Univ.-Prof. Peter Scherrer
Suggested project
Univ.-Prof. Peter Scherrer
Andronitis and gynaikonitis as spaces of resonance: Simultaneous residing and living in a public and private house
Ever since the Classical period, but especially in Hellenistic times, it is possible to trace a development of two barely connected individual functional units in Greek and Roman upper class residences. This phenomenon is hard to define in the relatively small houses of the Archaic and Classical periods (Schnurr-Redford 1996), but becomes especially obvious in palaces housing the kings/rulers emerging since the mid-fourth century BC and furthermore in wealthy domiciles of the Late Republic and early Imperial period in Rome/Italy. In these complexes the overall construction is structurally subdivided into two autonomous parts serving as two individual houses. One is generally larger and more elaborately decorated, serving as an official residence for the head of the household (andronitis) while the other is designed as a more modest and private part actually housing the family itself in its closer sense (gynaikonitis). Mostly only one door allowed access from one part to the other.
Even though this development is commonly known in archaeology and architectural history, the sociology and relations between those two house parts still need closer scrutiny. It is unclear, for example, if the upper floors which hosted inter alia the dormitorialrooms, were also separated and if the residential part also housed apartments for guests (xenoi, amici). Sometimes kitchens, baths and other infrastructural units were not – or not fully – present in both houses. The functions of the large central courtyards in Hellenistic dwellings or the peristyles added in the back of Roman/Italian dwellings are largely unexplored; for the residential part space for assemblies, as well as gardens with ambulatoria for philosophical and confidential conversations might be expected, while in the private courts some infrastructure for heating, storage or the performance of crafts of different kinds – even the keeping of animals or kitchen gardens – seems plausible. The distribution of installations for religious purposes is also largely unclear.
The application of resonance theory promises to generate further questions that might help to differentiate and relate findings to each other. Which types of social-religious practices are traceable in or afforded by these spaces? Which dimensions of resonance did they constitute for different users, how did they help to create, foster or exclude horizontal, vertical, object-related diagonal or introspective self—world relationships? How were spaces imbued with religious significance? Beyond these questions and related methodological tools, the IDGK offers the possibility to compare these houses with those of modern societies with similar conditions and goals in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Collaborations: Cooperation concerning the living situation in andronitis and gynaikonitis is intended with JörgRüpke, Wolfgang Spickermann, Markus Vinzent and ChristophHeilwith regard to objects and spaces as fields of resonance, but also with Stephan Moebius regarding processes of sacralisation.
Literature
- Emme, Burkhard 2013. Peristyl und Polis: Entwicklung und Funktionen öffentlicher griechischer Hofanlagen. Berlin.
- Gros, Pierre 2001. L'architecture romaine du début du IIIe siècle av. J.-C. à la fin du Haut- Empire, 2. Maisons, palais, villas et tombeaux. Paris.
- Hoepfner, Wolfram; Schwandner, Ernst 1994. Haus und Stadt im Klassischen Griechenland. ²München.
- Hoffmann, Adolf; Wulf, Ulrike 2004. Die Kaiserpaläste auf dem Palatin in Rom. Mainz.
- Kauf, Thomas 2005. Aufbau und propagandistische Wirkung der hellenistischen Herrscherpaläste von Pergamon und Aigai.
- Schnurr-Redford, Christine 1996. Frauen im Klassischen Athen. Berlin.