We announce a recent paper published by Paweł Nowakowski together with Mariusz Gwiazda: „Marble Use in the Early Byzantine Southern Levant: Spatial and Social Contexts”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 119/1 (2026), 83-118.
"The paper explores the varied usage of imported marble during the early Byzantine period in the Southern Levant. By employing a diverse array of written sources and archaeological data, this study identified multiple social groups involved in the procurement and use of marble, extending beyond emperors and bishops to clerics and laypeople from various walks of life. This analysis highlights numerous examples of using marble in private and public spaces, with concomitant dominance in religious buildings. Particular emphasis is placed on rural areas where the increased presence of marble indicates a partial blurring of the distinctions between villages and cities."
The paper was published as one of the results of the project "Marmora Bizantina" directed by Mariusz Gwiazda and funded by an OPUS grant from the Polish National Science Centre. Another result of that project is a database of marble finds and a database of mentions of marble in literary sources in late antique Levant (the latter compiled by Pawel).