on this monument here.
And but Geta is standing here and then this wonderful image of
Julia Domna with her fabulous wig standing next to them and looking on.
But look at this figure here. Who is this?
Hercules with his club standing right behind the shoulder of Caracalla.
So once again this very close association between Caracalla and his alter ego.
I want to end today with my favorite building in Leptis Magna, in fact
one of my favorite buildings from the entire semester because it is so unique.
This is the so-called hunting
baths at Leptis Magna. They date to the late second to
early third century A.D. I show you an axonometric view from Ward-Perkins.
They're very well preserved, and I'll show you, show them to you in a moment.
This bath is interesting in all kinds of ways, but it's
interesting primarily because it's a private bath, not a public bath.
We've looked at so many public baths this semester.
What do I mean by a private bath?
Not one individual.