Apollodorus of Damascus

{{Short description|2nd century Syrian Roman architect and engineer}}{{Expand language|langcode=de}}

{{Infobox architect

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| image = Apollodorus of Damascus, Greek Architect and Engineer. Pic 01.jpg

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| caption = Apollodorus of Damascus, bust from 130/140 AD in the Glyptothek

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| birth_place = Damascus, Roman Syria, Roman Empire

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| significant_buildings = Basilica Ulpia, Trajan's Forum, Temple of Trajan, The Pantheon

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Apollodorus of Damascus ({{langx|grc|Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Δαμασκηνός}}){{Citation|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/H/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Buildings/4B*.html|script-title=grc:Προκόπιου Καισαρέως Περὶ Κτισμάτων |trans-title=Procopius Caesareus About buildings|via=ΛακουσΚούρτιος [LakousKourtios]|lang=grc|author=Procopius of Caesarea|author-link=Procopius}} was an architect and engineer from Roman Syria, who flourished during the 2nd century AD.George Sarton (1936), "The Unity and Diversity of the Mediterranean World", Osiris. 2: 406-463 [430]{{r|Fakouch}}{{citation|title=International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM 2008|author=Hong-Sen Yan, Marco Ceccarelli|publisher=Springer|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4020-9484-2|page=86|quote=He had Syrian origins coming from Damascus}} As an engineer he authored several technical treatises, and his massive architectural output gained him immense popularity during his time.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095419245|title=Apollodorus of Damascus|website=Oxford Reference}} He is one of the few architects whose name survives from antiquity, and is credited with introducing several Eastern innovations to the Roman Imperial style, such as making the dome a standard. He is also known as Apollodorus Mechanicus.

Early life

Apollodorus was born in Damascus, Roman Syria. Modern sources refer to him as Nabatean,{{r|Fakouch}}{{r|eng analy}}{{r|forty}} or as Greek.{{r|enc brit}}{{r|palmer}}{{r|Ox arch}} Neither Cassius Dio nor Procopius, scholars and historians of antiquity, mention his origins when writing of him.{{r|Procopio}}{{r|livius}} Little is known of his early life, but he started his career as a military engineer{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=J. Brian |title=Greek and Roman Military Writers: Selected readings |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=London; New York |isbn=978-0-415-28547-6|oclc=54356411}}{{pn|date=September 2024}} before meeting future emperor Trajan in Damascus, then being summoned to Rome by him when he was a consul in 91 AD, after his twentieth birthday,{{Cite book|title=Apollodorus of Damascus and Trajan's Column: From Tradition to Project |first1=Giulia|last1=Calcani|publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider|year=2003|isbn=978-8-8826-5233-3 |chapter=Apollodorus and the column of Trajan at Damascus |pages=35–64 |editor=Giuliana Calcani|oclc=57075431}}{{rp|35}} and later accompanying him during the Second Dacian War in 105 AD.{{cite book |editor2-last=Dutta |editor2-first=Suneha |editor3-last=Jindal |editor3-first=Tina |editor1-last=Nath |editor1-first=Priyanka |others=Editor-in-chief: Adam Hart-Davis |title=Engineers From the Great Pyramids to the Pioneers of Space Travel |date=2012 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |pages=24–25 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/engineers-from-the-great-pyramids-to-the-pioneers-of-space-travel-by-adam-hart-davis-z-lib.org/page/n25/mode/2up |chapter=Building the Ancient World: Apollodorus of Damascus}}

Works and style

Apollodorus was Trajan's favoured architect and engineer.

In Rome he designed and oversaw the construction of:

Trajan's Forum and Markets
Temple of Trajan
Trajan's Column (the first monument of its kind)

Outside the capital, Apollodorus designed the:

Trajan's Bridge across the Danube
Alconétar Bridge over the Tagus in Spain
triumphal arch of Trajan at Benevento
Arch of Trajan at Ancona.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
Trajan's Trophy near Adamclisi, Romania

He is the author of Siege Engines ({{lang|grc|Πολιορκητικά}}), dedicated to an unnamed emperor, likely Trajan.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}File:072 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel LXXII (Ausschnitt 01).jpg. Apollodorus himself stands in the foreground behind the sacrificing emperor.{{rp|55}}]]

The director of the {{ill|Italian Institute of Culture|it|Istituti italiani di cultura all'estero#Sedi in Asia e Oceania}} in Damascus, Fiorella Festa Farina, described the technical prowess of Apollodorus as stemming from his cultural roots and the architectural tradition of Syria; and that he owed his particular mastery to Nabataean culture filtered through Greek modes of thought.{{Cite book|title=Apollodorus of Damascus and Trajan's Column: From Tradition to Project |first1=Maamoun|last1=Abdulkarim|publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider|year=2003|isbn=978-8-8826-5233-3 |chapter=Syria in the times of Apollodorus of Damascus |pages=25–34 |editor=Giuliana Calcani|oclc=57075431}}{{Cite book|title=Apollodorus of Damascus and Trajan's Column: From Tradition to Project |first1=Fiorella |last1=Festa Farina|publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider|year=2003|isbn=978-8-8826-5233-3 |chapter=Foreword (1)|pages=9–10 |editor=Giuliana Calcani|oclc=57075431}} He was known for his practical and robust designs. It was likely due to his influence that domes became a standard element in Roman architecture.{{Cite book|last=Adam|first=Jean-Pierre|title=Roman Building: Materials and Techniques|publisher=Routledge|year=1994|pages=189}}

Death

Cassius Dio reports that Apollodorus offended Hadrian by dismissing and ridiculing the emperor's forays into architecture, which led to his banishment and death.R. T. Ridley (1989), "The Fate of an Architect, Apollodoros of Damascus", Athenaeum. 67: 551–565. {{cn span|While some, considering this episode as consistent with Hadrian's documented acts of anger and violence, do believe the execution occurred,|date=October 2024}} many modern historians cast doubt on this event. According to the historian Jona Lendering, modern scholarship views the anecdote as unlikely to have occurred, due to Hadrian's preoccupation with far greater threats to his power early in his reign, and that the criticism Apollodorus proffered was acted upon.{{r|livius|at=para. 2|q=Most scholars believe that it is not true that Hadrian ordered the assassination of the architect.{{nbsp}}[...] There is{{nbsp}}... serious reason to doubt the anecdote about Hadrian murdering Apollodorus, and its origin may have been that the architect died - of natural causes - at the beginning of Hadrian's reign, when several senators were executed.}}

Notes

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite book | chapter=Architects and Roman Society §The Origins of Architects |last1=Delaine |first1=Janet |title=Roman Architecture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2REEEQAAQBAJ&dq=apollodorus+of+damascus+Greek&pg=PA30 |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-269999-2 |pages=28–32}}

{{Cite journal |last1=Masi |first1=F. |last2=Stefanou |first2=I. |last3=Vannucci |first3=P. |date=2018-10-01 |title=On the origin of the cracks in the dome of the Pantheon in Rome |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01719997v3/file/HAL%20version.pdf |journal=Engineering Failure Analysis |volume=92 |pages=587–596 |doi=10.1016/j.engfailanal.2018.06.013 |s2cid=55614581 |issn=1350-6307}}

{{cite book|last=Fakouch|first=Tammam|title=Apollodorus of Damascus and Trajan's Column: From Tradition to Project|editor=Giuliana Calcani|publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider|location=Rome|year=2003|pages=11–12|quote-page=11|quote=... the brilliant architect Apollodorus of Damascus. This famous Syrian personage ...|chapter=Foreword (2)|isbn=978-8-8826-5233-3|oclc=57075431}} {{isbn|88-8265-233-5}}

{{Cite book |last1=Forty |first1=Simon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afNNEAAAQBAJ&dq=apollodorus+was+nabatean&pg=PA67 |title=Limits of Empire: Rome's Borders |last2=Forty |first2=Jonathan |date=2022-01-14 |publisher=Casemate |isbn=978-1-63624-077-0 |language=en}}

{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Apollodorus-of-Damascus |encyclopedia=Britannica |title=Apollodorus of Damascus}}

{{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Allison Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aMsvDAAAQBAJ&dq=apollodorus+of+damascus+Greek&pg=PA48 |title=Historical Dictionary of Architecture |date=2016-05-26 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-6309-3 |language=en}}

{{citation |author=Procopio |title=Degli edifizii dell'Imperadore Giustiniano |trans-title=Of the buildings of the Emperor Justinian (or, The Buildings)|orig-date=6th century |translator=Giuseppe Compagnoni |date=1828 |id=Traduzione dal greco |language=it |chapter=Libro quarto – Capo VI: Giustiniano fortifica la riva del Danubio dalla città di Viminacio sino in Tracia|trans-chapter=Book Four, ch. 6: Justinian fortifies the bank of the Danube from the city of Viminacium to Thrace |publisher =Sonzogno |location= Milano|pages=429–433 |chapter-url=https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Degli_edifizii/Libro_quarto/Capo_VI|volume=VII of Opere di Procopio di Cesarea |via=it.Wikisource |url=https://archive.org/details/OpereDiProcopioDiCesarea/page/n12/mode/1up}}

{{cite magazine |last1=Lendering |first1=Jona |author1-link=Jona Lendering |title=Apollodorus of Damascus |quote=Most scholars believe that it is not true that Hadrian ordered the assassination of the architect.{{nbsp}}[...] There is{{nbsp}}... serious reason to doubt the anecdote about Hadrian murdering Apollodorus, and its origin may have been that the architect died - of natural causes - at the beginning of Hadrian's reign, when several senators were executed.|url=https://www.livius.org/articles/person/apollodorus-of-damascus/ |magazine=Livius |date=20 May 2020}} Citing the primary sources:

Cassius Dio: [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/69*.html#4 Roman History 69.4]; and
Procopius' The Buildings [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Buildings/4B*.html#6.11 IV 6.11–14]

}}