{"id":9174,"date":"2020-10-04T17:08:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T15:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.doliche.uni-muenster.de\/how-marbelous\/"},"modified":"2020-10-04T17:08:44","modified_gmt":"2020-10-04T15:08:44","slug":"how-marbelous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doliche.uni-muenster.de\/en\/how-marbelous\/","title":{"rendered":"How Marbelous!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The Wall Decoration of the Ancient Terrace Basilica<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In Doliche, a soft limestone was the used for almost every building from the Hellenistic period to the Middle Ages. It was abundantly available and could be carved with great ease. Many quarries can be identified at close distance to the city and even within the urban area. The limestone, however, is of low quality and not very prestigious. Throughout antiquity, the most appreciated building material was marble, especially for public buildings, but also rich private mansions. However, no marble quarries existed in ancient Greater Syria. If people in Doliche and other cities of inland Syria wanted to use marble, they had to import it from Asia Minor, Greece, or North Africa. The transportation of the stone over such long distances and especially over land was very expensive. To lower the costs, not massive marble ashlars were used, but thin marble revetments slabs that covered the limestone walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n