Samuel Holzman is an assistant professor of art and archaeology and the Stanley J. Seeger ’52 Center for Hellenic Studies. His latest book is “Retrospective Columns: Ionic Capitals and Perceptions of the Past in Greek Architecture” was published in October 2025 by Princeton University Press.
How did you get the idea for this project?
I was standing in the lobby of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki looking at the remains of a large Greek temple from about 500 BC, most of which is still buried under the traffic circle at Antigonidon Square. This temple has large Ionic column capitals (each about 6 ft long), which are carved in two different sculptural styles on opposite faces. On one side, the spiraling volutes are convex and pillowy; on the other side they are concave and shadow rich. If an archaeologist found only one half of one of these capitals, they might propose a different date of construction. It got me thinking about the ways that ancient builders were conscious of older buildings around them and what that history meant to them. I was a Fulbright fellow in Greece and set out on a hunt to find more examples of these retrospective columns.
How did the project develop or change throughout the research and writing process?
Along the way I needed to answer a series of related questions, which ultimately became central to the book. For example, ancient Greek temples were originally painted, and color may have changed the appearance of the white marble columns we now see. So, I had to add a section on everything we know about the use of color on Ionic columns. I also needed to know how these carving styles were made with different tools and carving techniques. So—with the guidance of marble carvers who work on the restoration of the Parthenon—I carved a replica of part of one of the capitals with a stopwatch running in the background.
What questions for future investigation has the project sparked?
A few of the capitals in the book have ancient repairs, which are very artfully made. Some were completely hidden and others had fancy bronze clamps. This sparked a new interest for me. I have just written an article in Art Bulletin about ancient architectural repairs that were works of art in their own right, including one remarkable stone patch to an Ionic column in the shape of a dolphin! Ultimately, the sections of the book about stone carving and my own carving experiments have inspired me to start a new project on ancient itinerant masons.
Why should people read this book?
How people in the past thought about their own past is an important subject. What has been dubbed “the archaeology of the past” has been explored through various forms of evidence—ancient acts of art restoration, the repurposing of architectural fragments called spolia, and the production of archaistic sculpture. For a specialist reader, this book adds a new chapter to the making of tradition in Greek architecture. For a more general reader, the book offers a new look at the Greek temple—certainly a bit more colorful and far more eclectic that is often envisioned. I have made more than 100 original drawings for the book.
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