Ancient Waterfront Palaces: A Case Study of the Triconch Palace in Butrint

Abstract

The main goal of the work is to comprehend the motivations behind building an ancient palace next to a body of water and to define the effects of the waterbody on the waterfront palace design. To achieve this goal, the primary waterfront palaces, built in the Mediterranean and Middle East, have been studied chronologically in three time periods determined as Pre-Hellenistic Era, Hellenistic Era, Roman and Late Antique Era in order to detect the structural evolution of the investigated palaces and their interactions with one another. Using the acquired information, the ancient waterfront palaces have been divided into two main classes as artificial and natural. Artificial waterfront palaces are built inland by creating a man-made waterbody, while the natural waterfront palaces are built next to an untouched waterbody, such as seas, lakes and rivers. Due to the vulnerable location of the natural waterfront palaces, they have been divided into three subclasses regarding the level of security considered for their design. In order to understand natural waterfront palaces in depth, the Triconch Palace in Butrint, which provides significant information about the design of waterfront palaces in the Roman period, has been chosen as the main focus of the research. The palace was built in 2.- 4. centuries A.D. next to the Vivari Channel. On its first phase, which coincides with Pax Romana period, the palace reflects the features of a Roman seaside villa. After the end of Pax Romana period the increase in the security need caused structural changes on the design of the palace, which sheds light on the evolution of the natural waterfront palaces.