As part of a symposium, the approach to a culture-immanent perspective on ancient architecture was tested using the case study of "staircases". Following an introduction to the concept and research branch of Scalalogy, the volume that emerged from the symposium brings together 18 contributions to staircases in the Ancient Near East, Ancient Egypt, the Greek and Roman worlds and late antiquity. Since its earliest proven use in prehistoric times, the staircase has never lost its architectural and social importance, despite the increased use of technical aids. It is an architectural element that people all over the world depend on every day and which is also understood to this day as a symbol and carrier of meaning. Correspondingly, stairs have an enormous expressiveness with regard to culturally immanent developments of architectural symbols as well as cross-cultural principles of interpretation and are therefore a research object of only apparent marginality. The studies are devoted, inter alia, to staircases and stairwells in the temples of Tell al-'Ubayd, Khafajah and Eridu, in the royal palace of Qaṭna and in the Red House in Dūr-Katlimmu in the Ancient Near East, in the Temple of Horus at Edfu and in the Temple of Hathor at Dendara in  Ancient Egypt, in the Minoan palace of Phaistos, hidden stairways in ancient Greek temples and the stairways in Vitruvius’ De Architectura, and in late antique pilgrimage centers in Asia Minor.

Einführung

Vorwort

Programm des Symposiums

Sophie Schlosser: Steps on Steps: Scalalogical Reflections on Ancient Staircases

I Treppen im Alten Orient

Philippe Quenet: Une affaire de degrés : La hauteur des terrasses des temples de Tell al-‘Ubayd et Khafajah et du premier étage de la ziggurat d’Eridu

Johanna Tudeau: The Sumerian Term ga-lam/galam and the Concept of Ziggurat. A Story of Scale, Skill and Sky

Florian Janoscha Kreppner und Jochen Schmid: Die Treppenanlagen im Königspalast von Qaṭna und im „Roten Haus“ in Dūr-Katlimmu: Konstruktion, Gestaltung und Nutzung von Treppen in der Palastarchitektur des 2. Jt. in Syrien und der assyrischen Elitenresidenzarchitektur der ersten Hälfte des 1. Jt. v. Chr. in Nordmesopotamien

Margaret Cool Root: Persepolis: Stairways as Dialogic Spheres of Spiritual/Social Community in Empire

II Treppen im Alten Ägypten

Ian Shaw: Rise and Fall of the Aten: Stepped Structures and Religious Theatre in Temples and Shrines at Amarna

Alexa Rickert: „A Game of Thrones“: Zu einigen mutmaßlichen Treppenbezeichnungen im Horustempel von Edfu und im Hathortempel von Dendara

Ulrike Fauerbach: Planning and Building the Stairwells in the Pylon of Edfu, or: The Heaviest Architectural Drawing Ever

Pierre Zignani: Designing Vertical Circulation: The Lessons of the Monuments of Dendara

Victoria Altmann-Wendling: One Small Step for a God – One Giant Leap for a Priest? “Lunar Staircases” and Staircases to the Highest Temple Roof: a Mythological-Astronomical Construction

III Treppen in der griechischen Welt

Fritz Blakolmer: Treppen im minoisch-mykenischen Griechenland: Notwendigkeit, Repräsentation und Ritual

Monica Nilsson: The Monumental Staircase of the Minoan Phaistos Palace: Origin, Context, Function

Heike Bücherl: Die Treppenanlagen des Tempels A in Selinunt

Mary Hollinshead: Steps for Display, Steps as Display in Greek Architecture

Thekla Schulz-Brize: Verborgene Treppen in antiken Tempeln

IV Treppen im Römischen Reich und in der Spätantike

Bettina Reitz-Joosse: Nature’s Steps: Staircases in Vitruvius’ De Architectura

Winfried Held: Treppen in Tempeln des römischen Kaiserkults in Kleinasien und Rom. Kaiserkult-Mysterien und der Tempel als Sinnbild des Kosmos

Tim Karberg: Stairs and Platforms at the Building Umm Ruweim 1 (Bayuda/Northern Sudan)

Katinka Sewing: Up, Down, and Around: Staircases as Architectural Indicator for the Identification of Late Antique Pilgrimage Centers in Asia Minor and Beyond

Synthese

Alexa Rickert und Sophie Schlosser: Antike Treppenanlagen: Ergebnisse und weiteres Forschungspotenzial

Index der Ortsnamen

Tafeln