Isthmia

Isthmia:
A Virtual Reconstruction

Research for thesis project:
julie apley

1. Room I, looking east.

	Tim: My understanding is that the piers and the arches would be covered with whatever surface is on the walls (whatever that is--presumably the same "imitation marble" as in Rooms II, VI, and VIII. Also, my understanding is that the vault rests upon the top of the arch, white the drawing seems to suggest that this is not the case.
	Fikret:
	Jayni: Actually room I has copious marble revetment, not much plaster facing. It may have some bands of plaster (like the frigidarium?), since there are spots on the wall that look more like the surface we see in II than adhesive mortar for revetment, so I could see a mixture although I am unable to say more than that. We have pilasters in this room with the dolphin, palmette and pomegranate motifs. This will ultimately need to be indicated. I see benches here, but I was unaware that there is any evidence for benches in Room I, and in fact I'm pretty sure there is not. Tim, what do you think about the idea of throwing in a portable folding altar in a corner, either here, in VI, or both? Fikret seems to want them in VI, but I don't know how many he wants. I just figured that the pomegranate capitals might suggest some sort of ritual in here.

2. Room I, looking west. Added lamps to several
of the rooms that did not have windows

	Tim: There certainly would have been many lamps--be I would imagine suspended polycandela rather than single lamps on stands. But in this case, where would they be suspended from: the vault or beams between the springing of the vaults?? Lighting must have been a real problem in the building. Are we really to think that there were no windows in these rooms??
	Fikret:
	Jayni: no idea, maybe Robert Seelinger knows.

3. Room II, looking east. I put the lockers on
the walls.

	Tim: Is there evidence for these "lockers"? See same observations about the surface of the piers and arches from #1.
	Fikret:
	Jayni: no direct evidence but as I discussed with Julie earlier, I think these kinds of unobtrusive (maybe wooden) shelves from a bath in Herculaneum are the sort of 'least' we can do in terms of reconstructing lockers for bathers. There must have been some accommodation for belongings, these are minimal restorations. I think Fikret would agree, I will check with him.

4. Room X, looking west. What else may have
been in this room?

	Tim: To what degree should we put furniture (wooden, etc.) known from other baths, for which there is no evidence in our Bath? Or should we leave the rooms empty? Obviously, there must have been metal cauldrons, etc.
	Fikret:
	Jayni: there was a band of sculptural relief. We have many fragments of a vegetal and floral pattern, but probably not enough for you to restore it adequately. I have been wanting Dana to get around to drawing some of them and thinking about how they might have gone together. One fragment shows a seated Nereid, so the scene could have had mythological significance (generic marine scene, or Palaimon's mother Leukothea). There is also marble revetment in this room and the standard door moldings. It probably had a white marble floor, but without looking at the marble pile in detail I cannot say for sure.