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Isaurian Builders? From Local to Metropolitan Architecture
Gunder Varinlioglu, University of Pennsylvania

Fifth- and sixth-century texts mention the involvement of Isaurian masons and architects in major architectural projects throughout the Byzantine Empire, such as the monastery of St. Sabas in Palestine, the monastery of St. Simeon the Younger near Antioch and St. Sophia in Constantinople. The prominent position of the building trades in Isauria is also indicated by local funerary inscriptions from the fifth–seventh century, referring to masons, master builders, marble cutters, land surveyors, and tile makers. On the other hand, throughout the province, the vast remains of rural and urban settlements, monumental churches and structures, still almost fully standing, bear testimony to the quality of construction. The architecture in Isauria displays a continuous tradition of stone masonry and the mastery of working the local limestone. Therefore, it has been argued that Isaurian building crafts and traditions played a significant role in early Byzantine monumental architecture.

At the confluence of surviving texts and structures, I discuss two major questions in my paper. First, I investigate the range of meanings and definitions of the supposedly ethnic term “Isaurian” based on textual evidence. Second, using the evidence from my archaeological survey between 2003–2005, I discuss the characteristics of the building traditions of Isauria as compared to the structures and regions that Isaurians have been associated with. Thus, I discuss the possible relationships between the local and metropolitan architecture, and question the impact of the Isaurian building traditions and trades on the architectural designs, techniques, and fashions in the Byzantine empire.

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