Architecture, Energy and Social Evolution at Isthmia, Greece

Some Thoughts about Late Antiquity in the Korinthia

Abstract

Energy expended in the construction of monumental public architecture manifests important social decisions based on the efficient use of resources. The decisions taken about architectural construction depend on cultural and historical dimensions and may thus be regarded as aspects of social evolution. This paper reviews elements of evolutionary theory, the culture concept, and especially the role of monumental public architecture as an indicator of social complexity and suggests the applicability of a theoretical model of energy expenditure on architecture to the Late Antique-Early Byzantine transformation at one site in Greece. Evidence from the site of Isthmia in the northeastern Peloponnesos is presented as an example of regional variation during this transitional period. An evolutionary model, with a set of explicitly stated assumptions based on cultural evolutionism, is proposed to explain events at Isthmia and, at a general level, the development of Byzantine society out of its classical roots in this part of the Aegean.