Inventing Classical Architecture in Roman Athens

Abstract: This paper examines how buildings in Roman-era Athens were perceived by contemporaries. Specifically, it focuses on a selection of constructions from between the first century BC to second century AD which appeared either to utilise or to look to historical precedents in their architecture. But did the ancients themselves understand the buildings in these terms? Did they conceive the inclusion of older architectural material and designs as deliberately historicising and was this part of wider ‘classicising’ trends (the conscious emulation of fifth and fourth century BC Greek culture) discernible in other media at the time?