An Update on the Use and Distribution of White and Black Göktepe Marbles from the first century AD to Late Antiquity

The discovery of the quarries Göktepe of Aphrodisias, which produced white and black statuary marble qualities, has provided a new and unexpected contribution to the knowledge of the marble used in ancient Roman times. The use of these two varieties is instead shown much more widespread as expected and is attested from the mid of the first century AD until advanced late antiquity. The Göktepe marble was found throughout the Roman Empire in Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Spain, Narbonnaise and in North Africa. It is spread especially in the second century A. D., from the age of the emperor Hadrian, when it is widely used in his imperial Villa near Rome, where several statues, architectural elements and other objects were produced in both Göktepe marble. The framework outlined so far show clearly that these new marbles must be considered among the most important ancient Roman stones, which were employed also by other non-Asiatic sculptors, but which seems to be strongly linked to the artists of the so called School of Aphrodisias who use it as their most important statuary marble to seal the sculptural quality of their own artistic works.