Architecture of the Eastern Roman Empire

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The topic of architecture of the eastern parts in the Roman Empire is wide-ranging geographically and broad-ranging chronologically, including architecture that ranges from Greece across Asia Minor and the Levant and partly even into Persia/Parthia. Furthermore, the term also covers the architecture of Roman Egypt as well as the various regions of North Africa well into its hinterland, despite the fact that North Africa is not east of Rome geographically speaking. Chronologically the period covered can be defined as from the time when Pompey the Great annexed parts of the East in 63 bce until Constantinople became the new capital of the Roman Empire in 330 ce under Constantine the Great. However, in this article some literature covers as late as mid-7th-century ce, since architectural traditions can be traced beyond the end of Roman domination in the East. Therefore, in many ways the term “architecture of the Eastern Roman Empire” is an artificial label created on the basis of the Roman Empire’s extent into the East and other regions around the Mediterranean, incorporating various provinces (sometimes with changing provincial borders) at various points in time, and thus it can also be considered as a somewhat fluid category, since some monuments, which are considered Roman in their architectural expressions, would have been located outside of the Roman Empire. However, despite the fact this is an artificially created label, it does exactly, within the context of the study of architectural traditions and developments in the Roman Empire, make sense to at least be able to approach various aspects of the architectural heritage and traditions found in the eastern parts of the empire and beyond under such a heading. Aspects of architecture of the Roman Empire, and particularly the Eastern Roman Empire, due to its rich architectural heritage, are some of the most studied areas of the archaeology of the Roman Empire. Therefore, the reader will also naturally find numerous other useful contributions in Oxford Bibliographies that concern architectural themes, some slightly overlapping in time or in geographical scope, along with this contribution, but these also introduce other aspects, and the reader is therefore encouraged to explore these for further and related literature. The current contribution is structured partly according to overview and reference works, partly according to types of monuments and topics. Literature in a number of languages is included (English, French, German and Italian). However, it should be acknowledged that Arabic, Greek, and Turkish are languages in which relevant research also is published—a fact which often unfortunately is not acknowledged in broader scholarship, but deserves to be acknowledged to a much greater extent. In several of the bibliographies in the works cited the reader will find references to works in these languages. This contribution is not intended to be exhaustive but provide the reader with a solid basis upon which they can continue research and explore further topics.