Epidauros: Building for Asclepius

The study of building projects in the Greek World is of central importance for the study of the economy, society, the law, and the history of architecture. With public buildings, an ancient city could express its wealth, its influence and power, or its intended cultural superiority. Every building program depends on the raising of funds and the acquisition of trained workers, especially of engineers and, in the case of temples or statues, of artists. By examining those processes, we will be able to get a clearer picture of forerunners and imitators among Greek cities; regarding the economic aspects, of the difficulties to get funding, material, and trained personnel; and of connections between cities. The study of these processes is based to a very large extent on the epigraphic evidence. Stone inscriptions are particularly reliable since they are official documents, they are in direct relation to specific temples, public buildings or houses and, above all, they are contemporary with the buildings themselves. My project offers a case study from late classical Greece. The group of building accounts from Epidauros (32 stelae in total) is significant for several reasons: It begins relatively early (ca. 400 BC); it has strong relations to Athens; and the responsible commission also decided to register, apart from cost and the revenues from the public treasury, also revenues from fines imposed on workmen who had been late or had performed their work badly this last point being of special legal interest. The first volume of my edition has recently been published published.1 My project in Vienna will be editing the second volume with a new and reliable edition of the later accounts from between ca. 350 and 270 BC, a translation of all texts, and an exhaustive archaeological commentray, as well as summarizing chapters about architectural, artistic and economic features, and the epidaurian building program in general. A Lise Meitner scholarship would give me the time and concentration necessary to continuously work on the texts, and to give translations and commentary. There is no doubt that a full and reliable edition of the new, hitherto unread texts and their interpretation will provide an entirely new overall picture of the Epidaurian sanctuary. It is also clear that this will pave the way for a better understanding of late- classical building policy and craftsmanship in general. 1 Bauurkunden und Bauprogramm von Epidauros (400-350), Vestigia vol. 67, München (C.H.Beck) 2014.

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