Search

...architecture, or if not a sin, a bore. What chiefly remains to me of my impression of Durham Cathedral is, strangely enough, an objection: I did not like those decorated pillars, alternating with the clustered columns of the interior, and I do not suppose I ever shall: the spiral furrows, the zigzag and lozenge figures chiselled in their surfaces, weakened them to the eye...

...architecture, art and literature had captivated Roman elites long before there was a Roman empire. So what happened in Greece and Asia Minor when they succumbed to Roman domination? How could the great traditions of Classical Greece be reconciled with the new demands of Roman rule? To what extent did Greek communities maintain their distinctive identities? On the northern...