Pentelico e proconnesio in Tripolitania: coordinamento o concorrenza nella distribuzione

The aim of this work is to discuss the model of distribution of Pentelic and Proconnesian marbles in Tripolitania during the second century A.D. We studied their use in the architectural decoration of public monuments in Oea, Sabratha, and Leptis Magna, and observed that they were employed contemporarily in temples and other monuments in the same urban area. In many cases as well both marbles are found in the same complex, for example Pentelic marble in the temple and Proconnesian marble in the porticoes (e.g. at the Temple of Marcus Aurelius, Sabratha).
From all the archaeological data put together, we concluded that there was a free market of Pentelic and Proconnesian marbles: their choice depended on various local circumstances (as the relationship between certain curatores aedificiorum with different redemptores marmorarii). Only in the Severan Period does it seem that there was a great change, as the distribution of Pentelic and Proconnesian marbles, in the case of Leptis Magna, was directed by the imperial house.