Looking over the builders’ work : foreign architects, artisans, and marble at Meninx (Djerba)

Abstract

Throughout the second century AD, the civic centres of the wealthy coastal cities of Africa Proconsularis underwent deep-rooted changes. Up to this point local stone had been largely employed for their buildings, but from the Hadrianic period onwards there was an increasing use of marbles, which were imported with considerable efforts and at great expense. These marbles came primarily from Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, and brought with them new architectural concepts, as well as architects and artisans who have been generally identified as ‘Italian’ and ‘Eastern’ in past scholarship. This article will examine a temple, a structure presumed to be a portico, and a basilica from the harbour city of Meninx, located in southern Djerba (Tunisia). The exceptionally good preservation of these buildings’ architectural components and the documentation produced during their on-site recording in 2017–18 allow for a detailed understanding of their original building processes. This will show how mobile the building industry of the Roman Empire was during the second century AD, which in turn challenges any attempts of an overly schematic territorial placement of architectural concepts, building traditions, and the provenance of the artisans themselves.