Stories in stone: Stone and Colour "Skies": Ceilings and Vaults from Classical to Late Antiquity (PhD)

Stone and Colour "Skies": Ceilings and Vaults from Classical to Late Antiquity

This advanced, seminar-based module is primarily designed for PhDl students in archaeology, classics, and art history. Building on the broader investigation of architectural ornament (as outlined in Modules 1 and 2), it focuses specifically on roofing systems in the ancient Mediterranean, examining their structural principles as well as their formal and decorative evolution from the Classical through to the Late Antique period.

The module aims to equip students with the methodological tools to assess this often-overlooked architectural component, highlighting its considerable historical, documentary, and cultural value.

In antiquity, ceilings—whether flat, vaulted, or domed—played a dual role. Structurally, they reflected the technological capabilities of a society, revealing local materials, engineering techniques, and architectural ambition. The use of flat timber roofs, stone vaults, or masonry domes necessitated distinct construction strategies, often shaped by both regional knowledge and practical constraints. Roman innovations, particularly the widespread application of opus caementicium, enabled increasingly sophisticated vaulted and domed spaces, with the Pantheon’s hemispherical dome remaining a seminal achievement in ancient engineering.

Symbolically, ceilings defined the conceptual and visual upper boundary of interior space. a kind of “sky within that space They were surfaces through which to articulate cosmological, religious, political, or social ideas. Their decoration, executed in stucco, mosaic, paint, gilding, or relief, turned them into powerful communicative media.

In both private and public contexts, elaborately decorated ceilings—such as those with coffered designs—operated in dialogue with other elements of the interior décor, including flooring and furniture. The imagery employed, ranging from astral and geometric patterns to mythological narratives, suggested a deliberate alignment between built space and cosmic or divine order.

Far from being merely functional, ceilings were integral to the architectural experience. They structured the viewer’s perception of the space and projected the status and identity of patrons. Ancient literary sources attest to their social significance; ceiling decoration could serve as a topic of elite conversation and a marker of refined taste (cf. Aristophanes, The Frogs, 1208–1215).

Given their elevated position and structural vulnerability, ceilings are among the least preserved elements of ancient architecture. Their study is therefore complex and often fragmentary. Nonetheless, through the analysis of surviving iconography and construction techniques, they offer critical insight into the technological development and cultural imagination of ancient societies—Greek, Roman, and beyond.

This module adopts a rigorously interdisciplinary approach, integrating archaeological, historical, and art-historical perspectives. Students will engage critically with a range of scholarly readings and participate in seminar discussions that foster advanced interpretive and analytical skills.

Key topics include:

• Typologies of ancient roofing and the technical vocabulary used to describe them;
• The evolution of ceilings and vaults across the pan-Mediterranean world, from early wooden prototypes and the first stone coffered ceilings to domes with smooth or richly ornamented intrados;
• Opus caementicium and the structural innovations it enabled, particularly in Roman architecture;
• The decorative language of ceilings and the symbolic meanings embedded in their imagery as expressions of cultural and social ideologies;
• The relationship between ceiling decoration, spatial function, and other decorative systems, such as floor treatments.