Giochi di maestranze sulle murature laterizie a Roma tra tardoantico e alto medioevo
In: Quaderni dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Architettura: n.s. 2019, 2020
DOI: 10.48255/1092
Games of workers in the walls between Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
Present study analyses some Late Antiquity and Early Medieval examples of the so-called games of
workers made on the walls. These are inserts put in the roughly executed wall facings that generally
represent geometric patterns. Their purpose seems to vary from the simple amusement to decorative
motif or perhaps also have apotropaic value. The most significant examples in Rome can be found on
the Aurelian Walls. A particular example dated to the 9th century is present on the north side of the quadriporticus of the basilica of SS. Quattro Coronati in Rome, where a fragment of Roman terracotta slab with scene of Amazonomachy is inserted, perhaps to be read in the Christian sense of the victory
of good over evil.