The Street in Context: Other Sites

 So is our colonnaded street one of kind, or can it be seen as reflecting patterns elsewhere? Well, for the moment, it looks like a single-sided colonnaded street, in that there is only one side with a portico and shops, these features not extending to the E side due to restrictions of the site, with a fall of the land in what was always quite a narrow neck out to the Antoninus Pius Hill. That is in itself unusual, though it can be seen at Aphrodisias, and indeed Ephesus, along the Clivus Sacer and the Marble Street. Many are rebuilds of earlier arrangements, in which there never was a plan to colonnade every side, as became so common by Late Antiquity, even when space was lacking. Our colonnade is of three phases, initially a late rebuilding of a base-column-capital arrangement, in mixed materials, and then a piered portico, closest to the Agora Gate steps, in the 6th c. This is unusual, even for the 6th c., where porticoes with mixtures of columns and piers are known as widely as Egypt, Caria, and Thrace. The style seems likely to be a Constantinopolitan innovation. But, at Sagalassos, we have a portico entirely of piers, uncovered by Ine Jacobs, the design of which is easiest to explain if it was supporting a heavy second storey linked to the Lower Agora, due to the great strength that piers gave. This style is only seen at a few sites but did exist, for example in the 6th c. phase of the Forum of Theodosius in Constantinople.

The ambition of the paving is, however, typical of Asia Minor. Unlike some cities of the West, hard paving was always desired, even if this meant a paving in reused blocks, as one finds in this region. In contrast, this hard paving is in new cut materials for Cyprus and the Near East. This is nothing new, as parts of the paving seem to be clearly 1st c., including in places what seems to be a sidewalk on the E side, although the main W sidewalk is a late feature, likely of 6th c. date. Despite there being no wheeled transport at Sagalassos, this feature, which allowed the separation of pedestrians and animals, is added to a good number of eastern colonnaded streets in the late period, being seen at sites as diverse as Ephesus and Apamea. Behind the kerb, it typically held a water pipe, as is the case at Sagalassos. The provision of fountains, on either side of the road, set within the sidewalks, seems a luxury but can be paralled in 5th-6th c. improvements to sidewalks at Gerasa, which included such features. We know our street was decorated with mythological figurines in the last period, from the excavations of Ine Jacobs, but other decorative features are lacking, such as mosaics in the porticoes, as we see in the cities of Pamphylia, at Stratoniceia or sometimes in Ephesus. However, we only have to look to Aphrodisias to see beaten earth portico floors, so this is well within the range of possibilities for Asia Minor.

30.1 Sagalassos Colonnaded Street

30.2 Marble Street, Ephesus, a single-sided colonnaded street, with portico, sidewalk, and street paving.

30.3 Sagalassos piered portico on Colonnaded Street, 6th c.

30.4 Sidewalk holding a water supply, Ephesus.