ABSTRACT
Marble was the material that conferred the social, political, and spiritual distinction of a building and signaled the highest aspirations of its patrons. For the light that it sheds on building processes, for its rich associative meanings, and for its evocative aesthetic qualities, no other material in architectural history has received as much attention as marble. Marble is one of the great threads through the architectural tradition, and one of the quintessential building blocks of the Mediterranean world. Ancient archaeologists have used isotopic analysis to identify quarries that provided marble for Roman lenos sarcophagi, exposing the shifting trade networks that allowed for the widespread sculpting of marble. The Greeks brought marble and religion into direct relationship with one another by utilizing it for the most prestigious commissions they undertook, for the temples and images of their gods.
