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Conclusion

The Times of Roman and Late Roman Rebuilding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2025

Ann Marie Yasin
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
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Summary

In these pages we have witnessed the deep degree to which architectural rebuilding, as a practice distinct from new construction, was embedded in the Roman patronage system and served as powerful social currency in cities throughout the Mediterranean in the centuries spanning the early imperial to late antique periods. Overall, architectural rebuilding continued to be publicly celebrated as an honorific virtue through the sixth century, though the reach and impact of architectural euergetism shrank as patronage patterns changed, the overall volume of architectural construction declined, and spending on it was increasingly directed toward ecclesiastical and monastic architecture. This, I suggest, was principally due to the unique ways in which rebuilding leveraged site- and audience-specific connections to past and future communities. The high public value placed on rebuilding was also due to the opportunities it offered emperors, bishops, and other patrons to inflect cyclical celebratory calendars that enacted present order and implied future stability through their regular renewal and reperformance. While events of architectural destruction sorely tested that stability and regularly signaled divine displeasure to contemporaries, rebuilding concomitantly asserted current and future security through the reaffirmation (and simultaneous opportunity for reframing) of the empire’s pious relationship to their god(s).

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  • Conclusion
  • Ann Marie Yasin, University of Southern California
  • Book: Rebuilding Histories in the Roman World
  • Online publication: 23 November 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009564748.013
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  • Conclusion
  • Ann Marie Yasin, University of Southern California
  • Book: Rebuilding Histories in the Roman World
  • Online publication: 23 November 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009564748.013
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Ann Marie Yasin, University of Southern California
  • Book: Rebuilding Histories in the Roman World
  • Online publication: 23 November 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009564748.013
Available formats
×